Censorship - A Clash of Wills and Morals Essay -- Argumentative Persua

Censorship - A Clash of Wills and Morals A list of the greatest literature of the English language could be compiled almost solely by using a chart of the works most often censored by schools and libraries. Some people believe that the books most frequently banned consist only of trashy paperbacks and frivolous â€Å"beach-reading.† However, usually in censorship cases, there is a clash of wills and morals between the teacher or librarian who finds a work worthy of students’ and community members’ time and the parent or citizen who sees little literary value in the work of choice. Seldom is the teacher or librarian alone in thinking a work justified for reflection. More often than not, the controversial work has made it into several canons of great literature and onto several great books lists. The conclusion that may logically be drawn is that something about these controversial books is special enough to cause commotion on both ends of the critical spectrum. It may even be suggested that a book is censored for the very same reasons it is canonized. The great works of the literary canon are each striking texts that encapsulate a new voice, idea, point of view, or controversial subject matter; each of these works contains a new and exciting concept. If there were nothing striking about these works, they would never have been canonized. However, with these new ideas and points of view comes suspicion and fear. If one critic lauds a novel for giving a new perspective on a controversial issue, there is no doubt that there will also be a citizen looking to maintain the status quo and suppress these new ideas. It is quite clear that the controversial works of great lit... ....bb.com/bbbanned.cfm. Burress, Lee. Battle of the Books. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1989. Garry, Patrick. An American Paradox: Censorship in a Nation of Free Speech. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1993. Heins, Marjorie. Sex, Sin, and Blasphemy. New York: The Nex Press, 1998. Karolides, Nicholas J., Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova. 100 Banned Books. New York: Checkmark Books, 1999. Kranich, Nancy. â€Å"Develop Yourself: Expose Your Mind to a Banned Book.† American Library Association, 2000. Online. www.ala.org. Levine, Michael G. Writing Through Repression: Literature, Censorship, Psychoanalysis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. Noble, William. Bookbanning in America. Middlebury, VT: Paul S. Eriksson, 1990. Woods, L. B. A Decade of Censorship in America. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1979.