THE FREEDOM TO OFFEND

How to turn the page on the resurgence of book banning

While book banning dates back centuries, the practice of removing literature from public view has recently returned with a vengeance. For decades, books perceived to be too “sexually explicit,” containing “offensive language” or “unsuited to any age group” were the top reasons for banning books in the United States.

But modern-day bans are more preoccupied with books addressing topics such as racism, racial justice, and shared stories of people of color and LGBTQ+ content. A recent story in Vox found that the American Library Association believes the rise of book bans is the tip of a deeper iceberg: a growing movement on the right to use the levers of local and state governance to control teachers and push an ideologically slanted vision of what children should learn about American culture, society, and history.

The best revenge? Make it a point to add a banned book or two to your summer reading list. Ironically, many banned books are also considered some of our nation’s literary classics. If your school banned them when you were a student, you could be missing out on essential literature masterpieces.

Here’s a list of some of our favorite banned books for you to discover or re-read.

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, by J.D. Salinger. One of the most banned book in US high schools, Salinger’s masterwork follows an expelled student’s exploits in NYC. While it checks off every reason for banning, it’s tame in this day and age.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, by Anthony Burgess. A dystopian novel that illustrates a terrifying future featuring violence, rape, homeless children, and terror of living in an impending world of bedlam.

A FAREWELL TO ARMS, by Ernest Hemingway. Considered a classic by today’s standards, that wasn’t the case when first published in 1929. Featuring frank scenes involving sex and the terrors of war, this book was banned by schools and libraries. Even the U.S. government labeled it “dangerous.”

THE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath. This semi-autobiographical novel has been banned for profanity, exploration of mental illness and its coverage of both suicide and sexuality. Published in 1963, another prevailing factor for its controversy is that the book rejects “classic” ideas of a woman’s role as both mother and wife.

ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, by Mark Twain. Huck Finn, a protagonist who pre-dates Holden Caufield, was a rebellious teenager who fakes his own death to escape an alcoholic father and throughout the book challenges the mores of society. The book was banned on the recommendation of public commissioners in Concord, Massachusetts, who described it as racist, coarse, trashy, inelegant, irreligious, obsolete, inaccurate, and mindless.

LORD OF THE FLIES, by William Golding. Although the main characters are kids forced to survive on a tropical island after a plane-crash, the story examines human nature and how violence builds and becomes almost necessary in order to stay alive.

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, by George Orwell. Orwell’s dystopian novel examines a world of unending war and government surveillance. Free thinking was outlawed. This book was strongly criticized for a pro-communist stance and explicit sexual material.

FARHRENHEIT 451, by Ray Bradbury. This novel was inspired by the McCarthy era that followed the Red Scare in the United States. Bradbury’s story, which is named for the temperature at which paper will burn on its own, focuses on Guy Montag’s journey from book-burning fireman to a book-reading rebel. The oppressive society in which Montag lives attempts to eliminate all sources of complexity, contradiction, and confusion to ensure uncomplicated happiness for all its citizens.

THE HATE U GIVE, BY Angie Thomas. A recent entry on the top banned books list is Angie Thomas’s debut novel The Hate U Give. It’s the story of a black teen who witnesses the police shooting of a childhood friend. Critics have attacked it for being “pervasively vulgar” and for the depiction of drug use, profanity, and offensive language.