To Kill a Mockingbird: Why not to ban
The book To Kill a Mockingbird has been fought over for many years. Many
people think it should be banned for its language and storyline, which in fact does not
make sense at all because 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. This 1960’s novel is a classic with what was a
controversial plot at the time. To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel and should not be
banned from schools.
The ones who believe this novel should be banned say it is because of the use of
the n-word and the overall racism towards African Americans. Obviously they don’t
understand the meaning of the story though, because the whole novel is denouncing
racism and prejudice. Even the main characters, such as Atticus, are angered over others
failure to think of everyone as equals. The story is showing just one of the ways prejudice
can stop people from making the right decision. Even though some might argue that it’s
showing African Americans in a bad light, the author is actually silently mocking the
characters who believe whites to be better blacks.
To Kill a Mockingbird is certainly a book for more mature readers; Elementary or
lower Middle School students won’t be able to understand the themes. There is no reason
why higher classes can’t handle the novel, odds are most of them have heard or seen
worse than that. If they are explained to about why this book is important, there should be
no problem. Instead, the novel will teach them good values, such as to take a stand for
what you believe in, or that true bravery is when you start something and see it through
even if you knew from the start you wouldn’t succeed. The story is filled with important
messages to learn and understand. Students mature enough to read this classic novel will
benefit from the knowledge they will gain.
Those who take the time to fully understand the story will learn new vocabulary.
The people in the 1930’s used a greater vocabulary than the people in present day. Even
the way the characters speak is very different than now. They used to speak more
respectfully to adults, and even the younger kids used a larger vocabulary. If this book
was to be banned, it would deprive the students from gaining new insight on their
language and how to speak.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during an important historical time, in the
depression and the time when segregation was normal in the south. The 1930’s were very
different from present day, and much has changed for the better. The readers might be
able to find out how life was lived back then, since it was 80 years ago. They will also
learn about the harsh reality of segregation and how it blinded people from seeing the
truth, such as during Tom Robinson’s trial. It is important for people to know our history
so that they can learn from their mistakes and prevent something as horrible as this from
happening again.
Most importantly, this story shows us how segregation, racism, and prejudice are
for the ignorant and uneducated. Even though this book was written in the 1960’s, while
people were fighting for equal rights, it still showed us how wrong the people were at
handling issues regarding same rights for whites and African Americans. Throughout the
novel, the main characters are fighting for fairness in the courts, as at least a start to end
segregation altogether. The book shows us how much this issue was fought over, and the
sort of extremely unfair incidents that would happen all the time. It is actually better that
we are reading this book in the present rather than before segregation became illegal,
because now we can actually see the injustice.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel for older students to read, because 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 differences. This
novel should instead be used in the school’s curriculum, because people of all ages have
something to gain from the experience of reading To Kill a Mockingbird.