Why is Lord of the Flies banned?

Since 1982, 11,000 books have been banned or challenged, some books get banned for the smallest reason. One book that is popularly known is Lord of the flies. This book got banned for representing men as animals, which was the whole point of the book! People challenge books everyday one particular book is Kurt Vonnegut's novel, The Slaughterhouse-Five. This book has its reasons for being challenged but overall it isn’t worth the fight altogether. The Slaughterhouse-Five should not be banned in schools or libraries across the country.

One main reason this book kept on getting challenged is the foul language in the book. This can be a touchy subject, and some parents don’t want their child exposed to a certain type of language. This is how banning started to happen .“ Books are often challenged for the language they contain, even though profanity is often used in literature to convey social or historical context, local dialect or simply to better depict reactions to real-life situations”(“Books”). With this in mind, the book Slaughterhouse-five represents many characteristics that may be offensive to some citizens.The book's main plot is around the WWII era, and the author wants the text to be the most realistic it can be. Using this type of mature language can help the reader understand what the character was going through and how they felt. Also, keep in mind that this type of language is tolerated and normalized that trying to ban a book by the mature words will not get you anywhere.

 Furthermore, not only do parents challenge books, schools challenge them as well. In one case at Howell, MI High School, someone tried to ban the book from being read to its sexual content. They requested the president of the Livingston Organization for Values in Education to review this book. "After reading the books in question, it is clear that the explicit passages illustrated a larger literary, artistic or political message and were not included solely to appeal to the prurient interests of minors," the county prosecutor wrote.  "Whether these materials are appropriate for minors is a decision to be made by the school board, but I find that they are not in violation of criminal laws ."(“Banned & Challenged Classics”). After being reviewed by many organizations. They all came to the conclusion that even though it is explicit and for a mature audience it doesn’t violate any laws in the state or the U.S. Such as the First Amendment that is involved with book censorship. The only way a book can be “unconstitutional'' as if the author's purpose was to harm the readers in a vulgar way. After reading the book, they came to the conclusion that they had no point in it being banned nor it will change anything. Overall they let the school district decide if they want the book to be read or not. 

Some may argue that the book has mature and sensitive topics,it can offend many citizens. In one article someone expressed their opinion on one controversial text in the book . "foul language, a section depicting a picture of an act of bestiality, a reference to 'Magic Fingers' attached to the protagonist's bed to help him sleep, and the sentence: 'The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty ."'(“Banned & Challenged Classics”)The book SlaughterHouse-Five The text discusses religion, which is a very stressful subject. It also uses religion to represent a violent act that can be very offensive . The quote that the article had can be rude to some but the author of the book was trying to help the reader understand the situation it was in the middle of a fierce war . Comparing the gun sounds to the “fly of God Almighty” helps the readers understand how loud the sound was . If the criticizer opened their mind more and took the book from the main character's point of view it would help them understand why he used that to represent the sound.

Therefore, this is why The Slaughterhouse-Five should not be banned. The author states that this book should be read to high school students and it should Z+ which is applied to adults and teens . The explicit scenes and language are only minor to the book because the main theme is about time traveling and war . All in all, banning this book wouldn’t stop or change teens from exposing themselves to these subjects. Let the students learn about the war and how intense and tough it is. Banning this book is only going to keep them sheltered.