Banning and Censoring

I did a research project in my constitutional law course I took semesters ago about literary censorship and public schools attempting to ban books. It's one of my favorite research projects to this day. The only case to make it to the Supreme Court is Island Trees School District v Pico (1982). The parents described the list of banned books "anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy." Anaya's works were not on the list, however a lot of well-known works were included.

I found that religion often played a big part in school book bans. As well as anything parents may have considered too mature for their children to be reading. But I think on a deeper level, some people were not open to new perspectives, often cultural perspectives, and therefore did not want their children exposed to anything that was against their beliefs.

After having finished this book, I agree with both of you, Garrison and Shelby-- I think the prime offender here is the subversion of parental authority, the status quo, and especially the undermining of organized religion that Antonio experiences. Notably, even though Antonio questions the faith he does continue in its practices, but his questions are never satisfactorily answered, and we don't get the sense that he'll be able to become a priest given these doubts. He ends the novel wondering if there's some other religion he could convert to that would make more sense.

Suffice it to say this is not the sort of thing that most parents would want their children reading--- it would put all sorts of ideas in their head and/or normalize the doubts that they might already be experiencing... Better to ban (or burn) it and prevent them from accessing the material.