16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JUNE 1-7, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Inner Struggles What are book banners afraid of? Young readers learning the truth about human nature. By Jane Smiley FORUM Not long ago, I watched the movie Quills—a fictionalized depiction of the Marquis de Sade. Sade, played by Geoffrey Rush, is a complicated, obsessive writer living in a madhouse/prison, who must write, can’t stop writing (I can relate), and also is compelled to reveal the details of his sexuality through his work. At one point, Sade says (perhaps about the official who is determined to prevent him from writing—and also to prevent his books from being read): “We merely held up a mirror; apparently, he didn’t like what he saw.” Quills is maybe the best representation of the complexities of book banning I’ve ever seen, and it reminded me of when I actually dared to read Sade’s Justine. What I expected when I started it was not only unmitigated cruelty on the part of the author toward Justine, but also her reduction to an object. What surprised me was that Sade was eager to explore Justine’s torment from her point of view. He made her a sympathetic character and gave her a much more complex inner life than many of the female characters who were being depicted around the time that Sade wrote his frequently banned book. What he seemed to be showing us was that society itself was promoting cruelty toward women, both sexual and personal, and all he was doing was describing it. I am guessing that Justine was banned because Sade’s depiction of the world around him was truthful and uncomfortable for those in charge, not only in the government but also in the church. And I am guessing that this is why most books are banned—because they tell the truth, and the truth is that humans are complicated and often cruel, and the more power they have, the more they are tempted to use it. The only book of mine that has been banned is A Thousand Acres; the problem appears to have been “sexual content.” The two older daughters, Ginny and Rose, have been sexually molested by their father, Larry. Books about sex aren’t the only ones being banned these days. At the top of the list are books about slavery (The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison), sexuality (Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe), personal crises (Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher), and the effects of historical American cruelty on various subcultures (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie). What are the book banners afraid of? Well, we all know: They are afraid of readers— especially young readers—learning the truth about humans, about American history, about, perhaps, their own lives. I wouldn’t mind if books had warnings, as movies do—indicating that they are for an adult audience, say—but it is important for our children to learn all the complexities of the truth about human nature when they are young. Many of them can’t be protected by circumstances, and the more they know and understand, the better they can handle what happens to them and their loved ones. Jane Smiley is an author who lives in Carmel Valley. Her most recent collection of essays, The Questions That Matter Most, is due out on June 6. OPINION It’s important for our children to learn the complexities.
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