To Kill a Mockingbird - banned
Discussion
Virginia schools ban 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' 'Huckleberry Finn' for racial slurs
I agree with the mother on one point (one would be hard pressed not to agree); there are a lot of "racial slurs" in both Mockingbird and HuckFin.
"A racial slur appears 219 times in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and 48 times in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Surely it would be the job of a teacher to explain the context of the times and prepare readers for this?
If someone can insist on banning Harper Lee's book, a strong indictment of racism in the south in the 30s, which had changed little even by 1960 when it was published, on the basis of racism, what hope is there for literature or even history?
Some no doubt will take my post as a 'Political Correctness gone mad'.
I don't think this is a PC issue, though it may well gain support from the PC Brigade, but I do believe it is insanity possibly driven by an excess of environmental Political Correctness.
That is to say, in a current environment of extreme PC.
If reading Mockingbird, or watching the 1960 film with Gregory Peck, doesn't move a person deeply, then I would suggest that person must either be dead or deeply bigoted.
I admit that HuckFin may initially seem to be a little more difficult to defend on a similar basis. It's message is perhaps somewhat more subtle in it's delivery.
I agree with the mother on one point (one would be hard pressed not to agree); there are a lot of "racial slurs" in both Mockingbird and HuckFin.
"A racial slur appears 219 times in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and 48 times in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Surely it would be the job of a teacher to explain the context of the times and prepare readers for this?
If someone can insist on banning Harper Lee's book, a strong indictment of racism in the south in the 30s, which had changed little even by 1960 when it was published, on the basis of racism, what hope is there for literature or even history?
Some no doubt will take my post as a 'Political Correctness gone mad'.
I don't think this is a PC issue, though it may well gain support from the PC Brigade, but I do believe it is insanity possibly driven by an excess of environmental Political Correctness.
That is to say, in a current environment of extreme PC.
If reading Mockingbird, or watching the 1960 film with Gregory Peck, doesn't move a person deeply, then I would suggest that person must either be dead or deeply bigoted.
I admit that HuckFin may initially seem to be a little more difficult to defend on a similar basis. It's message is perhaps somewhat more subtle in it's delivery.
Nanook said:
Goaty Bill 2 said:
If reading Mockingbird, or watching the 1960 film with Gregory Peck, doesn't move a person deeply, then I would suggest that person must either be dead or deeply bigoted.
Did you cry when you watched the Lion King or Bambi?It's a film. Based on a novel. It's fiction.
another very good example is the way that things said on this forum get a rise out of people when its clear that its fiction :lol:
But anyway they should be studying it, why its wrong and why it brings about the response it does, its very short sighted to just ban the book, no book should be banned.
Nanook said:
Goaty Bill 2 said:
If reading Mockingbird, or watching the 1960 film with Gregory Peck, doesn't move a person deeply, then I would suggest that person must either be dead or deeply bigoted.
Did you cry when you watched the Lion King or Bambi?It's a film. Based on a novel. It's fiction.
Lion King being much much later, not a drop.
In any case I said "move a person deeply", not "drive a person to tears" though I would imagine it does some people.
It's the book that has been banned from schools, not the film.
There was a good deal of personal experience involved in the writing of Mockingbird.
The wiki gives brief details To Kill a Mockingbird.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Please tell me this story first appeared on April 1st.
If only.Less than 24 hours old, multiple sources.
Foliage said:
<snip>
no book should be banned.
My principal point really, though it is 'only' at schools in Virginia at the moment.no book should be banned.
ETA
gregs656 said:
Banning TKAM for racial slurs, brilliant. So ridiculous that I wonder if the woman who made the complaint actually read the story, or just searched a electronic copy of the text and totted up the score.
The more worrying aspect might be, that school boards have apparently put in place a temporary ban, until it is reviewed.That seems to imply that the boards themselves are either poorly educated, have very poor memories, or are so deeply cowed, in that they didn't take the more obvious route of reviewing the case and making a decision before taking it off the shelves and out of the curriculum.
Edited by Goaty Bill 2 on Friday 2nd December 10:08
gregs656 said:
Banning TKAM for racial slurs, brilliant. So ridiculous that I wonder if the woman who made the complaint actually read the story, or just searched a electronic copy of the text and totted up the score.
From her statement, I would be very, very surprised if she had read it. Also from her statement, I'm guessing dumber than a bag of hammer and, very possibly, a lot less attractive too.gazza285 said:
Watched Blazing Saddles the other night...
Ah yes. The Sheriff's 'near'!One of the formative books of my youth. I was given it as a present by an uncle, one who'd been around the world and had views on racism and sexuality that are even now quite modern. Being him, after I'd read it, he discussed it with me. I then read it again. Who said 'only' fiction? If the book doesn't move you, you must be dead.
I read this after 'The Strange One' by Fred Bodsworth, again a gift from the same uncle. Both books had mature themes that can be appreciated by young teenagers.
My daughter read TKaM as one of her GCSE texts and we had a long chat about the book, what it was like in London in the 50s and 60s, how racist it was. I told her about the southern states at that time and she went off and plagued Wiki and pulled lots of books from her school library.
