If you could burn any book that has ever been written so that no person can ever read that book again, which book would you choose and why? What would be the positive and negative consequences of burning this book for all eternity?
If I were to collect all copies of one book and put them in a pile for me to burn, that book would be all the banned book's list that is published around every year. This book contains literature that is banned in certain schools. I am not sure how burning these books will make the school un-ban the books, but it's a start. Even the book Mein Kampf by Hitler deserves to be read by historians in order to learn why Hitler did what he did. Some books have sexual themes racism, etc, but in that case you have to consider the author or the society the narrator lives in, even the time period the book was written. Something can be learned in every book, despite what its contents are.
Reply
Felix Arambula
3/22/2014 12:57:28 pm
Book Burning, the practice of destroying, often ceremonially, books or other written material, has been around for hundreds of years. The most famous time period in which this ocurred was during the Holocaust as an act of censorship, discrimination, and racism towards the Jews. Although the Nazis did not have a legitimate reason for burning the books, I do have a legitimate reason for burning one book - Mein Kampf. For those of you who are not familiar with that book, it is Adolf Hitler's autobiography with his political ideology and future plans for Germany. That book was like the bible for Nazis and other indoctrinated Germans and is said to be one of the main reasons why the Holocaust commenced. The main reason why I would want to destroy this book for all of eternity is because it was responsible for one of the most horrendous events of history - The Holocaust. Also, it contains a lot of hate speech against the Jews and wicked thoughts that are daunting to read. The positive effect of burning this book so no one could ever read it would be that no one will be influenced by it and in a way, it could be revenge because I would be burning the person who burned other people's books for no reason whatsoever. Also, that book speaks of a "condescending" race, which is not true because we are equal and we should consider ourselves above or below anyone else - we are all human. However, although that seems like a great idea, it has its negative effects like most things in this world. The negative effect would be that if the book is burned, some people will never get to find out why Hitler did what he did and his reasoning behind it. Also, some people still believe that the Holocaust never happened and destroying that book would be like destroying evidence of the Holocaust. That is not good because we want people to believe and learn from a dire event such as the Holocaust so it does not occur again. In conclusion, I feel that the book should be burned, but that they should keep one copy in a Holocaust museum as evidence, and no one will be allowed to touch it or read it for security purposes.
Reply
Fatima Romero
3/23/2014 04:01:52 am
If I could collect an entire pile of books and burn them it would be Want to go private. The reason I would burn that book is because it has a lot of sexual references and very explicit scenes in the book. Also because it scared my life do to the fact that was the first book that I read that had many explicit scenes. Then again this book demonstrates the consequences of chatting online with strangers and letting them know where you live. Another thing would be of how sexual predators pull their victims to met them.
Reply
Belen Robles
3/23/2014 04:41:30 am
If I had the ability to burn a book for eternity and vanquish it from this world, I would probably burn the book Teach Your Wife To Be A Widow. This book is pretty true to its title and it pretty much means what the title states, a husband should teach his wife important things such as dealing with life insurance and money before they die because if they do not, the wife will be clueless about it and not know what to do. I would burn this book because of its sexist message that women are not supposed to do anything besides domestic duties and that they are helpless without men, and that they need to get married. It is keeping men and women in their gender roles. However, burning this book would be negative because it was written in 1953 so it would be like burning history in a way because it shows how life used to be during that time period and the way society was run before. Although this book is negative in the way that it conveys that men should teach their "clueless" wives how to handle business things, it could be useful to individuals in this generation that do not know about those type of things and want to learn, it does not necessarily have to be a husband teaching a wife.
Reply
Ashley Guerrero
3/23/2014 06:17:15 am
The idea of burning or destroying a book has come into the minds of many, including myself. If I were given the opportunity to burn a book, “Which book would you choose and why?” At first this question made my mind flood with titles of books such as ,Fifty Shades of Grey, but after giving many thought to it; I decided not to chose a book. There are books in this world that carry negativity with them, but a book can only do harm if the beholder allows it to. Some books such as, Mein Kampf, had the purpose of causing negativity but these books are still here today to show the mistakes of the past. If you were to destroy these books, the next generation would not be able to learn and continue on understanding what can be right or wrong. When a something is not taught about the past, the possibility of “History repeating itself” is rather high. Destroying a book, can be dangerous.
