Should The Great Gatsby Be Banned

The Great Gatsby Should Not Be Banned Among all of the challenged or banned 20th Century novels, The Great Gatsby is one of the most controversial. Flagged because of its language, sexual content, and alcohol abuse, it was banned in 1987 at a women’s Baptist college. Although there are various instances in the novel that deal with these social issues, the morals taught by them outweigh their negative attributes. The book includes many lessons that have withstood the test of time and are still relevant today. By examining language, sexual content, and use of illegal substances, it is clear that this book should not be banned. Explicit language is one of the reasons The Great Gatsby has been challenged. Although there are some curse words in the novel, they are very minor compared to what children hear in today’s society. According to the article “Banned Book Awareness,” the author argues that the language is only a minor factor in the book; “Children in the everyday real world say worse things far more frequently than adults use them…” (n.p.). Furthermore, the article “Banned Book of the Day: The Great Gatsby” says, “The language, I remember being quite mild…” (n.p.). These two quotes only illustrate further that children hear and say much worse than what is in this book. …show more content…
The problem with this is that the novel only references things that had happened in the past and did not include graphic details. Going back to “Banned Book Awareness,” the author states, “There’s not one sex scene displayed in the entire book” (n.p.). Did you know that primetime television now allows brief nudity with sexual content on their channels during times that young children are watching? Frankly, there is nothing explicit whatsoever in the novel and would be rated PG by today’s standards. Because of this, the argument that there is an overuse of sexual content is not