A Critical Response To 'Censorship: A Personal View'

ENGL 1123 P18
A Critical Response to “Censorship: A Personal View” In the article “Censorship: A Personal View”, an introduction to her book Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories by Censored Writer, Judy Blume, an advocate in the anticensorship movement, shares her experiences dealing with censorship and the banning of books throughout her career as a writer of children’s books. In this article, Blume explains how being told not to do or read certain books increases temptation and desire to do the exact opposite due to curiosity, especially in children. Blume implies that the creativity of writers is blocked because they are afraid that what they write may get censored and put on the restricted shelves and never read by their targeted
audience. She also argues that the banning of books in classrooms may hinder the learning of children. While censorship is important, it should be censored to certain age groups, but available to the older age groups such as adolescents in middle school and should not affect educational material. To Kill A Mocking Bird written by Harper Lee, The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, or Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, and The Diary of Anne Frank written by Anne Frank herself are all victims of the censorship cruelty and have been banned in some schools.
What happens to the children that don’t get to read the previously named books? They do not get the opportunity to have a better understanding of history and then become ungrateful of what this country as well as other’s have went through and do not get a full understanding of the importance of our freedom. Also, it gives students the privilege of being able to see life from another’s point of view through the ability to lose themselves in the books and catch the same emotions and feelings as the characters. With the help of description and the vulgarity of books, adolescents will be able to form their own opinions and become open minded on controversial issues such as prejudices and sexuality, and not be forced to have to the same opinion of their parents or teachers. In a sense, books can very well help people to find themselves. Without books about slavery, genocide, or racial issues being available in the libraries, children will never truly understand and appreciate how lucky and fortunate they are to live in better
times. Censorship is defined as the “act of changing or suppressing speech or writing that is considered subversive of the common good” by the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Some may argue that this goes against the first amendment and their “Freedom of Speech”. Blume explains how, “Puberty became a dirty word” during the time of the 1980 election, this point is intriguing because it is a natural and normal stage of life yet it is banned and books (320). This proves how outrageously out of control the situation actually is. Censorship makes the writer not only look bad, but as if they are the bad guys which is not the case, at all. Blume faced censorship the harshest when her editor, who usually supported her, suggested she take out a line in her book, Tiger Eyes, due to a description of masturbation of fifteen-year-old girl. Blume expressed how “alone” she felt (320). Lines such as these could cure curiosity of the young, developing minds which is important because they would not have to learn from personal experience but rather learn from those of
others. In an article titled “An Exploratory Study of Children’s Views of Censorship”, Nstasha Isajlovic-Terry and Lynne (E.F.) McKechnie brought up censorship through the view of children aged six to twelve. Children were asked their opinion because “there appears to be little written about children’s perspectives on intellectual freedom and censorship, particularly when it applies to material of interest to them” (Isajlovic-Terry, McKechnie 38). During the study a twelve-year-old girl was asked her opinion on parents choosing books for their children her reply was, “I don’t think it’s a good idea … reading… is good for people and you should be able to read whatever you want. Unless it’s inappropriate, like really inappropriate.” (Isajlovic-Terry, McKechnie 40). Isajolovic-Terry and McKechnie also documented a nine-year-old, Emily’s viewpoint who stated, “’I don’t think they should stop you,’ she said. When discussing a specific instance of censorship, Emily said, ‘I still think they should let it [the book] out because I think kids should be able to read whatever they want and believe in whatever they feel like believing in’” (41). This shows proof of children recognizing censorship as unnecessary when it comes to certain types of books. If children notice this then the government, librarians, and parents should be able to as well. Just as Judy Blume states in her book, the children in the study agreed that when materials are placed in “restricted” shelves or locked up in a cabinet, their curiosity rises and intrigues the young minds even more. There may not be a solution that satisfies child, parent, government, and librarian but there are alternatives that should be explored. Maybe books should come with ratings such as PG, PG-13, Rated R, etcetera such as movies and television shows are. This way, children would be able to read whatever they wanted to as long as their parents agreed. This probably would not satisfy the children, but maybe with enough cunning and begging their parents would allow them to read the book under their supervision. If these ratings did exist, the educational books such as The Da Vinci Code or The Grapes of Wrath would only be available to the appropriate age groups. The more authors that become affected by censorship, means the more children that are missing out on valuable information that could help shape them. Children can be taught a million things but until they experience them for their selves, they will never fully understand. The reading of “explicit” books about subjects of certain instances of violence, slavery, murder, abuse and so forth can help them thoroughly understand because they are allowed to become the characters in the books and feel what others feel. If a child is being a bully and calling another child a “bad” word, reading a book about the victim of bullying may help them to realize the damage they are doing to another’s life. Children should be allowed to read what they want because every child is at different maturity levels and can handle more than others may be able to. More importantly, there should be more efforts made in order to bring the attention of books that need to be read being banned to the government. The generations to come are becoming less and less interested in books as it is due to advances in technology, perhaps the unbanning of books could help grasp their attention again and bring them back to reality.

Works Cited
Blume, Judy. “Censorship: A Personal View.” Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers. Eds. M. Clay Hooper, et al. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2011. 317-321. Print.
Isajlovic-Terry, Natasha, and Lynne (E.F.) McKechnie. "An Exploratory Study of Children 's Views of Censorship." Children & Libraries: The Journal of The Association For Library Service To Children 10.1 (2012): 38-43. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.