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You're going to lecture everyone on this book. You're going to tell people it shouldn't be read in schools. You're going to state it's about pedophilia. But you haven't actually read it.
You're going to lecture everyone on this book. You're going to tell people it shouldn't be read in schools. You're going to state it's about pedophilia. But you haven't actually read it.
I read enough of it to know that it contains sexually graphic descriptions of rapes that were deliberately written so that the reader would feel like a co conspirator in the rape (the author's claim) without passing judgment on the rapist. THAT is enough for me to know this is not a book that belongs in a high school classroom. I see zero literary value in our kids discussing why they sympathize with the pedophile as he rapes children and if you think teens will not discuss the rape scenes you are mistaken.
I don't need to read the rest of it because NOTHING will make this ok. One thing I've learned in life is that it doesn't matter how good the good things are if the bad things that go along with it are intolerable. It is unfortunate the author chose to try and develop sympathy for the rapist because rape is never ok. Pedophilia is never ok. I have to question the motives of an author who tries to develop sympathy for the rapist. Or perhaps this is the only way the author could sell the book. There are people who think rape and pedophilia are ok who would love reading graphic accounts of both.
What adults choose to read they choose to read and if this turns you on, go ahead and read it, however, I am amazed that anyone thinks this is ok for our kids to read. The argument that people need to get past these parts to see the greater value of the book is cow pucky because we should not be giving our children books that require them to get past graphically depicted rape and pedophilia scenes to see anything. This is porn. Our kids should not have to get past porn to see the value of a book. That is inappropriate for school.
Pedophilia and rape simply are not topics for the high school English classroom. There are plenty of good thought provoking books out there that don't contain graphic depictions of children being raped to choose from. We don't need this book in our classrooms.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 04-12-2014 at 04:55 AM..
I read enough of it to know that it contains sexually graphic descriptions of rapes that were deliberately written so that the reader would feel like a co conspirator in the rape (the author's claim) without passing judgment on the rapist. THAT is enough for me to know this is not a book that belongs in a high school classroom. I see zero literary value in our kids discussing why they sympathize with the pedophile as he rapes children and if you think teens will not discuss the rape scenes you are mistaken.
I don't need to read the rest of it because NOTHING will make this ok. One thing I've learned in life is that it doesn't matter how good the good things are if the bad things that go along with it are intolerable. It is unfortunate the author chose to try and develop sympathy for the rapist because rape is never ok. Pedophilia is never ok. I have to question the motives of an author who tries to develop sympathy for the rapist. Or perhaps this is the only way the author could sell the book. There are people who think rape and pedophilia are ok who would love reading graphic accounts of both.
What adults choose to read they choose to read and if this turns you on, go ahead and read it, however, I am amazed that anyone thinks this is ok for our kids to read. The argument that people need to get past these parts to see the greater value of the book is cow pucky because we should not be giving our children books that require them to get past graphically depicted rape and pedophilia scenes to see anything. This is porn. Our kids should not have to get past porn to see the value of a book. That is inappropriate for school.
Pedophilia and rape simply are not topics for the high school English classroom. There are plenty of good thought provoking books out there that don't contain graphic depictions of children being raped to choose from. We don't need this book in our classrooms.
I read enough of it to know that it contains sexually graphic descriptions of rapes that were deliberately written so that the reader would feel like a co conspirator in the rape (the author's claim) without passing judgment on the rapist. .
Do you have a link to the author's interview saying that? I would like to read her words in context.
I don't need to read the rest of it because NOTHING will make this ok. One thing I've learned in life is that it doesn't matter how good the good things are if the bad things that go along with it are intolerable.
This is the thinking of the people who wanted to ban "The Grapes of Wrath" when I was in high school because Rose of Sharon breast fed a dying man.
I read "the Bluest Eye" as an adult. It was my choice to read it. If schools want to add this to a list of books that students can choose from, that is fine, but I don't think that there is any reason why anyone should be required to read this book. Rape, incest and pedophilia are not things that everyone can handle reading about and the schools have no business making that decision for students.
I read "the Bluest Eye" as an adult. It was my choice to read it. If schools want to add this to a list of books that students can choose from, that is fine, but I don't think that there is any reason why anyone should be required to read this book. Rape, incest and pedophilia are not things that everyone can handle reading about and the schools have no business making that decision for students.
Once again, the schools are not compelled to include this book.
Should The Grapes of Wrath or To Kill a Mockingbird or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian or Looking for Alaska or The Kite Runner or The Color Purple be kept out of schools? All of these deal with sexual subjects. How about The Fault in Our Stars? which deals with the sexuality of teens with cancer.
What about Brave New World?
Quote:
He let out the amazing truth. For a very long period before the time of Our Ford, and even for some generations afterwards, erotic play between children had been regarded as abnormal (there was a roar of laughter); and not only abnormal, actually immoral (no!): and had therefore been rigorously suppressed.
Once again, the schools are not compelled to include this book.
Should The Grapes of Wrath or To Kill a Mockingbird or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian or Looking for Alaska or The Kite Runner or The Color Purple be kept out of schools? All of these deal with sexual subjects. How about The Fault in Our Stars? which deals with the sexuality of teens with cancer.
What about Brave New World?
There's "implied" and "graphic description".
Brave New World was thought provoking as was The Camp of the Saints.
And while schools are not compelled to include it those that do hand out copies to each student.
I have read that some of the classes don't read the graphic portions out loud in class (or via audio book) but assign those portions to be read at home.
Kind of hypocritic to me. If the book is going to be read "in class" then read it all "in class".
Morrison shows understanding of and, often, compassion, for characters who commit horrific deeds, like incest-rape or infanticide. This trait springs in large part from her attitude toward good and evil, which she distinguishes from the conventional or Western view of good and evil. She describes a distinctive view which, she claims, blacks have historically held toward good and evil:
It was interesting that black people at one time seemed not to respond to evil in the ways other people did, but that they thought evil had a natural place in the universe; they did not wish to eradicate it. They just wished to protect themselves from it, maybe even to manipulate it, but they never wanted to kill it. They thought evil was just another aspect of life.. . . It's because they're not terrified by evil, by difference. Evil is not an alien force; it's just a different force.
She shifts the boundaries between what we ordinarily regard as good and what as evil, so that judgments become difficult. This reflects the complexity of making moral judgments in life. Her villains are not all evil, nor are her good people saints.
Once again, the schools are not compelled to include this book.
Again, I know this but my comments are in line with the discussion at hand.
Quote:
Should The Grapes of Wrath or To Kill a Mockingbird or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian or Looking for Alaska or The Kite Runner or The Color Purple be kept out of schools? All of these deal with sexual subjects. How about The Fault in Our Stars? which deals with the sexuality of teens with cancer.
What about Brave New World?
I have read most but not all of these books listed above. I did not find any of the above books to be even remotely as graphic or controversial as The Bluest Eye. Not even close. Again, I never said that any books, including the Bluest Eye should be banned from schools. I just hope that a teacher would not choose it from a list and decide that it would be a book for his or her class to read (aka required reading).
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