Blog Post 8- Books Should Not Be Banned Essay

Steven Sinchi

Ms.Galang

ELA

December 14, 2014

Books Should Not Be Banned: The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Several challenges against books have been promoted in recent years , but what those people don’t know is that they are limiting information from all. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is about Charlie, an adrift fifteen year-old who is trying to cope with growing up and adjusting to society. As a teen, Charlie is faced with high school and its “unsettling nature.” This book is one of a few being challenged. Fortunately, popular events, such as “Read Out,” an event in which banned books are publicly read aloud, and Banned Books Week, a week full of protecting books that should not be banned. Banning books restricts valuable, substantial, and meaningful information from all.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower comes from the perspective of Charlie, an aloof teenager lost in the way that society works. Charlie experiences multiple tragedies and explains them in detail. His view gives raw, real, and uncensored ideas, which is exactly what teenagers go through when transitioning to the phase of maturity. This book was aimed towards teenagers. In an interview, Chbosky shared what would happen to teens if ignored, “If we didn’t talk about sex and we didn’t talk about drugs, and all these other things that impact teenagers’ lives, literature would still reach teenagers. But the ones having problems in these areas would be totally left in the dark, and would unfortunately be more ignorant.” Chbosky claims that his responsibility was to guide teeangers by providing a way for teens to relate. Former teacher Maria Burel states that it’s wrong to censor  or ban books from kids. “They need books that deal with their physical and emotional awakenings and the turbulence of adolescence...Because somewhere, there’s a child dealing with scary issues...impacted by war, eaten by hurt, living with fear... we've ALL experienced middle school and know how horribly confusing that time can be. John Whitehurst, chairman of the English department at Antioch High School, claimed that, “[these banned books are] filled with positive, life affirming messages and has an especially strong anti-alcohol message…[the main character] uses this language to express his own feelings to himself… the protagonist in the story is a boy who is quite engaging, it would appeal particularly to those reluctant readers.” Burel and Whitehurst asserted the fact that teens are going through a difficult time, and books are an escape, a solution to their worries of growing up, making it aimed towards teenagers.

When banning books, the challengers are not only denying access from one family, but to a whole community. This is improper because a piece of literature is being taken away from all, causing an unbalance to what a student who has permission from their parents to read these types of books. Angela Maycock, assistant director of the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, argues that books and material from a library should have free access for all. Maycock states that, “If there is one person in the community who could benefit  from a book, it is a crime to remove it.” What this means is that a parent has the right to limit the kinds of book their child can read, but that parent should not block this material to all other children. In addition, challenges are mostly because of authoritative figures who don’t want teens to have access to “mature” information. These figures want the teens to “mature” and then read this information, but this is only contradicting their point because they won’t be mature without reading the material. This is why books should be restricted from some, but not banned from all.

Perks masterfully shows coming of age in the eyes of a teen, a time in life that everyone goes through. It shows Charlie observing society’s, “offensive or sexually explicit language, their religious views, their portrayal of homosexuality, nudity, sexism,” just to name a few of real-world concerns. In contrast, parents find observing into these situations as, “lewd, obscene, and/or lascivious,” and so they do what they can to protect the innocence of their children. But in doing so, they deny the inevitable, produce ignorance in kids, and teach intolerance to children. In Chbosky’s own words, “I would think for parents, with the way that society is now, that they would prefer some of these issues to be discussed in a much more structured setting, as opposed to keeping them in the dark. The more you talk about it, the more you take away its power and its mystery, and people can make much more informed and mature decisions about these things. But most parents don’t want to admit these things exist, and they want to deny that these things exist, so they will blame the book or the TV show or the movie.” In other words, authority tries to hide the blatant truth, which only makes matters worse since these ‘innocent’ children would not understand what is happening around them. Some parents might have thought that censoring books was a good thing for teenagers, but it is not because it teachers intolerance, ignorance, and confusion.Coming of age is something everyone goes through and it should not be ignored.

In retrospect, books like The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky should not be challenged because they were targeted towards teenagers, it takes access from all, and because they show coming of age. What students, parents, authors, scholars, and teachers should do is make a curriculum related to challenged books (with permission), and study why they might be challenged. These authority figures are invited to events like “Read Out” and Banned Books Week for in depth perspectives. This doesn't only benefit an individual or even a school, but for society as a whole.

Bibliography:

1. Beckerman, Marty. "An Interview with Stephen Chbosky." An Interview with Stephen Chbosky by Marty Beckerman | Word Riot. Word Riot, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
2. Burel, Maria. "Banned Books: I "Get It" (But Won't Support It)." Once Upon a Story. N.p., 22 Sept. 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
3. Fuller, Ruth. "Some Parents Seek to Ban 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian'" Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 22 June 2009. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
4. "American Library Association." American Library Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.
5. "Banned Books: Reasons for Banning Books." Reasons for Banning Books. Butler University Libraries, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Blog Post 7- Social Awareness Project

Steven Sinchi       811

Table of Contents:

Overview of the Project......................................................................................................1

Photograph Analysis and Interpretation.............................................................................2

Observing Surroundings.....................................................................................................3

Reading Response............................................................................................................................4

Works Cited.......................................................................................................................................5

Social Awareness Project-

Overview of the Project

For my social awareness project, I purposefully chose three different topics and social issues in the world to show different ways of looking at them. In the project, I observed the topics of religious pressure, controversy related to race, and death penalty. When I wrote this project, I kept in mind that a goal I wanted to use throughout is looking at these social issues from different perspectives, and it was effective for me because I realized that problems in society are complex and by looking at it through different lens, I could develop new meanings to past problems.

