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on banned books and safe spaces

on banned books and safe spaces

Last updated on: December 8, 2016 at 6:07 pm by Rebecca Bratten Weiss

on banned books and safe spaces 2016-12-08T18:07:13-04:00 Rebecca Bratten Weiss

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A Virginia school district has discussed banning To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn:

In response to a formal complaint from a parent, Accomack County Public Schools Superintendent Chris Holland said the district has appointed a committee to recommend whether the books should remain in the curriculum and stay in school libraries. District policy calls for the formation of the committee — which can include a principal, teachers and parents — when a parent formally files a complaint.

As a teacher of literature, I find this move absurd. Yes, these texts contain racist material – in the sense that they depict people who are racist in thought and deed. But both novels were written not to promote racism, but to oppose it. If there is racist material, it is because a good writer doesn’t just preach “this is bad”: she paints a vivid picture of genuine human interactions, shining the searchlight of the imagination into all the secret caves where we’ve hidden our embarrassments and sins. That’s why great work makes us uncomfortable.

Of course, it could also be argued that by contemporary standards there were still shades of racist prejudice in Twain’s work, at least. And most fans of Harper Lee know now that part of the hidden irony in her story is that Atticus, the heroic lawyer, is also something of a racist himself.

But that still doesn’t mean that students shouldn’t read the work.

The point of books is not to offer escape or shelter, but to provide an avenue for encounter – even encounter with the fearsome, dangerous, or evil.

If racism, sexism, depravity, and violence are truly dangerous, part of attaining maturity means learning to understand their danger. That means understanding them in a phenomenological sense, a direct vision of the thing-itself, not a roundabout definition or description. We do not know that an act is wrong by means of memorizing rules and drawing lines in the sand. We know it by understanding the content and reverberations of the act itself.

But going forth into the world to encounter sex and violence, in order to know them more intimately, is usually not the safest way to go about it. Though, if you do, and come through alive, you may have some excellent novel-fodder yourself: this is the gift of experience and vision that our great authors have to offer us. They share of themselves by taking that which they have seen or imagined, and creating paths to dimensions and universes in which we can explore and see the extremes of human capacity.

This is why, if you sign up for one of my classes, there is a good chance that you will read a banned book. And not only because I cherish my sense of youthful rebellion and sheer cussedness: books that get themselves banned tend to be books worth talking about. If a story has the power to make waves, it probably contains conflicts and themes that have a certain gravity and significance for the human heart, for our profound questions, for our secret desires or fears. The good writer is never content simply with a surface ripple, but dives down deep. That’s why good writers so often address Ultimate and Uncomfortable things – such as sex, religion, and death.

Granted, making a “banned book” list is not sufficient to guarantee that a text is worthwhile. Occasionally books that have been banned or challenged, or about which angry letters have been written, are actually crap (Fifty Shades, anyone?) – but, it could be argued, even crap books may be worth reading, in order better to understand their influence on a culture. Perhaps the capacity soberly to read and assess any text is a hallmark of the mature and educated mind. Education is not just the accumulation of information, but the expansion of the inner places, the strengthening of our ability to see, and to assess.

And yes, books CAN be dangerous. Especially bad books. Sometimes we bibliophiles are too quick to dismiss this. But even a dangerous book can be read with relative safely, under the guide of a good teacher.

But as a serious educator one has to face – from both the Right and the Left – this prejudice that education is intended, not to expose minds to challenging ideas, but to reinforce whatever beliefs have already been taught. This is an approach to education that is driven by fear, and – unfortunately – it is found not only outside educational establishments but within them as well.

The idea of “safe spaces” is frequently mocked by the Right –though often they are the first to cry hurt feelings when opposed – and the idea of “free expression is lauded” by the Left – except for when someone freely expresses an unwelcome opinion. Yes, it is idiotic to ban works like Huck Finn. But it is just as idiotic for college students to complain to their parents about having to read a story with a sex scene in it. What’s a teacher to do?

My contention is that education must involve both safe spaces and free expression. Students should be safe from bullying and mockery – but also from being punished for controversial opinions.

Books and stories, especially the difficult and challenging and disturbing ones, provide us with the capacity to keep this balance. Within the world of a story we can talk about the things that matter without having to reveal too much about ourselves. It is both personal and impersonal. We can confront our fears in a form that makes them manageable – in words, symbols, and motifs. We can understand what the experiences of the Other are like, gain empathy for those who have brought on their own tragedies, learn the delicate balance between moral judgment and psychological understanding.

Trying to create “safe spaces” by banning uncomfortable books is not the way to do it: books themselves provide us our safe spaces.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Virginia school district

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