DMN Forbidden Books AP 2

 DMN

Forbidden Books

March 19, 2021

The Book that Cried Violence

¨Before the second world war, I believed in the perfectibility of social man… but after the war, I did not. I had discovered what one man could do to another… anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.¨ These were William Golding’s strong beliefs after spending the last two years of his life, fighting in World War 2. The sights he had seen and the people he lost gave him this strange motivation to write a book to reflect on how children would react to being put in a desperate situation close to fighting in a war. The Lord of the Flies starts with a war going on and a plane full of schoolboys trying to make it to safety crash lands on a deserted island and must fend for themselves until someone hopefully comes to rescue them. The boys quickly learn that they can not work as a unit and decide to split off into two groups. One group is focused on violence, killing, and the thrill of the hunt while the other is focused on returning to normal life at home. The two sides are driven into madness by the violence in their hearts, eventually ending in tragedy and a group of weeping boys as they sail their way back home. While The Lord of the Flies is a very interesting read, it should not be banned because of its gore and language; instead, it should be age-restricted to those under the age of sixteen.

                

The Lord of the Flies has been banned in multiple states in the US and even some provinces in Canada. One high school in San Diego, California challenged the book saying that it was ¨demoralizing since it implies that man is little more than an animal¨(Banned Classics). The high school was disturbed by the excessive violence and how it made those who read it question their own humanity. The staff didn't want to trouble the students with such topics because they found them ¨unneccary¨. Although rules for what is allowed to be read in 1981 would be quite different from those that have been set in place today.

While most people do find Lord of the Flies to be a quite intriguing read, there are still many quotes from the book’s text that make some question whether it should be read in schools or not. The kids on the island are finding it so challenging to keep their savagery in check that it comes into play when they are hunting down their food. When Jack finally pins a pig to the ground the others are ecstatic and start to chant ¨Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood¨(Golding 69).  This quote is quite problematic in the fact that the only female character referred to throughout the book is this one pig who gets its throat slit and gets cut up to be fed to the rest of the boys. The scene being looked at as not only slightly sexist but also extremely violent because of the ¨lashings of blood¨ that were said to have come out of the pig as it died. A different quote that readers might have found a bit challenging to read while still having the same message is at the end of the book. Piggy is trying one final time to conduct the boys of the island with orders, but no one is listening. Jack becomes infuriated hearing what he has to say and pushes a boulder off a hill toward Piggy. Piggy is knocked down. ¨Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red¨(Golding 181). The imagery is indeed harsh, specifying how many feet Piggy fell before landing on his back and his skull cracking open on impact was certainly imagery that made some readers step back for a moment. The quote is rather violent with the description of death and gore as Jack goes in for another kill because he can now only see his fellow boys as allies or those who stand in his way.

Despite the imagery, described the argument still stands that this book is not to be banned in high schools. The lessons and messages that this book makes its readers think about should not be shied away from. Golding once said ¨Boys do not evaluate a book. They divide books into categories. There are sexy books, war books, westerns, travel books, science fiction. A boy will accept anything from a section he knows rather than risk another sort. He has to have the label on the bottle to know it is the mixture as before¨. While the true meaning of this quote was never determined it does have quite the strong context to make us think it has something to do with the grading system of books and how if one doesn't fit that of a category already discovered those who review it and try and read it for themselves turn the other cheek because its different. This book does have some hard-hitting topics such as the morality of humankind and how we are technically all just animals when you take away the environment that makes us civil, but just because some dont particularly like to think about those topics doesn't mean we have to take away talking about them as a whole. The strong, harsh imagery wasn't put in The Lord of the Flies by accident. It's there to teach us; teenagers by the time they enter high school should already have enough social awareness that they should know what is controversial to say and what isn't. Schools should be teaching them how to have a conversation with each other about hard subjects because those subjects are real and when those students graduate they will have to know how to deal with death and violence because it is all around. An author should have the right to speak their mind, if not, why would they be writing in the first place.

Books are challenged because of the media's overarching opinion on what should and shouldn't be read. Lord of the Flies was one of these being banned for excessive violence and vulgar language. Fitting the norm isn't always the best thing, having a variety of ideas is sometimes good to have especially when it comes to different practices of self-expression and art like literature. If a book is presented to us and is offensive in content it should be debated what age restriction should be given and who is recommended to not read it. No literature wanting to be public should be hidden from us.

Sources:

Admin. “Banned & Challenged Classics.” Advocacy, Legislation & Issues, 26 Sept. 2019, www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics. 

“Banned Books: Lord of the Flies.” Teen Ink, www.teen link.com/nonfiction/academic/article/961567/Banned-Books-Lord-of-the-Flies/#:~:text=Regardless%20of%20the%20novel's%20extensive,truly%20means%20to%20be%20humane. 

“William Golding Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, www.brainyquote.com/authors/william-golding-quotes.