Examples Of Censorship In To Kill A Mockingbird

Improved Essays
Censorship Essay
“We must teach students about their First Amendments rights rather than restrict their use of a particular books and materials. As educators, we must encourage students to express their own opinions while respecting the views of others.”- Pat Scale. Censorship is the editing of the media to control public access to whole or specific media text. One individual disagreement or even widespread dispute over an idea or form of expression does not justify restricting access for others to the same information. We cannot build character and courage by taking away human initiative and independence limiting one’s ability to freely decide what content is appropriate would take away the meaning of freedom. While many in society give
…show more content…
The novel tells the story of the lives of Scout and her brother, Jem, children growing up in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Along with their summer friend, Dill, the children become entranced with the idea of getting a glimpse of their reclusive and unseen neighbor, Boo Radley. Meanwhile, their attorney father, Atticus Finch, has decided to defend Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a local white woman, Mayell Elwell. The children get caught up in the trial, in which Tom is convicted and eventually killed trying to escape from prison. Jem and Scout become the targets of Bob Elwell, the father of Mayell, who tries to kill them one Halloween night on their way home from school, but Boo Radley--who the children have never seen--shows up to save them, killing Bob in the …show more content…
It shouldn’t be banned those themes exist in real life as well, and we can’t erase them from history. It has many important values imbedded in the story for us to learn, as well as a lot to teach us about our history. To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel for older students to read, it shows us good values and how racism and prejudice shaped the county of Maycomb. It also teaches us about this period of time in our history, during the great depression and before the laws against segregation were passed. Banning this book from schools will deprive the students from a classic novel with a story about people and their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Censorship is, by definition, the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts. One big form on censorship is book banning. One book that is included on the banned book list is James and the Giant Peach by Henry Selick. The book is about a boy named James who, after the unfortunate death of his parents thanks to a rhino, is forced to live with his cruel aunts- Spiker and Sponge. For years, James, who was merely 4 when he moved in with his aunts, was starved, beaten, forced to sleep on the floor in the attic, and treated like a nuisance.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Atticus Finch Stereotypes

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the small town of Maycomb, Mississippi, the issues of racism, prejudice, and stereotypes are prominent in the lives of many characters in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The main characters Scout and Jem are the children of Atticus Finch a well esteemed lawyer with an admirable heart, unlike most of the unjust white men in the story. Jem, Scout, and their close friend Dill are full of curiosity, vigor, and credulity; they are often found scouting out the Radley Place in search of the Boo Radley, who is quite vicious and psychotic, according to local stories and stereotypes. During the summer, the children try leaving notes, attempt to sneak a peek into the Radley place, and even create a game based off of the manic stories of Boo, but each attempt is to no avail and results in chiding from Atticus for…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The author tells us how censorship effect citizens in today’s society. Beatty states, “All of those chemical balances and percentages on all of us here in the house are recorded in the master file downstairs.” The author states how people deal with censorship. This book shows readers, how censorship can be bad and good in many people’s lives. People in this society should not be under censorship.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nelle Harper Lee, mainly know as Harper Lee was an American Novelist pulitzer prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960. Lee was studying law and following in her father 's footsteps, then she decided she wanted to be an author. She used many experiences from her childhood, growing up in Monroe Alabama, which included many Civil Right influences. The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 about the events surrounding the Salem witch trials. Miller was an American screenwriter who liked to bring in the sicingcates of politics in the timezone of his writings and like Lee a pulitzer prize winner.…

    • 2721 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Those against the censorship believe that students cannot be sheltered from the situations in the book. Additionally, students can learn moral lessons on the basis of respect and intolerance. Nevertheless, both arguments are neither correct nor incorrect, as the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, art, and expression. The U.S. Constitution states that, “congress shall make no regulation that respects and establishment of religion, or prohibits the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,” (amend. I).…

