The
debate of whether books should be banned or not has been around for
years. There are many people who think that there are books that
definitely need to be banned, that need to be locked away from the
eyes of the public. Others believe that no book should ever be
banned., that it is a crime to ever try to steal knowledge from a
human being. I agree with the latter of the two. I believe that no
book (specifically young adult book) should ever be banned.
One of
the reasons that no young adult book should be banned is that it's
not one person's duty to tell another person what they should and
should not read. The only person who can decide what a teen can read
is their parents or guardian. As said in “Teen Fiction Plots Darker
and Starker,” “The parents' job is to help children decide what
they should read”. This shows that it's not one person's job to
decide what one should read and not read, only the parents' job (at
least for teens). I completely agree with this statement since it's a
parent's job to watch over their children, not a stranger's job.
Also, when a book is brought up into the eyes of people who want to
ban it, it's usually started by one person who didn't think this book
was appropriate for teens. This shows that usually a ban is brought
on by a single human being trying to force their opinions on others.
Another
reason why young adult books should never be banned is that it
actually helps out teens in stress. This is shown by the fact that in
an article by Sherman Alexie he writes that a girl who dealt with
problems discussed by Alexie's book said she was helped by the book.
She said that the book helped her deal with the problems she was
facing. In fact, other teens from all around the world with different
problems have said the same thing about different books, that some
novels actually help the deep-thinking mind of the modern teen. They
have said that reading these books have provided tips for getting
through these dark problems. Other teens have said that these books
provide a connection, that they let them share their pain with an
imaginary charcter. This shows that instead of darker young adult
books being bad for a teen, it actually helps the teen and gets rid
of stress.
Some
might argue that these kinds of books actually introduce teens to
these terrible subjects and causes them to want to partake in them.
However, for the most part, this is incorrect. As people become more
open with their children, more and more teens already know about
these subjects. Most teens know about everything an adult would know
about these days. This shows that these books do not (for the most
part) introduce teens to these dreaded topics. Teens are already
familiar with these situations and are being helped by these books
everyday through tips given by the author and/or connections to the
characters in the book.
In
conclusion, I believe that no young adult book should ever be banned.
In fact, I think that the blocking-off of books actually prevents
teens from gaining knowledge. Without these kinds of books, some
teens won't be able to live just because they have nothing to help
them get through the pain they feel everyday.
No comments:
Post a Comment