One strength of the book was that it made readers want more knowledge.
Great writing, great theme and if you are racist, a book to ban.
I read this after 'The Strange One' by Fred Bodsworth, again a gift from the same uncle. Both books had mature themes that can be appreciated by young teenagers.
My daughter read TKaM as one of her GCSE texts and we had a long chat about the book, what it was like in London in the 50s and 60s, how racist it was. I told her about the southern states at that time and she went off and plagued Wiki and pulled lots of books from her school library.
One strength of the book was that it made readers want more knowledge.
Great writing, great theme and if you are racist, a book to ban.
gazza285 said:
Watched Blazing Saddles the other night...
I watched blazing saddles a few.months ago, it was no where near as funny as I thought I remembered it to be, its actually quiet odd, at least for the first half hour, maybe its just me.Harper Lees book should be absolutely mandatory reading for teenagers of any background, it's a pretty universal to all cultures but just happens to be set in that time and place. Tough if you're the only black kid in thr class its being read in though, possibly, I understand that.
I cried at the Lion King which is essentially a remake of Hamlet which is essentially a mash up of a couple of Greek tragedies and some Bible tales. These stories are important, they've been with us since our earliest awakenings and inform our humanity.
I suppose, by this logic, we need to ban every creative medium that utilizes the word that only black people are allowed to utter and do so with quite monotonous regularity.
So - no more movies that touch on current black culture, no more "music" that assaults us all with the word continuously - and maybe we could start prosecuting people for using it in their everyday dialogue.
Although I'm as white as the proverbial bedsheet, a young black person called me 'nigga' this morning at the DMV. I wasn't sure whether to be profoundly offended or quietly amused.
So - no more movies that touch on current black culture, no more "music" that assaults us all with the word continuously - and maybe we could start prosecuting people for using it in their everyday dialogue.
Although I'm as white as the proverbial bedsheet, a young black person called me 'nigga' this morning at the DMV. I wasn't sure whether to be profoundly offended or quietly amused.
A case of people having not much to do in life and thinking up anything to keep themselves busy perhaps?
I'm glad they were too slow to Ban any of this funny shizzle
http://youtu.be/dKqiUxJkid8
Snoop dogs doggy fizzle televizzle
http://youtu.be/AG67D9q75K0
Or
http://youtu.be/8rpDQesf5u4
I'm glad they were too slow to Ban any of this funny shizzle
http://youtu.be/dKqiUxJkid8
Snoop dogs doggy fizzle televizzle
http://youtu.be/AG67D9q75K0
Or
http://youtu.be/8rpDQesf5u4
Rawwr said:
We read TKAM for GCSE English literature. Strangely, I can remember the story very well but can't specifically remember the racial slurs.
Words aren't offensive, context is.
There you go, you individualist, actually thinking. That ought not be allowed, you know... Words aren't offensive, context is.
Yes, actually, thinking is everything; along with simply not being a bigot... yet some people can't see what complete bol lockry the example brought to our attention by the OP is, enough to point and laugh at the source of accusation. No. Must take serious.
[sometimes at night I might wish for a large, undeflectable but, ahem, trained asteroid...]
[s
t, that makes me a bigot; and thus I'll have to dis-appear, in a puff of my own logic, after D. Adams. Bugger.]Edited by Huff on Saturday 3rd December 00:43
A lot of sense spoken.
I grew up in a place and time where the 'N' word was not entirely out of use in 'polite' company, though it was very infrequent, and it did quite naturally 'go away' before I was through my teens.
Perhaps that historical fact somewhat desensitised me to the 'N' word in these books.
It really grates to hear it now, even when spoken by blacks, and even in 'their' modern music.
Certainly none of my black friends / acquaintances (nor white of course) would ever use it.
As I said above, for me the truly worrying thing is that the temporary bans came first, rather than the review and a considered decision, following (one might have hoped) an open debate involving parents and teachers.
One might excuse this if the student age were quite young. Some books after all may not be suitable for classrooms, or unsuitable for certain age groups, but the article states "high school age".
To 'protect' children from 'bad' words at that age will only fail to strengthen them for the true battles in post-educational life.
One waits on a public decision, and the repercussions of that when it comes.
I grew up in a place and time where the 'N' word was not entirely out of use in 'polite' company, though it was very infrequent, and it did quite naturally 'go away' before I was through my teens.
Perhaps that historical fact somewhat desensitised me to the 'N' word in these books.
It really grates to hear it now, even when spoken by blacks, and even in 'their' modern music.
Certainly none of my black friends / acquaintances (nor white of course) would ever use it.
As I said above, for me the truly worrying thing is that the temporary bans came first, rather than the review and a considered decision, following (one might have hoped) an open debate involving parents and teachers.
One might excuse this if the student age were quite young. Some books after all may not be suitable for classrooms, or unsuitable for certain age groups, but the article states "high school age".
To 'protect' children from 'bad' words at that age will only fail to strengthen them for the true battles in post-educational life.
One waits on a public decision, and the repercussions of that when it comes.
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