Harry Potter Book Banned

All around the world, certain books are being banned or challenged in school districts often because the material is considered sexually explicit, unsuited for the age group, or includes offensive language or actions.

The general audience of this essay is for anyone that has experienced racism in the south.

“Book Banning” may seem like an issue of the past, but, in fact, it is still a very pertinent issue in the U.S. today. These classic books have been banned at one time or another: Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, The Harry Potter series. You’re probably wondering how these, extremely famous, books can be so censored in America today. There are many reasons that are given in regards to book censorship. For instance, language or profanity, violence, sexual explicitness, or “uncomfortable” topics, such as rape and race relations. Christian groups have requested that a countless number of books, with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ+) themes, be taken out of schools and libraries The banning and censorship of books can happen in many places and ways; taking them off school reading lists, or even out of libraries and bookstores.

It is reasonable for a book to be banned if it is just not suitable for children as in its mature content. But if a book is being banned because of a parent who does not like the book or thinks it is a touchy subject, then it is just not reasonable and there should not even be a discussion about banning it. “Parents who don't like specific books can have their kids "opt out" of an assignment without infringing on the rights of others.” (www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005365). There is no reason for a parent to try to have a book banned because they do not like the content in the book.’’ Also, the parent can choose to have their child not read the book without having it banned from the whole school. Parents should censor their own child and not the entire

Although it is ridiculous to ban books, it is somewhat understandable. Some books are extremely heavy on the controversial side, and include a boat load of inappropriate content. “My corduroys. My boxers. Two layers. I could feel the warmth of her cheek on my thigh. There are times when it is appropriate, even preferable, to get an erection when someone’s face is in close proximity to your penis” (Green). It is easy to see why someone with a closed mind would take offense to this kind of content being in a book for young

America has a long history of oppression, discrimination and injustices towards African Americans, however the 1960s has brought important political and social changes. People who have not lived through this decade of change can gather some information of this time through historical documents such as letters and films that portray true events. An example of a film that is based on a true story is “Mississipi Burning” and a powerful historical document is “A Letter from Burmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther king. Each of these materials describes/portrays some of the issues African-American faced during the 1960s, specifically in the south. After analyzing these materials, we are able to understand some of what African-Americans endured during the 1960s.

Discrimination has afflicted the American society since its inception in 1776. The inferiority of the African American race – a notion embedded within the mindset of the white populace has difficult to eradicate – despite the efforts of civil rights activists and lawmakers alike. Many individuals are of the opinion that discrimination and racism no longer exist and that these issues have long since been resolved during the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. However such is not the case. Discrimination is a complex issue – one that encompasses many aspects of society. The impact of discrimination of the African American race is addressed from two diverse perspectives in the essays: “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King .

Imagine a situation where one is walking down an empty street and a woman gives one a glance and begins running, or one is told to leave a public restaurant simply because of the family one was born into. This is the reality for two African-American authors in the 20th century. Over the history of the United States minorities have faced a numerous amounts of racism. The types of racism that was expressed to these minorities has evolved as time went on. Two authors decided to write about their experiences and they occurrences vary vastly. The details that really set one essay apart from the other include the time of day the racism took place, time period of the occurrence, and type of racism witnessed.

The subject of censorship is a very controversial one, especially the banning of books. Many people believe they must protect themselves and others from the "evils" of many classic books and works of art because they can be deemed "indecent" in one way or another. Many believe that this is absurd and censorship in its current form is a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech. Personally, I align myself with the latter, however I do feel there are occasions where censorship is justifiable. The censorship of books is a division of censorship that, apart from Internet censorship, receives the most publicity. Banning books is the most popular form of such censorship. Many banned books are literary classics, such as The Catcher in

Many books have been questioned and challenged. Even as far as to banning them. But what exactly is a banned book and why are they banned? A banned book is a book that has been censored by an authority, a government body, a library, or a even school system. A book that has been banned is actually removed from a library or school system. The actual contextual reasons as to banning them is use of explicit violence, gore, sexuality, explicit language, religion, or dark times in history. On the non-contextual side of the reason why they are banned books are usually because with the best intentions to protect people, frequently children, from difficult philosophies and information. Teachers, or even more common adults, often censor books from

