Wallflower Censorship

1966 Words8 Pages

The First Amendment gives Americans the right to read any material they want, so the censorship and banning of books is not okay in the slightest. One of the many books that people are trying to have censored is The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a book written by Stephen Chboksy. This book has been subject to many challenges due to the amount of mature content within its pages. This mature content includes: sexual situations, drug and alcohol abuse, abuse, and mature language. Despite all of this mature content, teenagers should still be allowed to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower because it is their first amendment right to. Americans have the right to read anything they want, and the banning of any books should not be allowed. The drama …show more content…

One of which is when Charlie feels that he has been smoking too much marijuana, so instead he decides to starting consuming more alcohol. He writes, "I just drank because I figured that it was about time to stop smoking so much pot" (Chbosky 154). Substance abuse is substance abuse, and all Charlie did was switch substances. Another scene involves masturbation again, with Charlie writing, "There was this guy called "Action Jack" because supposedly he was caught masturbating at a drunk party" (Chbosky 159). Not only did “Action Jack” masturbate at a party, but he masturbated at a party where everyone was drunk. It is understandable why a parent might not want their child reading this book because of that. One of the more appreciable reasons this book could be challenged for is when Charlie tells a story about bestiality. Charlie writes, "There was a guy named Carl Burns and everyone called him C.B. And one day C.B. got so drunk at a party that he tried to 'fuck' the host's dog" (Chbosky 159). Bestiality is extremely taboo, and therefore this is one of the few reasons it would make sense for someone to challenge this book. However, it is Americans’ right to read books like this regardless of their