Social Awareness Project-

Photograph Analysis and Interpretation

In this picture, the tragic event of the bombings on September 11th, 2001 happened. The photographer, James Nachtwey, took a picture of the crucifix on a church, and the disastrous clouds of the debris from the collision of the plane and the Twin Towers. On the left hand side, an apartment building is on the point of being obliterated, and on the right hand side, there is the another apartment and one of the Twin Towers. In addition, the sky is full of smoke on the left, and clear blue on the right. It can be inferred that the clouds are about to consume everything in its path, including the cross.

First off, this picture can just be considered a coincidence that the cross representing Jesus Christ is about to be knocked off the building by the doings of alleged Muslims. This represents many meanings having to do with religious issues, political issues, reasons behind terrorism, and much more that do with a more personal topic. For example, a prominent reason in why the terrorists did what they did was because they believed that Allah told them to do it, and in doing so they will immediately go to heaven. This can be related to the picture, because the picture shows a dark cloud of ash about to destroy the symbol for Christianity, causing controversy to this situation as a whole. In addition, James Nachtwey must have taken this picture quickly due to the intensity of the situation, so he might have taken this picture on the fly, but also, he must have had a reason to take this picture. I predict that the reason he might have taken this picture is to prove that religion may have been the driving force of this catastrophe.

This photograph/work of art has made me feel like a lot of problems in the world are happening because of religion, and since religion is an enormous subject, the problems and the dangers are going to be great as well. This makes me wonder if more controversial issues like these will happen, and if so, will religion be the driving reason or an aspect of why it might have happened?

Social Awareness Project-

Observing Surroundings

In the past few weeks, on the news and in conversations, the controversy of the whole Ferguson situation increased, and it was because of what people believed was great injustice in the aftermath of the problem. Michael Brown, 18, and Dorian Johnson, 22, shoplifted a pack of cigarettes, and while leaving to return to their destination, Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson tried to stop both of them, and some sort of confrontation had occurred between Brown and Wilson. After that, Brown was shot by the officer. In the end, no charges were pressed against Wilson.

This tragedy happened in Ferguson, Missouri, a location known for the place of multiple protests, violent confrontations with authority, and a lot of controversy. There can be several issues seen in this, for instance violent protests can be less violent and taken through a nonviolent method of sending the same message. In addition, police aggression and brutality is another injustice that many are fighting against. When events like this happens, usually the area cries for morality and there would be multiple confrontations with police and angry protesters. No definite solutions can be placed so that these never happen again, but there can be ways to prevent many from happening and the response after. Solutions to issues like these can be looked at in many perspectives, but some of them can be controlling police brutality, especially among the African American community. In addition to this, instead of violently reacting to authority like the Ferguson community has shown in some cases, nonviolent ways can be practiced so that nobody gets hurt after the incident.

Social Awareness Project-

Reading Response “To Kill Or Not To Kill”

 
     The death penalty in the United States is becoming a topic that everyone is beginning to wonder its reasons and why we should keep it or not. "To Kill Or Not To Kill," by Patricia Smith explains the entire controversy on examining the death penalty in the United States and whether it is reasonable and why or why not. The author wants the readers to know both sides of the argument and supporting details on why those arguments make sense, such as the death penalty being constitutional or unconstitutional, why government should or should not put people to death, does the death penalty discriminate against minorities, and various other reasons.

      The author of the article isn't emphasizing any point to the extreme, but in the passage, more is being talked about the numbers of the people that have been executed and how death penalty causes "significant problems." It may be that the author is biased towards the banning of death penalties because maps, graphs, cartoons, and a timeline all lean towards people wanting to get rid of death penalties. For example, the timeline shows different times in history where law has been edited and changed so that death penalty would be less and less of what it is, a punishment. "1972. Imposed a nationwide moratorium on the death penalty, which the court said was being applied in an arbitrary and inconsistent manner." "2002. Barred the execution of the mentally disabled." "2008. Restricted the death penalty to crimes in which the victim is killed, or cases of treason." In addition to this, the author puts two great points on why death penalty should be banned, and only one of why it shouldn't, "'The death penalty really is declining and on its way out.'" After this con about death penalty, one quote supports the other side of the argument. "'There are some crimes from which any lesser punishment is not punishment.'" After this quote, a quote by the President is placed to add some more bias, "'We have seen significant problems- racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty... situations in which there were individuals on the death row who later on were discovered to have been innocent because of [new] evidence.'" In addition to this, words that have stronger judgement to it are horrific, terribly, torture, innocent, inadequate, inconsistent with basic American values, cruel, punishment, striking, guttural, mishaps, succumbing, and other words that support the debate against death penalty.

      This article has changed my way of thinking that everyone wanted the death penalty, but as shown in the article, the pro death penalty side is sharply decreasing and more people are supporting the act of abolishing death penalties once and for all. This now makes me think differently about our government and why it makes the decisions it makes (ex. basing something off the constitution). If I were to continue to research, I would make sure to look out for biased articles, because I will most likely get information and arguments from both sides of the controversy.

Works Cited-

1. "Photographer James Nachtwey Biography -- National Geographic." National Geographic. Canon, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
2. Nachtwey, James. "James Nachtwey." James Nachtwey. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.
3. Clarke, Rachel, and Christopher Lett. "What Happened When Michael Brown Met Officer Darren Wilson." CNN. Cable News Network, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.
4. Smith, Patricia. "To Kill Or Not To Kill." Upfront 17 Nov. 2014: 8-11. Print.