Phew. One day left.
I missed it last year but this year, I got in just under the wire. You remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?
Yeah. Banned Books Week = hat.
So here’s my favorite of all favorite banned books: The Catcher in the Rye which has been banned about a bajillion times.
What makes [Catcher in the Rye] especially interesting,” the BBC observed in 2003, “is that it has been banned in many countries at one time or another and still remains on the banned list in areas of the USA. As well as containing ‘vulgar and obscene language’, drunkenness, prostitution, delinquency and references to sex it has also been accused of being: ‘anti-white’ (1963 – Columbus, Ohio), being part of a ‘communist plot to gain a foothold in schools’ (1978 – Issaquah, Washington). . . .
-Daniel Jack Chasen, “Why J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye still provokes book bans”
And look what I found:
Nice, huh? That’s from the 5 Criminal Mugshots of Characters from Banned Books which you can see here.
So here are some favorites and why they were banned:
1. Autobiography of Malcom X – “how-to-manual” for crime and “anti-white statements”
2. Call of the Wild – “too radical”
3. For Whom The Bell Tolls – “spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state”
4. Grapes of Wrath – profanity (goddamn) and “spreading propaganda”
5. Great Gatsby – “sex”
6. Howl – “homosexual sex”
7. Invisible Man – “marxism”
8. To Kill A Mockingbird – “promoted white supremacy.”
9. Our Bodies Ourselves – “promotes homosexuality” and the use of the word “vagina” (I kid you not)
10. In the Night Kitchen – “baby boy’s penis.” (again, not kidding)
Penises and Vaginas. They’ll get you banned every time.
Happy Banned Books. It’s always fun to see how ignorant we can be!
Ally Malinenko 