Should To Kill A Mockingbird Be Taken Away From The Ninth-Grade Curriculum?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a controversial novel. There are many reasons why the book should be taken away from the ninth-grade curriculum. To begin with, the violence in the book can be reenacted by the student reading the book. It also has racial slurs, it can be emotionally distressing or traumatic for some students to read, and it is outdated and lacks relevance to modern-day issues. In my opinion, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird should not be in the ninth-grade curriculum.

A reason why the novel To Kill a Mockingbird should be banned from the ninth-grade curriculum is that all the acts of violence from the book can be reenacted by the students reading the book. For example the novel states in chapter twenty-two page 290 “Mr.Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it were took the rest of his life”. If a student reads this then they will think it is ok for them to spit in someone else’s face and threaten them without any consequences.

The racial slurs used in the book are mostly used on African Americans for example the novel states “Do you defend niggers, Atticus?” (Lee, 85). Jem asked Atticus if he defended African Americans but he used a racial slur. If a student reading this reads the n-word too many times, he will use it on his classmates or anyone else, which can make the other person feel bad. The novel contains many racial words that students will say because they think it is