Sigma Tau Delta holds Banned Books Read-In
English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta collaborated with Troy University Libraries to hold its annual banned books read-in last Wednesday.
The event highlighted stories that continue to be censored and challenged to show the power of preserving those stories.
"I don't believe you can have literacy without reading challenging material,” said Emma Arnold, president of Sigma Tau Delta and senior English major from Slocomb, Alabama. "Reading banned books, reading books that make us uncomfortable allow us to develop a better understanding of people who we may not think we have a lot in common with."
The event allowed students that attended to read excerpts from poems and books that are known to have been challenged or banned. The event also featured a banned book giveaway.
One attendee, James McClure, a senior English education major from Huntsville, Alabama, took a different approach by reading a letter from Kurt Vonnegut to Drake High School, whose school board head ordered copies of his book “Slaughterhouse-Five” to be burned.
"I felt like Kurt Vonnegut wrote a very impassioned, logical, poignant letter that very much exemplifies how to deal with those who are less accepting of other people's opinions and other people's works," McClure said.
Arnold read an excerpt from “Fahrenheit 451,” which discusses themes of government censorship and has been challenged multiple times since publication. She says the book contains some parallels to how we interact with society today.
“We don’t like being challenged, we don’t like reading things that upset us and we don’t like upsetting each other,” Arnold said. “By bringing that to people’s attention, you see the absurdity of trying to appease everybody, it’s impossible.
“When you go so far as to try to appease everybody, you lose what makes us human.”
Professor of English Michael Orlofsky was the guest speaker at the event and discussed recent Russian book burnings that targeted Ukrainian and children’s literature.
“I think Orlofsky did a great job at showing just how impactful book burnings are in today’s society,” Arnold said. “I feel like when we hear about those things, we think they’re some old ideology from the ‘30s or ‘40s, but it is still something we’re facing today, the idea that words and knowledge are something to be feared and something that is dangerous.”
India Wilson, a sophomore theatre education major from Hoover, Alabama, originally went to the read-in for extra credit, but she said in the end, she got more out of it than what she was expecting.
"One thing that I learned was that the Bible was a banned book,” Wilson said. “I did not know that the Bible was a banned book, and I think that really shows that all of these niche books or niche ideas are being banned, when that's not true—it's definitely widespread information."
As education majors, McClure and Wilson both saw the importance of bringing awareness of banned books to students in the classroom.
"If children learn about the negative effects of banning books and restricting our opinions and the positive effects of thinking outside the box, seeing life through other peoples' lenses, I think we produce a better society," McClure said.
Wilson thinks kids should be introduced to diverse ideas, which are largely spread through these now banned books.
“Taking that away from them isn't going to help them in the long run," Wilson said.
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