Harry potter and censorship
Literature that children are exposed to often gives them ideas and provokes them to think and draw their own conclusions about things, it also provides a necessary escape from reality for them. This is why censoring children's books can be rather destructive to their developing minds. If the tools with which kids are given to sharpen their minds are banned, then a little part of their education is stolen from them. With every theft of knowledge the future is too robbed of possibility, and these days books are being pulled off of school shelves faster than ever. "From 1991 to 1994 the number of formal demands for the removal of books from public and school libraries has increased by more than fifty percent (Staples, 1)." At this rate America's libraries will soon have devastatingly small children's sections without any real literary content. Without people in our society who can think and react for themselves than things cannot change, whether the change is for the best or the worst, life would become very repetitive. Parents are not alone in the battle against questionable reading material. There are many religious groups who make it their personal mission to rid America's libraries of books they see as dama
Between the pages of Rowling's first novel in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, lies a story with brave heroes and evil villains. Instead of teaching anti-Christian and immoral values, as according to some parents, it teaches that evil sometimes lurks in the least expected places and good can hide much the same. For instance in the end of the novel it is Quirrell who is responsible for letting Voldemort inhabit his body, nobody suspected the quiet, reserved Quirrell to be so hungry for power. Also the suspected villain Professor Snape turns out to be the one who saved Harry's life in the Quiddich match. Another positive message is that studying helps in real life. It is Hermoine who often saves the day with her immense knowledge of magical spells, and characteristics of plants. All of her knowledge comes from having enough self-discipline to study hard and remember things she reads. The religious groups against the novel have focused only on the fact that the book deals with magic, and probably have not bothered reading past the cover. If they had, they would begin to see that many of the values and morals that they hold sacred are shared in Rowling's book. The villainous characters in the book range from the typical school yard bully, Draco Malfoy, to the purely evil Voldemort. Although certain scenes in The Sorcerers Stone are frightening, they tend to deal with fictitious events, such as Qurriell drinking unicorn blood in the dark forest. This and the final encounter with Voldemort were by far the more frightening scenes, but is a child really going to believe that underneath turbans are evil monster heads? Or that there are such things as centaurs? Many school districts however do not care about good and evil characterizations. Their feeling is that if a certain idea is expressed in a book, the school is responsible for teaching it to that child. The reasons for censoring a book range from having satanic content to anti family values. The censors feel that wizardry is a threat to their children, so in fear of a book they probably have not read, they just decide to ban it, and save the hassle of reviewing it in the school board. Profanity is another major reason that schools are pulling books from the shelves at an alarming rate. Words that are demeaning or considered destructive and the books containing them are a sure target for many of the religious groups who support the censoring of children's literature. Words such as "good god, crap,
Some common words found in the essay are:
Harry Potter, Potter Literature, Sorcerers Stone, Professor Snape, Excellence Education, Robin Brancato, Kenosha Wisconsin, Potter It's, Riding Hood, Michael Wilhoite, harry potter, books banned, escape reality, censoring children's, christian coalition, book range, rowling's novel, books pulled, religious symbolism, excellence education,
Approximate Word count = 1696
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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