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.
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
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.
Mississippi schools makes it official
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee taken off Mississippi school reading list
Edit:
Edited for misplaced 's's
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee taken off Mississippi school reading list
Edit:
Edited for misplaced 's's
Edited by Goaty Bill 2 on Sunday 15th October 11:31
TonyToniTone said:
Goaty Bill 2 said:
Mississippi schools makes it official.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee taken off Mississippi school reading list
Still not good but Biloxi School Board pulled the novel from the 8th-grade curriculum in one school.To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee taken off Mississippi school reading list
I freely admit it was an error of my own stupid making.
Some of the comments on social media are priceless; from "generation snowflake" to claims that the "conservatives" did it to mask history, "Trump's fault", to... yes it wouldn't be complete without it: "brexit"!
Edited by Goaty Bill 2 on Sunday 15th October 11:27
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