A Unit Pondering Censorship
Today�s youth, more than ever, need something they
believe in. Religion has been removed from schools resulting in classrooms with
very few morals. Families deteriorate everyday. As children�s parents find
faults with one another, the children, who are also students, are abandoned and
left in a whirlwind of turning thoughts searching for something to guide them.
Though students attempt to battle through their thoughts, they find no answers
to their deepest questions because they require something or someone to guide
them. Because of the lack of leadership in the household, students turn to the
streets for leadership only to be led by the previous generation of confused
children. As a result of the failing leadership, teachers receive the enormous
burden of educating today�s youth. The burden placed on teachers extends beyond
educating the student to be literate and learned. Teachers must educate their
students to behave properly in the classroom, to respect authority and respect
their peers. Though teachers try to educate their students, parents add to the
teacher�s burden by banning canonized works of literature because the books
might offend. Therefore, English teachers are yoked into finding new literature
valuable enough in content to educate their students.
The
essential makeup of the burden yoked to English teachers is rooted in
censorship. English teachers realize their burden and fight to have some of
their burden lifted by allowing banned books back into the classroom. Though
English teachers know not all books are appropriate for students, many books
should be allowed back into the classroom. By permitting some banned books into
schools English teachers would have texts powerful and meaningful enough to
challenge their students to think. In addition, by pairing these banned texts
with new and different mediums, poetry, movies and songs, as well as history,
teachers allows themselves the freedom and a means to challenge students to
examine critically the reasons why things are censored.
Fahrenheit 451 represents the epitome of a civilization given over to censorship. As
today�s society moves towards becoming paperless, Ray Bradbury�s book Fahrenheit
451 gains relevance because it
forecasts the future. Although the realities presented in Bradbury�s book have
not been fully realized in society, traces of truth are found in his book. With
every passing day the people of America move towards an ever-increasing fast
paced environment where little time is spent, reading, writing or being slow. Because
Bradbury�s book is becoming more and more true everyday today�s students need
to understand the importance of literature, of learning and of speaking out in
the midst of disagreeing opinions. Fahrenheit 451 stresses the importance of learning, of being
willing to die for something, and it emphasizes the need for books because they
present the stark reality of the world. According to Professor Faber, a
character in Fahrenheit 451,
one of the things missing in the fast-paced environment is good literature:
Number one: Do you know why books such as this are
so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean?
To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the
microscope. You�d find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite
profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per
square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more �literary� you are.
That�s my definition, anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. (Bradbury 83)
Faber
knew life before books were banned, before reading was made a crime. Though he
saw the importance of literature Faber remained quiet, afraid to lift his voice
when he could have stopped books from being outlawed. Faber goes on to describe
the other two things needed in their society. The first has already been given and
so he continues �Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right
to carry out action based on what we learn from the interaction of the first
two� (Bradbury 85). Faber realizes the importance of reading, taking time to
marvel in it, and then thinking critically enough about it to take some action
concerning it. These three concepts are more important today than they ever
were because if they are not followed by today�s students America will become
the world presented in Ray Bradbury�s book.
By
giving the students Fahrenheit 451 teachers reinforce the need to think critically about everything. This
book is particularly good for a freshman English class because as freshman, the
students have reached the age where they can think logically, but have not yet
reached the age where most stop caring about school. In order to keep the
students attention while teaching this book, teachers can and should pair this book
with poetry, short stories, other books, history, and audio and visual media. By pairing the book with these mediums
teachers enhance the students learning because the students will not only think
critically about the book, but they will also think critically about other
literature, music, and videos.
Launching the Unit
In
order to engage the students in class, this book should be introduced and
taught on the first day of the school year. (Teach the logistical lecture (aka:
Talking about the Syllabus) on the second day of school) To begin introduce
yourself (the teacher) to the students, and lead directly into the following
pre-reading activities.
a.
Maybe the Bible is
not your sacred text, but what would you have done if I started burning the Koran, the Book of Mormon, or any other book that is sacred to you? You do
not have to say what text you would stand up for.
b.
What did you feel as
I burned the Bible? What were your thoughts?
c.
Where you afraid of
what my reaction would be if you stood up and told me to stop, and then
proceeded to stop me? Why?
d.
Why didn�t anyone
stop me?
e.
When can you think of
someone who had to stand up in the face of opposition and fight back?
a.