Reply
Yesenia Ramirez
3/23/2014 08:08:09 am
I checked out this blog about the book Catcher in the Rye. It conveys a lot of good points. The book is said to be "bad" for young adults however, the sexual content and offensive language is not as worse as the things that teens are early on exposed to. Books teach us lessons throughout their universal truths. Teens tend to have flaws, why not learn from those flaws from characters in a book? For example, if a teen reads a book about how one girl was lead on to rape then the teenage girls will be more aware and be able to react in a different way if that situation comes. They say that one should be prepared then sorry later on. In addition, books may contain crucial history that can never be gained back.People may commit the same mistakes as in the past, without the literature that exposes these errors, one would not know how to do better. For example , if I saw a lady trip on a rock in front of me, I would then be careful not to trip myself. It would only seems like the "positive" solution to those that believe it as wrong due to the reveal of truths, secrets, memories etc.
Reply
Jocelyne Ramire
3/24/2014 12:06:59 pm
I have read a lot of books in my life, and still am. There have been books that I absolutely loved, others that I liked, and some I thought were...meh. But all in all if I were to choose a book to destroy because I thought it was a waste of time reading it and waste of paper is had to definitely be Fallen by Lauren Kate. I just--it was awful, it was a miracle I finished it. And I think that if it were not for that mysterious cover, I would not have read it. Yes I hate myself for judging a book by its cover, and let me tell you if I were to burn this book, it would not make any difference whatsoever to history, in fact it will make it better and save lots of trees. I am sorry, but that book was just terrible, it did not get any action until the last page-so disappointing.
Reply
Alexander Trujillo
3/24/2014 02:57:55 pm
In my life I have read my books, but there is one book that disappoints me that even existed. That book is "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. I wished that this book never existed because many people in Germany started to get the interest in Hitler's diary which had pure racist nazi ideology. The book brought nothing but lies to the people which led to the killing of millions of people. It would be good if all the books of Mein Kampf would burn to have never been read because that book brought nothin but trouble. The negative thing about it is that if the book were to be burn then there would be consequence in the future. There is a quote that says " if these actions would never to happen, then history would be able to repeat itself." This quote gives a twist or an oppositions on why the book should be burn. The bad news would be that if the book were not to be able to make it to the public then history would then repeat itself and no one wants that.
Reply
Ms. Thai
3/24/2014 04:02:34 pm
Instead of choosing just one book, I would like to burn an entire series--the Twilight series. This series grossly promotes the idea of the dependency of women on men with its "heroine", Bella Swan, being a lovesick teenager who feels her life is over when her boyfriend leaves her. She goes into a depression missing her sparkling vampire lover until he finally returns upon her pretending to drown herself. Really, Stephanie Meyers? Faking a suicide to get a boyfriend's attention? And since when do vampires sparkle? Anyway, Bella is a terrible female role model for girls (or anyone for that matter), and her actions throughout the entire series goes against all the efforts women have put forth breaking down gender barriers.
This generation's literature needs real heroines like Hermione Granger and Katniss Everdeen, strong females with brains and courage. Moreover, Meyer's writing is extremely elementary compared to her contemporaries that brain cells are loss after reading the first ten pages. If adolescents want to preserve their intellectuality, they should never read this series!
Let the burning of these gag-inducing books commence!
Reply
Leticia Diaz
3/25/2014 01:40:00 am
If I were to be able to round up a collection of books and leave them in the ashes to fogotten by the days I would probably burn the bible. I would probably consider burning this book because it has lead to many controversial ideas and many life learning obligations that one has to Persue. It gives men and women two distinct roles, these have played a significant importance as the year have passed as now men and women are not considered alike. However, burning the bible would also bring upon many down falls because without it people won't have something to praise in their most terrifying moments. Burning the bible would bring an opening to many closed ideas such as homosexuals which is considered to be unholly. It would also bring upon a dark shadow which will have nothing to reflect when the light shines upon it.
Reply
Belen Robles
3/25/2014 10:32:03 am
What an interesting thought to bring forth, a bold one at that, I like your idea. Not that I would ever want to burn the Bible or anything, the idea just entices me.
Reply
Christian Marquez
3/25/2014 11:53:48 am
If I was given the opportunity to burn any form of literature I would definitely burn the book Where The Wild Things Are. The children's book has no obscene content that I know of but the art choice is very odd. The creatures in that book are the some of the ugliest things I have ever seen. That reason alone is why I want to dispose of the book.
Reply
Anahi Ramon
3/25/2014 11:57:01 am
If I had a chance to burn a book it would be the "Mein Kampf" just how my classmates said. I had that decision because it only talk about Adolf Hitler's autobiography. I know many people hate him on what he did to the Jews and how he was being unfair to them and why know about his life if everything he mentions is that Jews are evil and how we should be antisemitism. So, what was the point of writing the book if he was going to say cruel things about the Jews.The bad thing of burning the book is that we would not know what happened in the past and it might happen to us in the future and that would not be good.