"Harry Potter has been in the 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 “Frequently Challenged Books” lists and currently is on the “Frequently Challenged Children’s Books” list." (bannedbooksweek.org). “When it came out, some people said the book was about Satan and promoted witchcraft.” (LaRue, 2016). This reasoning cause parents to file complaint to schools asking them to remove the books from their libraries. Some school even had to require a permission slip from the children’s parents. Now not all parents were like this. Some parents did not see the comparison with magic as Satanic but as another fantasy book like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Other parents thought the censorship was absurd and a few of them took actions to voice that opinion. For example: Counts v. Cedarville School District. In this case, Cedarville school board voted that the Harry Potter books would require a permission slip if a child wish to check it out. This vote infuriated some parents so much that they took it court. The parents argued that this vote was against the First Amendment and won the case requiring all libraries in that district to get rid of the permission slips. Even though the book series has ended, there is still controversy over it

There are many lists of censored books that come out every year; one of those lists is the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000. On this list the Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger ranks at number 13. Forever by Judy Blume ranks at number eight and the Harry Potter series by R.K. Rowling ranks at number seven. Catcher in the Rye is censored because of the incidents of depression, nervous breakdown, impulsive spending, sexual exploration, vulgarity, and other erratic behavior. Mainly these are problems that go against traditional American values. Judy Blume’s, Forever is censored because of its sexual content involving two high school seniors and their decision to have sex for the first time. Lastly, Christian activists are vocal about the Harry Potter

The question of censoring the Harry Potter books is a great debate among parents, children, teachers, and librarians. Parents always have the final decision of whether or not their own children will read the books, but when parents try to censor the books from all children, as in taking action to get it banned from a library or school, they step over the line and infringe upon the rights of other children and their parents. A mother and father know their own child best; they should be able to predict how their child will react to the contents of the story. They need to make sure that their children are at an age where they can handle all that is contained in the tale. This is how it should be with all literature. If parents do not want to have their own children read the book, then censoring the book is what they should attempt to do. However, they do not have the right to censor it for anyone else’s children. In addition to the parents’ decision, children should also be able to have some say in what they read. If they wish to read the books against the will of their parents, then that is an issue they need to work out with their parents. Parents can only guide a child so far, and eventually at some point they will have to learn to trust their children’s decisions.

Even though censorship has been around for centuries, some may think that it has been eradicated. In today’s day and age, it 's running rampant, especially in young adult literature. In 2014, 331 books were challenged. A lot of the books that were censored or challenged were by parents, public libraries, private and public schools. 35% were challenged by parents. The reasons those books were challenged is because the topics of homosexuality, suicide, being sexually explicit, drugs/smoking/alcohol, and being unsuited for the age group. (2014 Books Challenges Infographic) To define it, book censorship is the official examination and suppression of certain books or parts of books that some deem to be unacceptable. (Censorship in Young Adult Literature - Video.)Some popular banned books are The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger. All of these books are very iconic; some were made into into billion dollar movie franchises. The Harry Potter franchise even has its own theme park in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios. The Twilight Saga has a convention every year in Forks, Washington where the movie was shot, called “Twilight Forever” where fans, the movie actors, and even get to meet Stephanie herself. On top of that all of these franchises have merchandise like wands, t-shirts, pins/buttons, cookbooks, and blankets. These books have changed the course of young

Mainly the parents of the children, who choose to read these series, have questioned Harry Potter. One of the biggest reasons why is because of religion. For those have read the books we all know it is about a boy who utilizes magic in order to fight any obstacle that comes his way. You might wonder why magic is capable of banning a book. Well the answer is because magic is seen as a form of witchcraft that is not tolerated by some religions. Some of the religions that were highly affected were Christianity, Evangelicalism and Muslims. In their religion witchcraft is seen as a form of interaction with the devil or a form of aid from him. Many parents believe that interacting in some way with supernatural forces leads children to the evil world (Maughan). We are not talking about stage magic, but really about the magic that can cure animals and people or help improve crops and land. The type of magic that we are speaking in behalf of being the type where people utilize spells to meet their goal no matter what it is. Magic is depicted as negative because it can do things that only the lord is said to do and not otherwise. There is although a bad side of the magic.