Insights from Banned Books

One insight I have learned so far about banned books is that the goal of these books is not to solve any issues but maybe make people aware of what is going on in the world and in teenagers' lives. These banned books expose children to different ideas and values. For example, The Hate U Give is a great novel because it gives teenagers and anyone who reads the book an insight into police brutality and code-switching, to name a few. My first time reading The Hate U Give was in this class but I wish it could have been a book that I was required to read in high school. I never really understood the extent of police brutality and racial profiling. But, racial profiling has always been a hateful aspect of our society and I wish I could have learned about it earlier than I did. The same goes for code-switching. I knew about assimilation and how it is deep rooted in US society, but I never understood how black people feel that they have to change their language and the way that they act in front of white people until I read this book. I think that the knowledge I gained from reading The Hate U Give is important because it made me more aware of the world around me, including the continuation of racism through assimilation and racial profiling.

 Another insight I have learned while reading banned books is that sad and uncomfortable stories can help liberate society. What I mean by this is that we are able to build a more just world if we know what type of world we are trying to build. So, we need to learn about uncomfortable stories so we can create a world where they do not exist. The Color Purple author Alice Walker gives the audience a realistic and honest portrayal of Celie’s life. Celie experienced rape and abuse from the men around her in her life. But, Walker does not leave the violence out of her story. She writes about the uncomfortable things to give her audience a real perspective of what some women experienced in the 20th century. Violence was a part of Celie’s story and learning about this helps us imagine a world without it.