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A Comment About Censorship By Laurie Halse Anderson Analysis

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Censorship: The Child of Fear and the Father of Ignorance A man by the name of Wesley Scroggins, the writer of Springfield News; “Filthy books demeaning to Republic education, once said,“How can Christian men and women expose children to such immortality”. The comment made by this man was directed at books like Speak, Slaughterhouse Five, and Twenty Boy Summer. Books, as such listed, are under fire among many school boards for their use of “soft pornography” as he describes it. Especially the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. In rebuttal to such claims made toward the author, Anderson herself writes a short essay, “A Comment about Censorship” explaining her point of view on the topic. The short essay states “Reading and discussing books is one of the most effective ways to get teens to think through and learn about the challenges of adolescence”. Anderson explains this in detail more in the third paragraph, however the points in her essay used to persuade parents and teachers start off not in the first paragraph, but the way she words her title. “ A Comment about Censorship” seems too familiar and casual to some, but the wording used was purposely made passive in order for her readers not be offended. If a school board director was faced …show more content…

She proceeded to go on explaining how she herself has four teenagers. Some would wonder, why is the author telling us about her personal life when I just care about whether or not I need to ban this book. By sharing this fact about her personal life, Anderson shows the concerned readers she is not just some author telling people to keep her book in schools so she can sell more copies, but that she does fully understand their side of the story and agrees that this is indeed a scary time to raise

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