    • 1538 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The main idea of this story is racial injustice to the South. As the first paragraph starts of her ancestors come to America was a fur trader and apothecary named Simon Finch, and he established a successful farm. It was on the Alabama river the farm was called Finch’s Landing, It supported the family for many years. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, who was a lawyer in his nea by town Maycomb, his brother Jack Finch who went to medical school in Boston, and their sister Alexandra stayed to run the landing.…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These books were challenged and banned for ridiculous reasons. The reason Huckleberry Finn was banned was because its use of the N-word made students uncomfortable reading it (Akkoc 1). Other books of it’s kind have been challenged and banned for similar reasons.…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird is a intricate historical fiction novel with a complex theme from the character of Atticus. This book tells the story of court of intrigue racism and lies, more than the small town can handle. The character Atticus, is scout’s father, and the lawyer for Tom Robinson during the court case, and he was appointed to defend Tom in a sexual assault on Mayella. The theme is one of justice can be blind and sometimes difficult to obtain. This shown by the Atticus’ struggle through the case and eventual end verdict.…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Their father, Atticus Finch, is judged by numerous people because he is a lawyer and he tries his best to defend a black man named Tom Robinson in court. Scout and Jem are living in a world of hate, prejudice, and discrimination, but Atticus continuously…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Educators teach about the 1930’s and students learn about it, and those books aren’t banned, and they teach similar things, but word them in a more pleasant way. Students read many books in school regarding the time period of the 1930’s, but To Kill A Mockingbird isn’t okay for children to read because of the language, which again has many resolutions. It is a very informative book about the conditions of the 1930’s, and how bad racism really was, compared to now. This book can show the people of this century what discrimination really was, and give them a perspective on how bad conditions truly were, so why is it still being banned? Kids don’t notice the history and the insight that they can get from this book, and they are more concerned with the fact that the book has unpleasant topics.…

    • 1467 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The novel To Kill A Mockingbird is a story about a small town girl in Maycomb, Alabama 1935, and her childhood adventures. Scout’s father, a lawyer named Atticus, takes a case of defending a black man named Tom Robinson, who was wrongfully accused of rape. Throughout the course of the book, mainly the Robinson case, Scout and her brother mature. However your can see this maturity taking a greater toll on Scout’s brother, Jem. Jem was a ten year old boy who started blooming into a respectable man.…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Jim Crow Laws and How They Were Overturned Not long after the American Civil war (1861-1865), the Jim Crow Laws were passed. The Jim Crow Laws refer to any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction period (1877) and the beginning of the Civil Rights movement (1950s). These laws were generally created for whites to avoid all contact possible with blacks by separating them in all public facilities, but also denied blacks of many basic human rights. Throughout the years that the laws were enforced, African Americans were at economic, educational and social disadvantages compared to the whites.…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Life as a Caucasian child in southern America, during the times of segregation, may seem effortless. Although, two youngsters named Jem and Scout are embedded into the ideology and realization of prejudice and racism much earlier than one may think could be possible. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel and film about a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, who lived in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. She and her brother, Jem Finch, learn about morality and many life lessons, including to not destroy something innocent. Throughout the narrative, the duo involves themselves in many complications and events such as the mystery of Boo Radley, and a court case involving an innocent African American man and their father, Atticus Finch.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Set in the South of America in the 1930’s, Scout describes her feelings as she exposed to the real world that was hidden from her when she was a child. The three main characters, Dill Harris, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley represent mockingbirds, prejudiced against because of their innocence. Dill is a character that does mature through the story as Jem and Scout do, he remains his childlike ways throughout the book, staying positive and cheerful. When Scout first meets Dill she immediately notices his peculiar appearance, she describes, “His hair was snow white and stuck to…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mockingbird not only speaks about civil rights issues, and the fact that social justice used to not happen for black citizens but it also helps people want to learn even more about these racial issues. Mockingbird is a piece of history that wouldn’t have the same meaning to those who read it if it becomes censored, the novel does use explicit language but people have to understand that words like “Nigger” were always used to describe a black person in the…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays