Censorship Essay

[djkunai]

Jantzn May Prof. Surette ENG155 21 October 2004 Banned by Unpopular Demand Throughout history, many dominating institutions, both religious and governmental, have censored thoughts that countered their own. The idea of censorship is to block someone from seeing something you don't want them to see, for any reason. There are many cases in which this has been logically required- for instance, The Anarchist Cookbook, a book that teaches people how to build explosives meant to kill people. This type of censorship is needed, simply because it prevents people from having information that is meant to damage society. However, other books have been banned for reasons that seem down right frivilous. One book, surprisingly offensive enough to be one of the “American Library Association’s Top 100 Most Challenged Books” was the classic fantasy journey of James and the Giant Peach. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl should never be taken off a child’s bookshelf, because it is a magical journey of friendship, although there are many situations that have been interpreted as inappropriate for children. Originally printed in 1961, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl tells the story of a small English boy who goes on a fantastic journey of friendship. James loses his parents suddenly when a hungry rhinoceros escapes from the London Zoo. Orphaned, he is sent to live with his two aunts, Sponge and Spiker, and forced to do hard work with no thanks, and sometimes, no food. As another thankless task is completed, James begins to cry, feeling hopeless. Then a peculiar thing happened. Out of the bushes came an old man, bearing a gift for James. He gives James magical crocodile tongues, in which there’s more power than in anything else on earth. James quickly takes the crocodile tongues, and just as quickly drops them at the roots of a lifeless peach tree in his aunts’ yard. He begins to wonder what the old man meant of the magic powers as his aunts come out to discover what’s been taking him so long outside. They begin to verbally abuse him as the aunts discover a small peach hanging from the dead tree. Astonished, they watch as it grows into the size of a small house while staying attached to the tree. The aunts decide to make money off the giant peach by featuring it to the press and town, charging admission. Poor James is forced to pick up the garbage all the people left at the sideshow, when he notices a small hole just big enough for him to fit through at the bottom of the peach. James crawls inside, and finds many magical creatures: the wise Grasshopper, the pestering Centipede, the lovely Lady Bug, the frightful Earthworm, the pleasant Miss Spider, the lazy Silk Worm, and the wingless Glow Worm. The next morning, James and the creatures break off from the tree and begin to roll down the hill, away from his aunts’ house, and to any other place in the world (as it would obviously be better than there). On the way down the hill, the peach crushes the two aunts to the glee of the creatures- and James. The peach continues rolling all the way down until it hits the ocean. Once bobbing up and down on the open sea, James and creatures begin to sing of the places they’ll go to, and how terrible the aunts have been to every living thing. While on the ocean, bobbing up and down, James and company must do many extraordinary activities: as sharks began to tear apart the peach, they are forced to use Miss Spider’s and the Silk Worm’s “string” to capture 502 seagulls to lift them into the sky; on their way into the clouds, an English vessel spots them and mistakes it for a powerful weapon against the United Kingdom; and they must flee in a hurry as the strange Cloud-Men who control the weather begin to near them with harsh intents. On the way across the Atlantic Ocean to America, James talks with the creatures, finding many new and interesting facts, and listening to many interesting songs. He discovers that you can find friendship in anything. As James and the creatures finally cross the ocean being chased by Cloud- Men, they find themselves releasing the seagulls they wrangled in order to fall from the sky. However, they release too many seagulls, and find themselves falling too fast. As they say goodbye, fearing death, they suddenly stop, the peach pierced atop the Empire State Building. James and the creatures are greeted by a panicked New York City, the citizens of which feared the giant peach was actually a giant bomb. They introduce themselves and are paraded through the streets in a ticker tap parade. The children of New York the neat the peach, and the pit is carved out and made into a house, nestled in a part of Central Park. James then lives happily ever after, telling all the children who come to visit about the great adventure he took with his creature friends, who all found work and prosperity in America. The novel expresses friendship, and how it can conquer any situation that may hinder it. James is immediately submerged in hatred and despised by his Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, who forced him to work for nothing and beat him regularly, and at times became “overwhelmed by his own unhappiness” (Dahl 8). The brutality of the aunts gave James very little hope in ever being happy again. Conversations with them typically included “beat him” and “you good-for-nothing little brute” (Dahl 9). James then met creatures who- though peculiar- greeted him warmly and friendly. He found a new hope in the strangest place imaginable- a giant peach. However, the fantastic tale of friendship was overlooked when it was banned. James and the Giant Peach was banned for the wrong reasons at three schools and one county in the United States. The reason for being banned was claimed that it included certain words that should not be associated with a children’s book- these included references to the words ass, whiskey, tobacco, and snuff. Other reasons for it being banned was because of a potentially racial slur, a very loosely connected sexual action, and some even claimed that it encouraged children to disobey their parents and other adults. The word “ass” was used to show the annoyance and aggravation of the Centipede. The Centipede is supposed to be the headstrong and arrogant friend who gets into all kinds of trouble. After James asks the Centipede who he was, the Centipede replied in his egotistical manner, “I’m not talking to you, you ass” (Dahl 41). The book is supposed to relate to kids and how they may have friends who use such language. James doesn’t reply, knowing he isn’t supposed to use such language, and the influence of not saying “ass” in retaliation is enforced. The reference to whiskey is one involving an elderly sea captain. The sea captain aboard the vessel that spots the peach flying into the clouds is dumbfounded by what he sees. He blathers about the giant insects aboard the peach, and his first mates begin to worry about him. One exclaims, “Oh dear, he’s been at the whisky again” (Dahl 85). Involving an elderly man, who is simply assumed to have been drinking whiskey (while the reader knows likewise it is not true), this apparent “encouragement” of drinking alcohol is fallacious- it does not promote drinking, buy merely mentions it. The reference to tobacco and snuff is a quote from a different work. After the creatures talk of the foul things the two aunts have done, Centipede begins to sing his favorite song. The exact line is about how “monkeys chewed tobacco and hens took snuff” (Dahl 94). This line is actually taken from another English tale, “The Magpie’s Nest.” The fact a Centipede is singing this song is only to familiarize the reader with a popular English work. The racial slur is actually not to mean and prejudice, but more of a comedic cultural remark. As an exaggerated amount of Cloud-Men began chasing the Giant Peach through the clouds, many of the creatures began to panic. After the earthworm said he’d rather be hooked on a fishing line, the grasshopper made the remark that he’d “rather be fried alive and eaten by a Mexican” (Dahl 107). Strangely enough, there actually is a Mexican delicassy involving fried grasshoppers. The salty treat known as chapulines is a popular snack. The grasshopper simply meant that he’d rather be fried alive than torn apart. A very loose argument was also taken against Miss Spider. Some claimed that she sexually advanced James by “[opening] her mouth and [running] a long black tongue delicately over her lips" (Dahl 34). This was apparently interpreted without reading any preceding lines. The conversation the creatures were having before this line contained shouts of “I’m famished!”, “So am I!” and “Everyone’s famished!” (Dahl 34). Miss Spider was simply hungry and licking her lips in anticipation of dinner, as is a descriptive way of telling the reader a character is hungry. As for disobeying parents and other adults, there are only two people James interacts with for most of the book. The two people are his aunts, Sponge and Spiker, his beat and abuse James. James does everything they ask him to. While inside the peach, James awakes to find the Centipede chewing through the branch to set the peach loose. It is not in James who decides to leave. The peach then tumbles on top of Sponge and Spiker, leaving them “ironed out upon the grass as flat and thin and lifeless as a couple of paper dolls cut out of a picture book” (Dahl 49). James actually continues obeying the creatures, who act as old adults, such as when he helps Centipede take off his shoes. Disobeying adults is the wrong statement, since all he does is what they ask. James and the Giant peach is a book worthy of any child’s collection. It expresses friendship and loyalty, and keeping hope when the world is a scary place. It also shows that friends can come from anywhere. Why it was banned was because of misinterpreted references. Does it hold ideas that are dangerous? No. Does it encourage imagination? Yes. This book is a classic, and ironically banned 30 years after it was printed, while most other books that are banned almost immediately. This book was banned because someone read a little too far between the lines and just a tad outside their mind. Works Cited Dahl, Roald. James and the Giant Peach. New York: Penguin Group, 1995.