To Burn or Not To Burn
According to the Webster Dictionary censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media. It’s a controversial subject, and with every controversial subject there are strong opinions that go with it. In both the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury and the short story, The Paterson Public Library, by Judith Ortiz Cofer censorship is important to the authors and the characters in their stories. Whether for or against, both stories have an opinion of censorship within them.
In The Paterson Public Library, a short story by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the author is the main character. She tells a story of how she was bullied excessively, but books were her escape from it all. “My love for books was strong enough to propel me down the dreary streets with their slush covered sidewalks and the stormy trees of winter looking like dark figures from a distance: angry black curls wanting to attack me.” (Library, 1) She lived in a poor neighborhood that had threats at every corner, but she didn’t have books at home. She had such a passion for books that it could give her the courage to go out and face the harmful environment, despite the bullies that threatened and attacked her. She read a lot, and her taste definitely was not specific. “Here I discovered that there is a Cinderella in every culture, that she didn’t necessarily have the white skin and rosy cheeks Walt Disney had given her, and that the prince they all waited for could appear in any color, shape or form. The Prince didn’t even have to be a man.” (Library, 2) These stories got her through her oppressive childhood and with censorship who knows how she would have dealt with her pain. Judith Ortiz Cofer is definitely against censorship, she is very passionate about reading books and spreading her love of them with others. Judith wouldn’t be able to do that with censorship standing in the way.
The Essay on Censorship In School Libraries
Censorship in School Libraries The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. ...
Captain Beatty, the antagonist in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, has his own opinion on censorship. Unlike Judith Ortiz Cofer, Captain Beatty is all for it. It is part of his everyday life, his job, it consumes his life. He doesn’t have strong friendships because all his time belongs to censorship. Captain Beatty censors ideas and history himself by setting every book that he can get his hands on, on fire. Captain Beatty would without a doubt argue against Judith Ortiz Cofer on the topic of Censorship. “The books leapt and danced like roasted birds, their wings ablaze with red and yellow feathers.” (Fahrenheit, 116) It’s all his doing, and just like Judith Ortiz Cofer, Beatty has passion but not for books. Beatty has a passion for burning them.
Whether for or against censorship, everyone has an opinion on it. Captain Beatty out of the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury was for it. Judith Ortiz Cofer the author of the short story The Paterson Library is against it. I, myself, stand with Judith Ortiz Cofer with her opinion of censorship.