Reply
Marisol Jimenez
3/25/2014 11:57:26 am
If I had the chance to burn any book I wanted so no person can ever read again it would be, The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien released in 1960. I would ban this book forever because it breaks the silence about sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Irrland.
Reply
Oscar Torres-Soria
3/25/2014 12:08:30 pm
If I were to burn a book so that no one else could read it ever again, I believe that I would choose History Textbooks. The reason why is because it only shows information that us students want to know. Those who make these hide or leave out the parts of our history in which we were not as good in. People would say that the US is the greatest country in the world because of this and that, but the US is not as people think it is. In fact, there is a video that shows how the US is not the best country in the world. The main reason why I would burn these books is because they give false information in which it indoctrinates students to believe in certain things.
Reply
Victor Esteban
3/25/2014 01:09:54 pm
If I was able to burn one book it would be the Hunger games because it is an obscure book that may lead to ideas of killing one another for entertainment. The book itself takes about a type of government that makes its people join a game to the death, which in my opinion could give ideas to any aggressor. As seen in some cases were a group of people would kidnap people only to make them fight to the death. The positive affect of burning this book would mean eliminating the idea of making a group of people fight to the death. However it would have a negative effect because people would miss out on an awesome book.
Reply
Joshua Vissoni
3/25/2014 01:16:37 pm
If I were to burn a book I would burn any religious books like, The Bible or any other book which divides us into religious groups like Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Mormons and so forth. These books I believe promote certain ideas of a God who is the highest being and he or she requires us to live a certain way. Books like The Bible teach what we can and cannot do, the readers or followers of the religion in turn try to impose these ideas and beliefs on to other individuals life. Religion can even cause violence. For example, Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen, "fight for the sake of Allah." Furthering the Islamic religion no matter what was Bin Laden's primary goal. Because of this many acts of violence have been carried out in Allahs name, hurting innocent people. Burning religious or spiritual books will cause religion as a whole to eventually die off. We will no longer be classified as Catholic or Muslim just as human and how we live our lives would be left up to us not an antique book that might or might not be fiction.
Reply
Yesenia Garcia
3/25/2014 01:47:34 pm
Like some of my classmates said l, if I would burn a book it would be "Mein Kampf." I w pop ls burn this book because the only thing it talks about is the perfection of the aryan race and it discriminates the Jew. One positive thing about burning try his book is that people won't have to read things that do not go with the world today, eventhough they were an important part of history. One negative thing about burning this book would be that people will not see the bad mind that Hither had about the Jews and how he thought of them. The people wouldn't know the reality how much Hither hated the Jews.
Reply
Michael Ponce
3/25/2014 01:48:01 pm
Well, the idea of burning books to me seems very absurd, but it is very normal in our society today. As Letty stated in her above comment about burning the bible I concur with her because it cause much conflict "we" (catholics) do burn the bible for ash wednesday. I find this very ironic because I'm not very religious and stuff but isn't it burning your own bible even worst. Well, getting off topic there I would very much rather burning the book, The true story of a part-time indian. This book has its negatives of begin burned because it will eliminate one view in bulling.
Reply
Brian Vidal
3/25/2014 01:49:20 pm
If I had the opportunity to burn any book that I want so that no person can ever read it again, I would want to burn 50 Shades of Grey. I would choose to burn this book because of its sexual and explicit content. Some kids have already gotten a hold of this book, and it's just inappropriate for them. There has also been a huge controversy over this specific book. In an article I read in The Huffington Post, it states, "Dr. Drew, a board-certified internist and TV personality, told the TODAY Show that he finds the novel "disturbing" and even suggested that the submissive sex the book depicts is essentially violence against women." This is a big deal, which is why I would want to burn this book forever.
Reply
Susana Gonzalez
3/25/2014 01:50:52 pm
I would not burn one book instead I would burn an entire series. These series I would burn would definately have to be Twilight series. The entire series just does not make sense at all it mostly is of a young teen that gives out the idea of dependency of women on a men who is her
'heroine" and when he decides to leave her she wants to die. Really, that is just plain dumb to die over a break up from my perspective. Overall, this series is just nonsense and if it were to be burn then the entire world would be better off with it because afterall it does not contain any useful data that could benefit both women and men. The series kind of promotes some controversy and people don't want that, so yes this series is better off to be burned and hey on the bright side we are saving paper and mother nature as well. I would not burn one book instead I would burn an entire series. These series I would burn would definately have to be Twilight series. The entire series just does not make sense at all it mostly is of a young teen that gives out the idea of dependency of women on a men who is her "heroine" and when he decides to leave her she wants to die. Really, that is just plain dumb to die over a break up from my perspective. Overall, this series is just nonsense and if it were to be burn then the entire world would be better off with it because afterall it does not contain any useful data that could benefit both women and men. The series kind of promotes some controversy and people don't want that, so yes this series is better off to be burned and hey on the bright side we are saving paper and mother nature as well.
