A greater percentage of statements referring to challenged books (23 percent, 11 statements) than those referring to unchallenged books (14 percent, 36 statements) incorporated this theme. The positive variation, “affirmative social critique,” appeared only in the unchallenged books’ statements, in 9 cases (4 percent). The language of the challenge was sometimes a nearly exact match for that of the BTI statement. For instance, All Quiet on the Western Front was perceived as antiwar by both the contributor and by challengers. But while the contributor believed this antiwar perspective was inspiring and thought-provoking (“the finest anti-war novel I have ever read … a sobering book [that] addresses the lost innocence of the WWI generation” [BTI II]), All Quiet was banned by Italy as antiwar propaganda and burned in Germany as “slanderous to [Nazi] ideals of home and fatherland.” In the United States, it received “challenges on the grounds of its being ‘too violent’ and for its depiction of war as ‘brutal and dehumanizing.’”32 The contributor of Native Son found its social critique enlightening, noting that “it is the choices made for him, by fate and society, that led him to the electric chair” (BTI II). Some challenges to it, however, rejected the vehemence of the critique, objecting to “the level of rage and anger that the protagonist projects toward white liberals, and Wright’s open indictment of American racism.”33
Concept 4: Self-Improvement and Living Righteously
Statements with the themes in this group interpreted the concept of inspiration as referring to books that helped their contributors to become better people. Focusing on the reader’s internal self, these books helped their readers to develop their moral systems, provided role models for them to admire, and encouraged them to examine themselves. These were books that taught their readers how to live.
Heroes and Role Models
Statements with this theme singled out characters or authors that served as examples to their contributors. They modeled qualities that the contributors found extraordinary and hoped to emulate.
Each time I read [The Grapes of Wrath] I am touched by the determination, humanity, and courage of the people from Oklahoma. (BTI VII)*
Laura [from On the Banks of Plum Creek] was my hero. She slept in a dugout, survived a grasshopper plague, and braved hailstorms and blizzards. The Little House books taught me that girls could be adventuresome and courageous—and that they could be writers when they grew up. (BTI I)
The third most frequently occurring theme in the exhibit, “Heroes and Role Models” appeared in a higher percentage of statements about unchallenged books (26 percent, 65 statements) than about challenged books (19 percent, 9 statements). Contributors perceived these characters as worthy of admiration; the converse, viewing them as unworthy, appeared frequently among the challenges to The Grapes of Wrath. Challengers found its characterization offensive and misleading. One called it “demeaning to Southerners,” while another said:
The Grapes of Wrath has offended our citizenry by falsely implying that many of our fine people are a low, ignortant [sic], profane and blasphemous type living in a vicious and filthy manner, and … Steinbeck presents our public officials, law enforcement officers and civil administrators, business men, farmers, and ordinary citizens as inhumane vigilantes, breathing class hatred and divested of sympathy or human decency or understanding.34
Other challenges hinged on the viewpoint that these characters—whatever good qualities they might have—evince values of which censors disapprove. Ulysses may have been “the smartest and shrewdest of the Greek heroes that fought in the Trojan War” (BTI V), but the “Greek ideals of freedom” that his Odyssey expressed were sufficient to prompt Caligula to attempt to suppress it.35
Life Lessons
Whether by embracing the priorities that the books argued were most meaningful or by following the examples of virtue that they portrayed, contributors felt that they could live better, more righteously, more fully by taking these books to heart. The lessons were diverse, but they shared the common element of teaching their readers how to improve themselves.
I’ve lost count of the number of times in which “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string” [from Emerson’s Essays and Lectures] has guided me toward what is real and right. (BTI II)*
[The Old Man and the Sea] serves to remind me to think about the greater good I’m working toward, rather than the sometimes unpleasant tasks that are part of the process. (BTI V)*
[Walden] always reminds me of the folly of mindless materialism. (BTI II)
“Life Lessons” tied with “Heroes and Role Models” as the third most frequently occurring theme, and it too appeared in a higher percentage of statements that referred to unchallenged books (26 percent, 64 statements) than challenged (21 percent, 10 statements). Most of the challenges found for these books did not have a direct correspondence to the inspiring lesson that the contributors identified. However, one challenge to The Outsiders is directly oppositional. The contributor asserts that the book “teaches us to look beyond social boundaries” (BTI VII). Many challenges refute that lesson specifically: “The whole treatment of class conflict in The Outsiders has been the subject of frequent reactionary criticism. The story, after all, is told by a member of the underclass.”36
Morals and Values
These books modeled virtues and shaped their readers’ moral thinking. Many of them were credited with helping their contributors to develop their ethical systems and priorities.
[All Quiet on the Western Front] extols the important virtues of duty, honor, friendship, and family. (BTI II)*
[On Liberty] left me with a strong sense of the value of freedom and the dangers of censorship. (BTI I)
Both my respect for labor and my distaste for privilege are anchored in this study of English mining-town poverty [The Road to Wigan Pier]. (BTI V)