Laura Murphy wants people to know that she is no book burner . . . just a book banner. The Fairfax County mother of four has been campaigning to ban the Pulitzer-prize-winning American novel “Beloved” from the school system due to its depictions of bestiality, rape, and murder. She says that her teenage son read the book as a senior in his Advanced Placement English class and was traumatized with nightmares as a result. Now she wants to ban the book for any child to read.
“Beloved” depicts the harrowing life of a mother who killed her child to protect it from a life in bondage. In receiving the Pulitzer prize, the citation says that Toni Morrison wrote “novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, giv[ing] life to an essential aspect of American reality.” That however is a bit too much reality for Murphy. She has campaigned for six months to ban the book and school board members are now reading the book as part of the long appellate process.
The fact that this book is being read by seniors in advanced placement English is a particularly important fact. Murphy’s son is one year from college and being sent into the world as an adult. He wanted to take advanced English which deals with a higher level of reading and reading material. Even if his mom succeeds in banning this book, he will face the same nightmares in college where such books are common.
I respect Murphy’s commitment to her child and her work as a member on school committees. However, her protection of her son from these forms of literature does not serve his interests any more than banning it for others. These books can shock and disturb students. However, they also challenge their preconceptions and expose them to extraordinary writing. Indeed, it is Morrison’s passion and skills as a writer that produces such intense responses.
Murphy insists that “I’m not some crazy book burner.” No, she would be a book banner who (for students and teachers wanting to read this book in school) is like a book burner without the fire.
Source: Washington Post
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I guess the $10,000 is why are there some books that make it into the system that are garbage anyway? I don’t know anything about this book so I don’t know if it is garbage or not, but perhaps there isn’t a good filter on what is selected to be in the school libraries. They won’t need to be banned if they’re filtered out of the system from the start, right? Common sense.
Satan was filtered out of Gods presence. That is all he can think of through people. Nothing bad about what I call zoosexuality. Hate sensationalizes it to make people give an evil eye. Had people be godly minding their own business all would be peace, but devils dispise peace preferring turmoil
Malisha, Excellent post, definitely one of your best and you have a lot of good ones.
I read Beloved when it first came out. It stayed with me for days.
I envy Mike S. uncensored reading. I read everything I could get my hands on, but sometimes I had to sneak into closets to find it! Zane Grey books have scenes that are with me still, but I read every one of them that the library had. Right after all the Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew was age appropriate. Not so sure about the Zane Grey. Lady Chatterley’s Lover was an under-the-covers read. Not sure where I got it from. Ban a book and increase sales. Beloved is an excellent choice for book club discussion.
Bettykath,
In 9th grade I did book reports on “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, “Lolita” and Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer”. My teacher loved the fact that someone in the class was reading books at a higher level than the “Black Stallion”. The other students were perplexed and hadn’t heard of most of those books. However, I also read all of Zane Grey, handed down from my brother and even read “The Hardy Boys” serial. My tastes have always been eclectic.
The president thinks guns are the problem. Think that , and people with a dead soul will be a problem retaliating to make dead bodies with a weapon that is not alive. It would be a person with a dead soul in them making dead people. All of this happens because people do not consider the soul not valuing it. Devils do not value their soul.
travelinglimey:
I strongly suggest that Scientology is not the place to look for accurate information on mental health care. But nice try.
What OS said.
You’re talking gibberish id707. Your statements don’t have any substantive content. They lack evidence and logical cohesion. They are the equivalent of a sandwich board shouter standing on the corner shouting about Skittles are a plan to make our children into homosexuals and undermine the fabric of our nation.