Do you think that The Color Purple should be banned in public high schools? I asked Kirk and he was even on the fence about it. I mean there is rape, physical abuse, mental abuse, incest (sorta), sex, lesbian relationships, and swearing—but I don’t think that any of these things are without cause or merit.
A lot of the scenes of abuse happened in Alice Walker’s own family, so she is not making it up or exaggerating for effect. She is representing real tragedies in a real point of time in history. The swearing I talked about in another post, seems to be essential to the sincerity of the character and there isn’t an exceptional amount of it.
The relationship between Celie and Shug can be talked about, but there are two scenes where they graphically describe women’s parts. But then again, you will find much more explicit sexual encounters in a Nicholas Sparks novel, which can be found in middle school libraries, and yet are never censored.
There is a lot of violence but it is not explicitly described. You know it happens, but there isn’t a lot of detail.
But is this novel too old for High school? What about the book A Brave New World that described mass orgies? Yet, that is high school curriculum. Why is there a double standard? What do you guys think? Is there a case to censor this book?
i defintely do not agree with this book being censored. there are alot of scenes that are more graffic than others but, i realize that there are books that have the same concepts in it that arent censored. Precious being one of them. it has the same content in it that The color purple does and i would even go as far as to say that there is more content in it. the sexual content that is in it, at times can be alittle unresting but never is it titillating and it never borders on the extreme. the rape isnt went into detail and it is more infered at times than described. i dont think it is to old for highschool... because at the time this is what happens to her. i think older highschool is the best age just because they will be old enough to not just understand the content but deal with it. i think the double standard is the fact that there is a homosexual relationship between the two women in the book and at the time that was a huge taboo in the school system, along with every where else.
I don't think that the book should be banned in high schools. Like Tori said, there are books in middle school libraries with content that is more graphic than that of The Color Purple. High schoolers in America are exposed to more graphic content quite often; have you watched some of the tv shows that are popular with high school students?
I think that The Color Purple should be taught in high schools; it's a beatifully-written story about things that really happened and still happen in the world. Bad things can't just be censored; they have to be taught by a teacher who knows how to convey the seriousness of the topics while still showing the beauty in the story.
Do you think that The Color Purple should be banned in public high schools? I asked Kirk and he was even on the fence about it. I mean there is rape, physical abuse, mental abuse, incest (sorta), sex, lesbian relationships, and swearing—but I don’t think that any of these things are without cause or merit.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the scenes of abuse happened in Alice Walker’s own family, so she is not making it up or exaggerating for effect. She is representing real tragedies in a real point of time in history. The swearing I talked about in another post, seems to be essential to the sincerity of the character and there isn’t an exceptional amount of it.
The relationship between Celie and Shug can be talked about, but there are two scenes where they graphically describe women’s parts. But then again, you will find much more explicit sexual encounters in a Nicholas Sparks novel, which can be found in middle school libraries, and yet are never censored.
There is a lot of violence but it is not explicitly described. You know it happens, but there isn’t a lot of detail.
But is this novel too old for High school? What about the book A Brave New World that described mass orgies? Yet, that is high school curriculum. Why is there a double standard? What do you guys think? Is there a case to censor this book?
i defintely do not agree with this book being censored. there are alot of scenes that are more graffic than others but, i realize that there are books that have the same concepts in it that arent censored. Precious being one of them. it has the same content in it that The color purple does and i would even go as far as to say that there is more content in it. the sexual content that is in it, at times can be alittle unresting but never is it titillating and it never borders on the extreme. the rape isnt went into detail and it is more infered at times than described. i dont think it is to old for highschool... because at the time this is what happens to her. i think older highschool is the best age just because they will be old enough to not just understand the content but deal with it. i think the double standard is the fact that there is a homosexual relationship between the two women in the book and at the time that was a huge taboo in the school system, along with every where else.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the book should be banned in high schools. Like Tori said, there are books in middle school libraries with content that is more graphic than that of The Color Purple. High schoolers in America are exposed to more graphic content quite often; have you watched some of the tv shows that are popular with high school students?
ReplyDeleteI think that The Color Purple should be taught in high schools; it's a beatifully-written story about things that really happened and still happen in the world. Bad things can't just be censored; they have to be taught by a teacher who knows how to convey the seriousness of the topics while still showing the beauty in the story.