Banned Book Week is fast approaching. In preparation, the Fact & Fiction booksellers have been researching, ordering, and making displays featuring banned/challenged books.
This project has me thinking about our First Amendment rights and what freedom of speech really means. It also has me thinking about the times that I have held my tongue rather than voicing my opinion, the times I have quieted my voice rather than speaking up, and also the times when my voice wasn’t heard or valued. Just how far does our responsibility in using our rights reach? And, more importantly, does the lack of utilization cause those rights to atrophy?
Banned Book Week is a celebration of the written word. I think Jean Louise (Scout) Finch put it best: “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing” (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee). I am not the first one to use this quote in conjunction of Banned Book Week. In fact, it is included as a part of the merchandise booksellers can purchase for Banned Book Week through the American Library Association. When I read the quote, however, it really struck a cord with how I view books and reading. My sister often tells friends of the time I was considering moving to Denver. I thought about limiting myself to one bookcase worth of books. The rest I was thinking of either selling or donating. But when it came time to actually get rid of them, I just couldn’t do it. In fact, I started to cry (just a little) at the idea. My sister just doesn’t understand how much books can mean to a person. My day suffers if I can’t devote a bit of time to reading, even if it’s just reading the local news while I eat lunch. I can’t imagine my life without books, which is why working in a bookstore is such a perfect job for me.
Looking over the lists of banned/challenged books, one is sure to find something they have read, and probably even enjoyed. Included on this list are classics such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. The American Heritage Dictionary was banned in 1978 in Missouri because it contained “objectionable” words. There are the high school staples such as Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Grapes of Wrath. Even Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series made it to the list of challenged books.
Which brings me to this: some of the most significant life-changing books are the ones with the “objectionable” content. They are the ones that make a person question their reality and their values, to make decisions and conclusions about how to live life. Even the Bible, the ultimate (some would think) guide to living, has been banned from some bookshelves.
I, for one, cannot imagine my childhood separate from that of Laura Ingalls. Her childhood was my childhood. Her adventures were my adventures. And I carry the pioneering spirit with me today. Her courage and strength encouraged me to push myself through challenging situations. When I joined the Peace Corps and found myself hand washing my laundry (without a washboard) or heating my bath water on the stove, I remembered that Laura had it much worse, and she survived. Silly, I know, but it helped get me through. And when I found the entire series in my school’s English library, I took the liberty of re-reading all the books. They helped me to get over the homesick-hump and the loneliness.
Some may never understand how a book can be considered a best friend. Some may never understand the joy or heartache words can bring. And some may be content with letting words sit on bookshelves. But you can bet that most of the people who protest a book’s content are not lovers of words. They are not those who have stayed up all night reading until their eyes drooped with sleepiness. They are not the ones who wander into used book stores just to open old books and feel that slight crack of an old spine, to smell the musk of the old glue and ink rising from the pages. And they are not the ones who will prolong reading a book because ending it will surely be a loss.
-Amanda Peterson F&F On Campus