Reply
Susana Gonzalez
3/25/2014 01:52:48 pm
Sorry I copied my response twice.
Reply
Lady Panfilo
3/25/2014 03:09:13 pm
If I could burn any boo I think it would be the book that Hitler wrote, Mein Kumpf. I would love to burn this book because it has Nazi ideology that cause the Hilocost and I think that if that book gets to the wrong hands history can be repeated again. This book is not really important only if you want to know about the Nazi ideology. The book only is a historical object that shows us the Nazi ideology that started he Hilocost but I don't think it should be able to be giving to people. It should be burn so no one gets the idea to start a new Holocost. We can't to change history not repeat it again. That is why it think this book should be burn because it just brings bad ideas to the future.
Reply
Heidi Ramos
3/25/2014 03:18:50 pm
You know if I had to choose any book that I would burn will be The Bible. I never read the Bible but I heard things about the Bible that I dislike. I mean how people have to read the Bible, the can not sin, of you sin without confessing you go to hell. All this obligations which I believe is dumb. How Christians can't dance, put make up on, paint their nails, they can't even wear pants ?! It just gets me mad because young children, since their parents believe in God so much they force their kids to be religious to without giving them a choice. I was one of those kids, how anything I did would be disrespecting God. The worst part is how easily The Bible make religious people discriminate other people when supposedly God loves all his children. How being gay is a sin, and you would go to hell. Like someone had comments on the song "same love" and they "God made Adam and eve, not Adam and Steve". The Bible is giving all these people wrong ideas and bringing more hatred into this world instead of helping this world. This is why I believe the Bible should be burned.
Reply
Bryan Amaro
3/25/2014 04:01:54 pm
If i could burn any book I could choose, i would choose to burn the Hunger Games series. The reason why I would choose to burn these books is because I see the story as a "game" or entertainment where people will die when chosen to participate. Even though I had never read the book, or any of the books, and only saw a little bit of the movie, I find it dark to put young adults in a game where there is only one survivor, and each person must kill each other in order to survive from each other.
Reply
Jennifer Chupin
3/25/2014 04:06:55 pm
If I could burn any book, it would be The Hunger Games. Do not get me wrong it was a very excellent book, but think of all the things someone would do from inspiration of that book. The whole series is based on teens going to "war" and killing each other until there is only one survivor. That book can give a lot of ideas to someone who seeks revenge in another country. For the things we are learning in history class, I feel like the United States will not be a democracy in 100 years. If the book remains and someone metal reads it, who knows what in the world he will be capable of doing. If we eliminate the book, the possibilities will be limited or vanished. If the book series continues for a couple more years, who knows maybe the next Hitler May appear with the same ideas as the book series. I feel like it would just be a tad bit safer if the book was burned.
Reply
Edgar Giron
3/25/2014 04:43:00 pm
To have the ability to remove an entire book from existance is definately going to affect people and maybe even other authors. It could ruin franchises and wipe out an entire fan base torwards that series. Just for the sake of experiencing life in an entire new and bizzare way I would burn any work done by Shakespear.He has contributed greatly on the english language and has beem alluded to in countless of other literary works. English would seem like an entirely new language. Some positive outcomes that may occur from this would be things such as a new author even better than Shakespeare or even a different cultural society. Some negative effects this might would be lack of words that he created. We probably wouldn't have most books or movies that have had allusions to Shakespear's work. Honestly I believe that the negative effects would outweigh the positives in a situation like this, but what would life be like without Shakespear?
Reply
Diane Leal
3/25/2014 11:42:03 pm
The ability of burning a book sounds obscure, yet so intriguing. If i were given this ability I would probably feel like I had all the power in the world while watching the book burn; not because it's important or anything, but any book because just throwing a book in fire can make anyone feel like they have a lot of power. Which book would I want to burn, A Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare. Yes, I would definetly burn this book; not that it has anything bad ideas in it or any contervisual thoughts like many of my peers had stated, but because it was one of the most boring books I have ever read. I felt like I was being tortured when I had to read this book in eighth grade. I remember that I would be falling asleep in class while reading and watching the book. Sometimes it was a bit humorous... I still hate it. Many of my peers enjoyed the book because it had some graphic scenes and stuff; when they would tell me this I would feel like strangling them because I detested this book! I could go on and on and describe why I despise this book, but I just really want to burn it and no burning it will not have any negative aspects. So, let it burn!
Reply
Leave a Reply.
Author
This blog is a collaborative effort from Mrs. Navarro's 4th period Honors English 10 students. Go Stallions!