The percentage of challenged books (10 percent, 5 statements) and unchallenged books (9 percent, 23 statements) whose statements addressed the idea of resonance was approximately the same. A contributor explained her connection with J. D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey: “I knew Franny’s plight intimately: tired of dating pompous boys, exhausted with pedants, bored with conformity, and hungry for meaning” (BTI III). The challenger, conversely, saw not “teenage angst” and a reflection of a thoughtful young person’s life, but “characters too concerned with sex.”23 Challenges to books in this category did not engage the idea of resonance directly. However, the focus on graphic aspects—too much violence, too much sexual content—that appeared in connection with three of the five challenged books may be viewed as denying commonality between these books and the challengers who were offended by them.
Positive Emotional Value
Readers mentioning this theme found comfort, encouragement, uplift, or optimism from their books. This theme was broad, encompassing practically any positive emotional reaction to the text (as opposed to the writing, which is discussed below).
Whenever I felt overwhelmed or sad, I simply remembered the philosophy of the verses, or I read [Gitangali] again for the purification of my soul. (BTI V)
At the end, [I Survived Cancer, But Never Won the Tour de France] made me feel stronger. (BTI VII)
Only one statement about a challenged book (The Giving Tree, BTI V) incorporated this upbeat theme, which appeared in statements for twenty-six (10 percent) of the unchallenged books. The reason for the challenge—sexism—does not relate to the positive emotional value cited by the contributor.24
Concept 2: Relationships and Understanding Others
The first concept was about the relationship between reader and book; concept 2 is about books’ ability to provide insight into relationships between individuals. Statements with the four themes in this concept describe books that taught their readers to understand other people better.
Common Humanity and Universality
These books had the ability to create common ground between the reader and a subject that was alien to the reader’s own personal experiences. Statements in this category described books that reminded their contributors of human interdependence and that reflected truths that applied to all people, regardless of setting or circumstance.
In The Analects, Confucius holds the mirror of our own humanity up to us across two and a half millennia. (BTI IV)*
From Slavery to Freedom … explained the historical importance of that struggle to American society and that black history isn’t just for black Americans, but for all Americans. (BTI VII)
Inspirational statements for challenged books incorporated this theme at twice the rate of unchallenged books (6 percent, 3 statements to 3 percent, 7 statements). One would not expect this theme to occur often as grounds for censorship; however, one direct association between inspirational statement and challenge was found. In The Analects of Confucius, the Chinese Communist Party identified not common humanity, but divisiveness, because “Confucian thinking … promot[ed] an ideology of exploitation, elitism, social hierarchy, and preservation of a status quo in which people knew and kept their place in a static society and obeyed the prescribed rites for their station in life.”25
Empathy with Other Experiences
While the preceding theme celebrated commonalities, this one honored differences. These books taught their contributors to appreciate perspectives besides their own and to refrain from assuming that their own experiences were universal. These books broadened their readers, helping them learn to understand others.
I grew up in northern Canada and only knew about the African-American experience by watching Roots on television. I was moved by the miniseries, but this book allowed me to experience the “hate stare” and to feel unwanted…. An aside: my adopted sister is Indian and Black Like Me also helped me to understand why her life experiences would always be different from mine. (BTI I)*
Sometimes a good book goes unappreciated because the reader has not yet reached the place where the story resides. However, some books are so powerful that they pull you in and teach you things beyond your experience. Cry the Beloved Country was such a book for me. (BTI I)
The empathy theme was included at a much higher rate in the statements referring to challenged books (8 percent, 4 statements) than unchallenged (2 percent, 5 statements). As the challenges to Black Like Me demonstrate, the converse of empathy may take several different forms. An outright and specific rejection of the other is perhaps the most antithetical concept to empathy, bluntly summarized by the observer who noted, “In my opinion the objections in most cases were because of black people being in the book.”26 Denial of the accuracy (or reality) of the depiction is another converse of empathy found among the challenges to this book—many claimed “it did not accurately reflect the reality of the southern social situation.”27
Unheard Voices and Diversity
These books gave voice to a perspective or experience that the contributor felt was often forgotten. Many dealt specifically with themes of diversity and explored issues of race, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation. Readers valued them because they represented points of view that might otherwise be silenced, marginalized, or ignored.
For many of us, Bless Me, Ultima is a special book, the first book to establish a vision of the Chicano world and to define many of the terms for understanding the Mexican-American experience. (BTI III)*
[Invisible Man] added a heretofore unheard black point of view to the dialogue on 1950s race issues in America. (BTI I)*
Despite the global nature of our societies today, the history of world architecture is still dominated by Eurocentric ideologies. African Architecture Evolution and Transformation by Nnamdi Elleh presents a concise history of African architecture. (BTI II)