Love or hate them, books grow horizons
Debate, discussion sparked by reading can lead to progress
In honor of Banned Books Week last week, I reread an old friend, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. It’s always been one of my favorites, and yet, it has landed on one banned book list or another on numerous occasions.
Ironically, the book itself is about the dangers of banning books. But reading it again, I was struck by an underlying message in its pages that resonates today, more now than when I first read it as a teen.
Bradbury writes of the dangers of immersing oneself in technology. There’s a palpable danger throughout the book of television’s influence — conversations are eliminated as families essentially become one with the television. Why raise your children when the television can do it for you?
Mind you, the book was published in 1953 — decades before the internet, tablets, smartphones and computers.
And yet the message rings true today more than ever.
Fahrenheit 451 reminds readers that ideas and conversation matter. They are the cornerstone of life, and without ideas — and their close friend, independent thought — much would be lost.
Where would we be today if we didn’t stop and ask questions, if we didn’t debate and discuss and dissect? As painful as questions can be — because ultimately, there’s a bit of dissent when one questions the status quo — that process can lead to progress. And that in turn moves our society on to the next evolution of life.
Fahrenheit 451 highlights the destruction of society that can happen when we stop allowing ourselves that process, from the core of a family to the core of society.
Despite that interesting perspective, Fahrenheit 451 has been banned on several occasions, for reasons such as Bradbury’s use of profanity, and because one of the burned books in the novel is the Bible.
Last week was Banned Book Week, celebrating those stories that have sparked controversy. The Library Bill of Rights notes that libraries should challenge censorship and present all points of view, for the enlightenment of all people.
And ultimately, isn’t that what reading is all about? I’ve read a variety of perspectives. Some I’ve agreed with, and some I haven’t, but in every single instance, I learned something, and my horizon was expanded, just a little bit.
In honor of Banned Books Week, readers, what is your favorite “banned book,” and why? Send a Letter to the Editor at letters@yumasun.com, or comment on this column at www.YumaSun.com.