Banning To Kill A Mockingbird In Schools Essay

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Ban Killing a Mockingbird in Schools “One of the prominent issues with the book is that it feeds into the narrative of the “white savior,” portraying people of color, black people specifically in this case, as helpless and unable to stand up for themselves. In most classrooms across the country, Atticus is discussed as this “savior character” (Jade Von Doepp, 2022). To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a Southern Gothic fiction that takes place in a small town of Maycomb, Alabama. It's believed Lee wrote the book based on his childhood, where his father was a lawyer. The novel was published in 1960 and was “critically praised as a child's awakening to racism and prejudice” (Laura Fine 2024). Additionally, the novel is about two white southern …show more content…

The question is: what can 9th grade students learn from this book? Perhaps it teaches them about racial injustice; it teaches them about the innocent killing of black men. Or perhaps it teaches our black students how if you're innocent, you will still get punished. Ultimately, no matter your innocence, their fate is set in stone, and written in black and white. Furthermore, the novels feed into the social perspective of the white savior, and the inability of the black community to stand up and fight. They are made vulnerable, weak, and inferior to the white man. Although the book has teachable moments, 9th grade students are too weak minded, and immature to be reading such a racist book that contains the extremely offensive “N” word. Why must Belle Chasse choose such a book, when there are many coming of age books that can teach the same lesson? Let's be honest, what can the students relate to while reading the novel? The Great Depression, how corn didn't make money, or maybe how the white man had black house maids? Must Belle Chasse still feed into the racist injustice that is still present to this day within our own town and community, and that includes the schools as