Censorship: Mice and Men

Persuasive Essay # 3450

Hot Topics > Censorship
Law > Constitution
Political Science > U.S.

Book banning violates the first amendment's right of freedom of speech.

1,520 words () | 7 sources | 2001 United States

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Paper Summary:

This paper describes censorship and the first amendment's right of freedom of speech. The author argues that not only book banning violates that right, but also students are denied the ability to develop critical thinking. In order to support this argument, the author uses an example "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck.

From the Paper:

"The whole concept of book writing is that the readers be able to develop the analytical abilities required to critically assess what they see and experience in life. Books are a form of media that allow the reader to develop imaginative powers and increase their comprehension and cognitive skills. Researchers have found that when exposed to Literature at an early age a child develops better critical powers later in life. So if literature has such a profound effect on people why censor it? The list of potential books to be banned include: "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, Mark Twain's classic, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

To ban a book is taking from the students and the readers the right to determine on their own individual level whether what they are being exposed to in the book is right or wrong. Banning a book and censoring it is taking from readers their right to a decision and thus, compromising their fundamental right as depicted in the First Amendment."