In the United States of America, we have been blessed with the freedom of speech. This gives us the right to speak and write our ideas and thoughts (within reason). But there is a hidden concept that still lingers among us, even now in the twenty-first century. Censorship. It isn’t very often that we think of literature being challenged or banned, so what is censorship? The First Amendment of the United States’ Constitution states that, “Congress shall make no law…prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridge the freedom of speech or of the press” (The Bill of Rights). Gabrielle Sweeney, author of “Freedom of Speech: Protections and Limitations”, there are restrictions to this right. These limitations include, “obscenity”, “speech inciting …show more content…
For instance, some novels, such as E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Gray has been challenged for being sexually explicit. (CITE?) Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been challenged for the use of offensive language. (CITE?) Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games has been challenged based on claims that the story is unsuitable for its targeted audience. (CITE?) The use of explicit sex content, the use of offensive language, and claims that a work is unsuited for its intended audience are the top three common reasons why a novel is challenged (Banned). The ALA reports in their infographic “Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2016” that forty-two percent of the people who challenge books are parents (Top). Parents will always have the protective instinct when it comes to their child(ern). When we first begin to read, it is understandable why parents would want their child(ern) to avoid certain novels. But as the child(ern) grows older, they should be granted to chance to explore ideas outside of those that they started out …show more content…
If it makes us feel uncomfortable or challenges our beliefs, we have millions of other options to choose from. Of course, sometimes a work may be incorporated into an educational curriculum. If it’s a situation where you can choose which classes to take, you may want to choose a different class if the piece of literature you are reading is challenging to you. If you cannot choose a different class (i.e. if you’re still in grade school), you can try to suggest or request to read a less challenging book for the class. But understand that, more likely than not, that the material selected to be covered in a class is required reading for a good reason. Some novels may have strong characters, others may provide good morals, some novels can be used to help explain or elaborate what people though within a time-frame. It doesn’t matter if the novel one reads is scandalous or not, but one should try to read ideas that are challenging to them to help them explore who they are and what they