What are you willing
to stand up for? What are you willing to die for and why?
b.
If you were told
there would never be anymore video games, internet, TV or radio what would you
do? Would you object and try to stop whoever was doing it? What if it was
books? Would you have the same reaction? Why?
a.
�What if I started
tearing up the Bible now and started to burn it? What would you do? How is your
response different than what you were thinking when you were watching Montag
tear up the Bible in the video? Why is you response different?
By asking these question the teacher encourages
students to think realistically. In reality, no person can not stop a TV from
telling them something; they do not have the power to stop the people on TV
from burning Bibles or do anything else for that matter. The only power the
students have is to turn off the TV at the source, to unplug it and throw it
away. On the other side of reality, students can stand up to a teacher and tell
them to stop; people can stop the imperfect from gaining control.
Once
the students have had time to discuss and journal on the questions given,
introduce Ray Bradbury�s book Fahrenheit 451 as the book to be discussed for the next month or
two. The students should be fully engaged in the class by this point and by
burning the Bible the teacher will keep the student�s attention for at least
the rest of the week. If using the other opening methods, the teacher should move
into talking about how Bradbury�s book expands the ideas presented in the
movies and takes those ideas to the level of creating a dystopia. By using the
videos, the teacher opens doors to discuss other works. This book is especially
geared towards incorporating other works of literature because it references
many- Tolstoy, Plato, Homer, Shakespeare, etc. Though the teacher does not need
to use any of these works, many young adult resources can be used to extend the
teaching unit.
Extending the Unit
As the students progress through the
book in class, the teacher should incorporate some history into the lessons.
Since the issue of censorship is one of the main focuses of the book students
can look at the Holocaust on a large scale as the Nazis trying to censor out
the Jews and any other non-perfect nation. Teaching students about the
Holocaust shows the result of trying to create a perfect world because it
reveals the fact that you can not create a perfect world. Showing the downfalls
of a fallen civilization, students understand the importance of thinking
critically and speaking out in the face of opposition.
Continuing,
the teacher should incorporate group activities into the daily lessons. For
example, students should work in groups of four or five, to create their own
version of Fahrenheit 451 in
the form of a short story. The students will enjoy this activity because it
will allow them to be creative in their work, and by encouraging creativity the
teacher also encourages the student to think for themselves.
Another
activity for students is the following:
In addition, the teacher can pair Fahrenheit 451 with other YA novels. By supplementing the book
with other YA texts the students gain a greater appreciation for this work.
These YA novels should be used to enhance the students understanding about the
pitfalls and the strengths associated with censorship. To encourage students to
read any of these texts the books should be semi-optional work. By
semi-optional I mean that they have a choice in what text they read. The
students are not forced to read a specific book, thus the teacher insures that
each student is more likely to have a book that interests them. I suggest
having a 15-20 minute �Sustained Silent Reading� period at the beginning of
each class where students read a YA novel they select. Below is a list and
brief description of proposed YA novels that could be paired with Fahrenheit
451.
Young Adult Book Choices
The
Giver by Lois Lowry: In a world
with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every
family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community's Receiver of
Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver,
he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against
the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines
the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to
create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this
ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the
price. (Amazon.com)
Brave
New World by Aldous Huxley:
"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's
utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight
depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of
entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of
sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided
for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a
young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their
existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take
for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he
predicted aren't yet to come. (Amazon.com)
1984 by George Orwell: "Outside, even through the
shut window pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of
wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was
shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything
except the posters that were plastered everywhere."
The
year is 1984; the scene is London, largest population center of Airstrip One.
Airstrip
One is part of the vast political entity Oceania, which is eternally at war
with one of two other vast entities, Eurasia and Eastasia. At any moment,
depending upon current alignments, all existing records show either that
Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that
it has always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston Smith
knows this, because his work at the Ministry of Truth involves the constant
"correction" of such records. "'Who controls the past,' ran the
Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the
past.'"
In
a grim city and a terrifying country, where Big Brother is always Watching You
and the Thought Police can practically read your mind, Winston is a man in
grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. He knows
the Party's official image of the world is a fluid fiction. He knows the Party
controls the people by feeding them lies and narrowing their imaginations
through a process of bewilderment and brutalization that alienates each
individual from his fellows and deprives him of every liberating human pursuit
from reasoned inquiry to sexual passion. Drawn into a forbidden love affair,
Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called
The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his
beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that
be.
