Banned Book infuriates Father

Stacy Lunsford
October 31, 2009
Sociology 313-003
Blog Post #2

Explicit “Banned Book” Infuriates Virginia Father, Leads to School Review

A father in Virginia became angry when his 16 year old son brought home a book from school that contained references to homosexuality, sexual behavior and drug use. The book the son brought home was the Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. This book has been the subject of much controversy in many other schools across the country. The father, John Davis, told Fox News that when he first saw the book he was angry and infuriated. He felt that the teachers in the school were supposed to teach the kids educational things and other subject matters should be left to the parents. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about a young teenagers freshman year in high school in which he struggles with issues concerning that of growing up. The American Library Association says that the book, published ten years ago, was among the top 10 challenged books of 2008. This book was mostly challenged due to the topics concerning drugs, homosexuality, offensive language and suicide and other material considered unsuitable for certain age groups. John Davis was mainly upset with the references to homosexuality, masturbation and drug use. He felt that these topics were too heavy for his son who is in 11th grade. Davis confiscated the book and contacted the principle of his son's school and tried to meet with the teacher, but the principle refused Davis a meeting with the teacher. The book is now being reviewed under the school's system established policy relating to challenged material. In the meantime, all the copies of the book have been removed from the library.

Citation:
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story.html

I think this article relates to social control because there is only one person complaining about a book read in school and now because of one complaint the book is under review and all the copies have been taken out of the school library. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a more of a coming of age story similar to that of Catcher in the Rye. I think that the father is trying to control not only what his son reads but what other teens read without even consulting the parents. Perhaps the other parents would want their teenager to read this book to open up a dialogue about these issues. Instead of taking the book off the library shelf the father just should've asked if his son could read something else.