Times Editorial : A good sign
Posted on Thursday, October 6, 2005
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/32965/
To read excerpts from "Push" is to blush. To be offended. To be disgusted. To be enraged. To be saddened. And, maybe most of all, to be perplexed that such a volume might have somehow found its way onto the shelves of the Fayetteville High School Library. Really, it doesn’t much matter where you stand on the First Amendment, or whether you’re entirely supportive of a child’s right-to-know anything at any age — appropriate standards be damned. Thumb through this text sometime, and there’s hardly any way you won’t feel one of the emotions listed above. It’s just that kind of literature. Importantly, though, literature is the key word in the proceeding paragraph. If the conversation before us were predicated on the details commonly found inside an informational text, the type of how-to book that may well find its way into a middle school’s library system, then we might object to a graphic discussion being within reach of a young child’s grasp. In fact, if "Push" were in a middle school library, we might also object to its inclusion — literary merits or no. A young person’s mind needn’t always be made to think big thoughts at the risk of also scarring that individual with searing mental images they are not yet prepared to have.
But, we’re not talking about a how-to book — as parents, teachers and librarians throughout Fayetteville were last spring. Nor are we discussing the best books to properly house in a middle school. We’re talking about a high school, and the books a youth approaching adulthood ought to be capable of handling mentally if they’re ever to make it in a grown-up, rough-and-tumble world.
Laurie Taylor — the Fayetteville parent who has led a fight to restrict access to "questionable" materials located throughout the public school library system this year and, in the process, successfully divided this college town — wanted this book banned. In her eyes, "Push" is just not meant for the reading minds of tenth -, eleventh- or twelfth-graders. And, admittedly, a novel about a young girl who gets pregnant with her father’s child is probably not for every person out there — adult or not. Despite this, a committee reviewing the book noted that it’s also undeniable that incest at the hands of family members does exist, detestable though such realities might be. The book’s coarse language, and the jaded mental images it projects, fell under the same heading. Ultimately, the committee found, "The overall message of the book is one of hope, survival, and the value of human relationships and education in overcoming horrific experiences."
It’s an important finding, mostly because it supports so many of the comments shouted by Taylor’s opponents throughout the course of the past summer. And, of those, mainly the one about not being able to judge a book by its cover, or just a few snippets.
We can’t quite bring ourselves to celebrate this book as a great work, but within the high school setting, it is entirely understandable that an overall story of a person overcoming horrible events might include some description of horrid happenings that are difficult to read about, yet still be part of an overall text that conveys deeper meaning.
The local debate over books changes within the high school setting. Those kids, while varying in their maturity, are unquestionably just a short time away from what is considered legal adulthood. Yes, their library will contain materials that are patently offensive yet not obscene when taken as part of an entire text.
Not every parent might be thrilled to find their teenager reading this particular novel; meanwhile, several parents could also take it as a good sign that child is taking time to read at all, as opposed to drifting away into the newest video game. Books instruct. Books teach. Books expand the imagination. So yes, even "Push" carries redemptive powers.
Most importantly, it just might be the case that a young person at the high school — yes, even in Fayetteville — have themselves been the victim of some horrible act depicted in this book, and might take away some extra value from this text the rest of us simply don’t see. In fact, that’s usually why we don’t like to ban literature in this country, as a rule. Quite often, what’s trash to one person is oftentimes salvation to another.