Banned Books: "Fahrenheit 451"

Welcome to "A Fleeting Thought" where I post relatively short and to the point book reviews and share my bookish thoughts!

It is Banned Books Week and I've been posting on my Instagram about my thoughts. Today I posted about "Fahrenheit 451" and why it is a banned book, but I wanted to expand on that a bit here!

"Fahrenheit 451" is arguably one of the more challenged books along with Orwell's "1984" and Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale". I hear a lot of people 30 years or older say "WHAT?! Why is this banned?! This was a required reading for me in high school!" Girl, I know. It was for me, too. Let's get into it.

"Fahrenheit 451" explores a dystopian world where books are outlawed and TV characters are you friend. We follow a man whose sole job it is is to find books, hidden or otherwise, and burn them. Literally. And then he comes home to a wife who spends time with her "friends" on the TV. It rings eerily similar to what our lives look like today, which is why I reckon it is so challenged.

We are often told in the US that we are number one and innovators, yet the level of suppression around literature is staggering.

Why is "Fahrenheit 451" banned or challenged?

1. "Vulgarity"

   • It is challenged under the weak argument of profane and vulgar language for words like "hell" and "damn".................. Is that ellipses enough to show you how ridiculous that argument is?

2. "Anti-religious rhetoric"

   • Burning of the Bible is mentioned within the story, so people take issue with that. The hypocrisy of it seems to go over their heads, though. It's okay to ban "Fahrenheit 451" but nothing can happen to the Bible. Let me be clear-- I don't think the Bible should be banned over "Fahrenheit 451". I'm not picking a side or a preference. Just like we can't pick and choose what we expose our children to based on whatever story fits our world or narrative best. Also, what happened between separation of church and state?

3. Additionally, mentions of violence, discussions of drunkenness, smoking, murder, and suicide. Oh, the horrors of a book depicting things that happen in the everyday world. (I hope my level of sarcasm is easily detectable.)

What gets me the most is people arguing that books like this shouldn't be in schools due to things like or similar to point number three. These things happen in the real world. People hurt themselves and each other in a variety of ways. Not every day is a ray of sunshine and I think people should know that. I think teenagers should know that. And yes, teenagers. People argue that these books are being read to elementary age students and that's why they need to be banned and that is simply not. true. To be a librarian you have to hold on to a masters. I promise you librarians, especially school librarians, care most about providing your child with age appropriate resources.

Back to these things happening in the real world. I think that books are the safest places to learn about the scariest things. In a book, you can explore what a life looks like and the dangers of substance abuse. You can recognize damaging patters between family. You can learn what grooming and SA are. You can recognize negative patterns in books and hopefully turn around and keep that negativity out of your life. You can learn to protect yourself from dangerous situations because you've seen it play out in books.

Another thing that itches my ass is the fact that the boards deciding what should be allowed in schools often aren't a board of educators. They're random parents or community members that hold no specialization in education. You wouldn't let your neighbor who is a grocery store manager diagnose you with cancer. So why are we listening to people without degrees in education tell us about what's appropriate for our children? Again, you need to have a masters degree to be a school librarian, regardless of age/grade grouping.

Books are an important and fundamental way of understanding the world around you and understanding that not all people and not all situations are singularly dimensioned. You're able to get different perspectives-- good or bad-- from books and learnnnnn from them.

These kinds of books in schools are important. It teaches us that we need to be able to analyze and learn for ourselves. We need to apply critical thinking to the situations around us and not take things at face value. BUT, an authoritarian regime does not gain favor or power from the educated. And I think that's the true reason books are being banned-- they don't want us thinking for ourselves anymore.

Yours in frustration,

Eva