What you doing bringin white chillin into a Nigger church?" this quote has offended enough people, that the Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird has been placed among the list of "most frequently banned books"(Lee). Many of the American classics that generations of children have grown-up reading have been banned from the classrooms due to content that society has deemed questionable. .
In this novel, Jean Louise Finch ("Scout"), recalls the lessons she learned while growing up in 1930's Maycomb County, Alabama. Her father, Atticus Finch, is court-appointed to defend a Black man, Tom Brady, accused of rape. Although the evidence clearly shows that the defendant is innocent, the jury declared Tom guilty, and he is sentenced to die. Both Scout and her brother Jem are rather wise for their young age, and see the unjustness in this decision. The story deals with some hard to swallow themes such as rape and prejudices. .
Throughout history, censorship is the oldest and most common way of preventing unorthodox and unpopular expressions of political or religious opinions (Haight). Due to the desire of school boards to avoid conflict, may of them have yielded to the People for the American Way, PAW, and taken books off reading list. The most common reasons for books to be challenged are; treatment of sexuality, religious beliefs contrary to the norm, and objectionable language (Foerstel). .
Questionable language being the biggest issue in To Kill a Mockingbird, but it is also commonly banned for ungrammatical speech and an unfavorable presentation of blacks (Johnson). On page 75 of the novel you can find this example of questionable language. .
"Do you defend niggers, Atticus?" I asked him that evening.".
"Of course I do. Don't say nigger, Scout, that's common." .
The majority of good writers will acknowledge the time frame of their current piece and use the jargon associated with the time period, just as Lee has done here.
