Stephen King is the most banned author according to a new study by PEN America. Which, if you’ve read a Stephen King story, you know why schools may ban his books. But I also think it is a silly thing to do.
King’s banned works join a long line of literature on a list of banned novels for schools. To be fair, I think work like King is up to the discretion of the parents of these children. While I was someone who could understand King’s work and how to analyze it, others are not the same. Now, I don’t think the school system has the right to tell people what their kids can and cannot read.
In total, King’s books were censored 206 times. The idea in these states that ban his work is to keep younger readers from engaging with the themes of his work. Some of which fine, you should be older when trying to understand what point King is making. There are scenes and moments in novels like It that still shock and disgust older readers.
But I do think it is silly to ban King’s work at this point in his career. We know what novels people shouldn’t read at a younger age. We know what these stories entail. So why are we still banning King’s work? Especially when some of the stories could be beneficial for younger audiences to engage with on an intellectual level. There are plenty of short stories we can unpack in schools that are appropriate but those who want to “ban” books are not interested in good faith discussions.
Banning books is for the weak
The idea that banning books is good for anyone is foolish. It is the government mandating what art is and is not worth of our education system. When we see the novels that they allow students to engage with, it is silly that we have this many authors on the banned book list anyway.
King’s work is both worthy of analysis as well as work that should be chosen correctly for its audience. Novels like The Running Man have themes that could work well in a higher level English course but it does take a more mature reader to engage with it. King’s book Rage was put on the banned book list after it was discovered in the possessions of school shooters in the 80s and 90s.
Part of our approach to the education system with these novels has been to “ban” them instead of exploring the themes within. Why talk about a piece of art and understand its intention when you can just ban it from schools, right? That’s why I think it is so foolish that we do this.
We would rather make something “forbidden” and therefore more appealing for readers by banning it rather than engaging with the themes therein to try to understand them. Why? Because that would entail hard conversations and an actual education system that works?
Congrats to Stephen King for making it to the banned books number one slot.
(featured image: Olivia Wong/Getty Images)
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