District should tread lightly on book bans
By NewsPress Now
“You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction.”
So writes Toni Morrison in her novel, “The Bluest Eye.” Published in 1970, this novel tells the heartbreaking story of a young Black girl who longs for blue eyes, believing they will provide the love and acceptance she craves.
Set in the 1940s, the book explores themes of race, self-loathing, poverty, and family dysfunction – topics that are still relevant today. “The Bluest Eye” has become a literary contradiction in the last 50 years. It is both beautifully written and profoundly challenging. It is one of the finest novels of the 20th century and a popular target of those who seek to ban certain books from schools or public libraries.
In St. Joseph, Morrison’s novel found itself on a list of 10 books that community members want to remove from school libraries. The St. Joseph School District is in the process of reviewing each book.
District officials should listen to these concerns and conduct a thorough review, but they should tread lightly and set an extremely high bar for what it takes to remove a book from school shelves.
In “The Bluest Eye,” the objection seems to center on a plot element that involves the young protagonist being raped by her father. Here Morrison follows the advice of John Irving, another great American novelist. Irving believed a key to great fiction was to create characters that readers cared about — and then make terrible things happen to them.
It is a terrible thing that happens in “The Bluest Eye.” But it’s easy to get so caught up in this crime that you lose track of the broader themes in this book, especially the message of how young women struggle with self-worth and perceptions of idealized beauty. In this era of social media, it would be a shame if young women in the SJSD – regardless of race – didn’t have an opportunity to read this book and contemplate its powerful message.
Similar excerpts are plucked from other books to justify an outright ban. While those passages deserve scrutiny, especially for a younger audience, the SJSD has to consider the broader value of each book’s message, especially regarding marginalized groups.
The debate brings to mind an excerpt from another popular book that describes a woman (the book used another word) who lusted after lovers whose “members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses.”
That passage is from the Bible, a book that many people would want to see included in the schools. Certainly, one or two provocative passages shouldn’t diminish the overall message of faith, hope and redemption in the Bible.
While no one wants children exposed to pornography, that’s a term that even the U.S. Supreme Court is unable to define. Decisions on what to read are best left to students and parents – not shadowy community groups. Otherwise, these things have a way of devolving into censorship.
