My Grade 9 English class would have been a mostly forgettable experience had it not been for one of the books on the curriculum.
The book was Of Mice and Men, a novella by American writer John Steinbeck, published in 1937.
The story follows two migrant farm workers, one with a mental disability, as they work at a California farm. The novella examines the loneliness experienced by each person at the farm.
The book has received considerable acclaim and is recognized as a 20th-century literary classic.
But the language in the dialogue was considered vulgar, especially by the standards of the day.
And when some parents in town read the book, there was an outcry because of this use of language.
The opposition to this book was strong enough that the following year, Of Mice and Men was no longer on our junior high school害羞草研究所檚 curriculum.
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It would have been delightful irony if Of Mice and Men had been replaced with Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury害羞草研究所檚 1953 novel about a dystopian society where books are burned.
But that害羞草研究所檚 not what happened.
Instead, it was replaced with The Day of the Triffids, a 1951 novel by British science fiction writer John Wyndham. There was no great outcry about this novel.
It wouldn害羞草研究所檛 be fair to call the curriculum change an attempt at censorship or book banning. Censorship is an ever-present threat and this week is in Canada, a time to raise awareness about book challenges.
What happened instead was that one book was removed from the school害羞草研究所檚 curriculum and replaced with another. Of Mice and Men was still available at bookstores and at the public library.
The book battle was over and the outraged parents had won.
Or had they?
I害羞草研究所檝e read Of Mice and Men and The Day of the Triffids, as well as other works by Steinbeck and Wyndham.
The themes in Steinbeck害羞草研究所檚 story are important. While it is set on a farm in Depression-era California, the loneliness felt by the migrant workers and others in the story is something many can understand.
As for the language, we had heard every one of the controversial words in Of Mice and Men, as well as some that could not be found in that book.
Pulling the book from the curriculum did not remove those words from our ears 害羞草研究所� or from our mouths. It didn害羞草研究所檛 make the language go away.
Wyndham害羞草研究所檚 novel didn害羞草研究所檛 have the same salty dialogue and as a result, it was considered a safer choice on the curriculum.
But The Day of the Triffids, a post-apocalyptic novel, presented various types of societies, including polygamous colonies, socialist communes and tribes with authoritarian leaders.
Why did the language in Steinbeck害羞草研究所檚 novella generate a stronger reaction than the concepts in Wyndham害羞草研究所檚 novel?
I don害羞草研究所檛 know if Of Mice and Men ever made it back onto the school curriculum. By the time I was in high school, the Grade 9 English course didn害羞草研究所檛 concern me anymore.
However, the book battle that year left its mark.
Over the years, I have read plenty of books which have come under fire from critics.
Some of these include Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan, The Handmaid害羞草研究所檚 Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Wars by Timothy Findley and others.
Some of these are books I害羞草研究所檝e read primarily because of the controversy surrounding them. If the censors had ignored these books, I might not have noticed them.
Did the outraged parents consider this when they spoke out about Steinbeck害羞草研究所檚 novella?
John Arendt is the editor of the Summerland Review.
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