Biggest Takeaways

            While the texts we've read this semester have highlighted individual causes for the banning of books, I believe that the articles by Ringel and Mullally exemplify the most pervasive issues with book banning and censorship. Specifically, I believe that Mullally's discussion of the history of censorship would be most important for people newly entering the discussion to hear. In her article, Mullally compares book banning of the past with book banning today. It is through this comparison that Mullally arrives at her most important point. While book banning of the past was executed nationwide by a more-regulated agency, today it is not. Currently, book banning is an entirely individual process based on people's personal opinions. Thus, book banning of today is used primarily to restrict the ideas present within society. The fact that books continue to be banned despite the lack of authority shows how corrupt of an issue this is. In current times, book banning has become a means for the restriction of personal ideas.

In terms of the books we have read in class, I believe that Drama best highlights the most problematic aspects of book banning. Even without reading the novel, the storyline and presentation clearly establish that it is geared towards children. Additionally, after reading the novel, it is clear that there is no profanity or harmful themes present in the text. Thus, there is no rational reason for the text to be banned. Because of this, it becomes increasingly clear that the book is banned as a result of people's personal beliefs rather than any material information. I believe that the banning of this book exemplifies the ideas put forth by Mullally. Book banning is a completely unsupervised practice. In the case of Drama, it is clear that people took issue with the text because of its inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and themes. Thus, because people disagree with these themes, they believe it is appropriate to deprive all of society of the work. This proves extremely harmful, but especially for Drama since it is geared towards children who may benefit from hearing about this underrepresented theme. Thus, I believe that Drama best highlights the consequences that stem from the banning of books.

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