Newspeak, doublethink, thoughtcrime--in 1984, George Orwell created a whole vocabulary of words
concerning totalitarian control that have since passed into our common
vocabulary. More importantly, he has portrayed a chillingly credible dystopia.
In our deeply anxious world, the seeds of unthinking conformity are everywhere
in evidence; and Big Brother is always looking for his chance. --Daniel
Hintzsche (Amazon.com)
Anne
Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank: A beloved classic since its initial publication in 1947, this
vivid, insightful journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager
who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received
a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went
into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvelously detailed, engagingly
personal entries chronicle 25 trying months of claustrophobic, quarrelsome
intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist
who has little tolerance for Anne's vivacity. The diary's universal appeal
stems from its riveting blend of the grubby particulars of life during wartime
(scant, bad food; shabby, outgrown clothes that can't be replaced; constant
fear of discovery) and candid discussion of emotions familiar to every
adolescent (everyone criticizes me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be
loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of
compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. Her death
epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne
through her diary, it is also a very individual loss. --Wendy Smith
(Amazon.com)
Whale
Talk by Chris Crutcher: T. J.
Jones is black, Japanese, and white; his given name is The Tao (honest!), and
he's the son of a woman who abandoned him when she got heavily into crack and
crank. As a child he was full of rage, but now as a senior in high school he's
pretty much overcome all that. With the help of a good therapist and his
decent, loving, ex-hippie adoptive parents, he's not only fairly even-keeled,
he has turned out to be smart and funny.
Injustice,
however, still fills him with fury. So when big-deal football star Mike Barbour
bullies brain-damaged Chris Coughlin for wearing his dead brother's letter
jacket, T.J. hatches a scheme for revenge. He assembles a swim team (in a
school with no pool) made up of the most outrageous outsiders and misfits he
can find and extracts a conditional promise of those sacred letter jackets from
the coach. After weeks of dedicated practice at the All Night Fitness pool, the
seven mermen get good enough not to embarrass themselves in competition. The
really important thing, though, turns out to be the long bus rides to meets, a
safe place to share the hurts that have made them who they are. Meanwhile,
T.J.'s father, who has taken in a battered little girl to ease his lifelong
guilt over his role in the accidental death of a baby, tangles with another
bully--her stepfather--and his growing murderous rage.
Chris
Crutcher, therapist and author of seven prize-winning young adult books, here
gives his many fans another wise and compassionate story full of the intensity
of athletic competition and hair-raising incidents of child abuse. (Ages 12 and
older) --Patty Campbell
(Amazon.com)
The
Lord of the Flies by William
Golding: William Golding's classic
tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted
island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in
1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make
shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph,
"the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing
sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although
Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in
their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig
population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His
fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who
manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The
situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away,
until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become
the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear;
hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the
boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing
field of adolescent competition. --Jennifer Hubert (Amazon.com)
Closing the Unit
At
the end of the unit the teacher can use the full length video to show the
differences between books and movies. By using the video, teachers illuminate
to the students the importance of valuing tangible things, of owning and
reading books. In doing so, students then use the information gained in reading
to make a difference in their life and the lives of others. In addition, the
video shows the differences between an uncensored, or unedited, work versus an
edited copy of the same piece of work. By having the students think critically
about the differences between the book and the movie the teacher reinforces the
importance of thinking before censoring.
Over
the course of the unit the students will have gained an appreciation for
literature. Students will take that passion for literature and the tools
discovered and form their own well thought opinions to use in the future.
Possessing the essential tools to think and analyze literature, and movies,
students are empowered with the essentials to face the tough decisions they
must make every day.
Works Cited
www.amazon.com- (This website was cited for
the book reviews, but was used for no other purpose.)
Bradbury,
Ray. Fahrenheit451. New York:
Del Rey Book, 1953.
Crutcher,
Chris. Whale Talk. New York:
Dell Laurel-Leaf, 2001.
Frank,
Anne. Anne Frank: The Diaries of a Young Girl. New York: Bantam Publishers, 1993.
Golding,
William. The Lord of the Flies.
New York: A Perigee Book, 1954.
Huxley,
Aldous. Brave New World. New
York: Harper Collins, 1932.
Lowry,
Lois. The Giver. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.
Orwell,
George. 1984. New York: Penguin
Books, 1949.