Since When Are Scientific Terms Dirty?

I’m a big fan of banned books. As a writer myself, I’m proud of authors who push the envelope and step outside the comfort zone of typical society. I plan to have an extensive collection of banned and challenged books in my classroom, because I feel they are important in showing students how society and culture react to deviations from the norm. I want them to realize that in Huck Finn’s time, African Americans were called “niggers,” and that the word is a negative connotation, and therefore is often challenged. I want them to see the reality of life and death in Of Mice and Men, because they need to know about such things, in my opinion. Literature is not all red wheelbarrows and prairie grass.

However…sometimes censorship is just stupid. And there isn’t a nicer way of putting it.

Susan Patron’ book The Higher Power of Lucky has recently been challenged and banned in many schools. And why?

The main character, Lucky Trimble, a 10-year-old orphan, overhears a man in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting say a rattlesnake bit his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

Scrotum. One word. And not even a dirty one, or an actual curse. The scientific term for a part of the male anatomy is cause for banning an entire book. Nevermind that the book includes Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and other darker aspects of reality. Anatomical terminology is the driving evil force in literature.

This is a winner of the Newberry Award! The book is clearly worth its merit, and people are getting hung up over one word, and one that’s not even particularly scandalous.

Society frightens me sometimes. I’m waiting for the day that I’ll see anatomy books burning in barrels.

Patsy Lord
Sand Mountain Reporter
March 1 2007
Complete Article

11 comments

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March 2, 2007 at 3:03 am

mcgoverj

I think an interesting book that deals with censorship is Farhenheit 451. The title is important to this book because 451 degrees is the temperature that paper (books) burn. Sometimes I feel that people are “burn” happy. Like you said, how can anyone be offended by an anotomical word? I guess that the puritans may have been shocked during their time if a heroine in a book touched her ankle. I though our species had evolved a bit more since that time, but aparently there are a few puritans still around.

In the full article, I was relieved that the librarian who would order the book, read it, and then judge it on its total merit. I don’t want to get into the debate of whether or not censorship is 100 percent wrong, because there is no place for instruction manuals on how to build bombs, and murder people. There is no place for pornography in an elementary school. However, contextually, there is no way that scrotum in this particular text is sexually explicit.

March 2, 2007 at 3:18 am

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April 11, 2007 at 1:16 am

matt4386

I agree with your interest in banned and controversial books because I feel that it is those books that can teach really interesting and lasting lessons. For example, last semester in my American Lit 2 class, we read a book title “Music for Torching” which discusses the depravity in communities with too much money. The subject was handled the way it should be handled, in a severe and harsh manner. Of course, I would never recommend this book to high school students due to it’s extremely graphic sexuality and violence, but I do believe that not allowing students to learn through reading is detrimental.
For example, when we read the book “Speak” in class, which is about rape in high school, I felt that it was a book that should be taught because students need to understand that sex needs to be consensual even under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It is important for teenagers to learn about the consequences of their actions and harm they can cause themselves or others, and books can help initiate discussion and understanding in young people. I can see the perspective of a parent that needs to protect their children from maturing and becoming curious too early, but the problem in today’s society is that young people can become curious from the media, magazines, other experienced friends, etc. I think a main problem may be our society’s obsession with trying to escape uncomfortable situations by ignoring them (like children’s sexual maturity) and then lash out when these situations are initiated by others (like with controversial books).

April 11, 2007 at 4:47 am

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April 16, 2007 at 12:50 am

kristinacoffey

I read a couple of different articles about this book and its controversy and I thought pretty much the same thing. Why are people making such a big deal out of on tiny word? I think one thing that worries them is this: What do they say to the child when they come up to them and ask them what a scrotum is? How do they answer that question? I think that is what is causing such a problem. I think the book would be a great book to have in the class room because it probably teaches a lot of other important things about life that would be great for children. Unfortunately people don’t want to have to deal with anything that might cause a problem. This book is about a young girl whose legal guardian decides to move back to France which means Lucky has no home. She worries about being placed in an orphanage where she won’t be able to keep her Beagle. I think this would be great for teaching children and would be a good book for children who maybe were in foster care for a while before being adopted.

April 16, 2007 at 1:28 am

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April 16, 2007 at 5:37 am

anns311

I think that there should be a specific format for banning a book. I think that the idea that quality literature can be pulled from library shelves based on the use of words deemed inappropriate by a handful of people is a sad testimony on the power of the minority. Most of the quality books written have been at one time or another on the banned or challenged book list. It’s really important for us, as teachers, to not be afraid to choose some of this literature for our students. Unfortunately, the “n” word plays a big part in our history. I think that it is important for us to remember that history can teach valuable lessons about not only who we are but who we do not want to be. I think that by not teaching Huck Finn, we are denying our students a valuable lesson in diversity, and the mistakes made by ignorance.

April 16, 2007 at 6:33 am

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April 17, 2007 at 11:06 pm

Elisa

Your idea of a collection of banned books sounds very interesting…and I think it is vital that there are more people with the same intent to save these historical artifacts from the bonfires of modern censorship.

August 12, 2007 at 7:44 am

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