Argument Essay

           Rape, abuse, and bullying. All the things that adolescents all around the world may have gone through. These are all the things that are included in the book Carrie, by Stephen King. The book is about a teenage girl named Carrie who is oft She is often bullied by her peers up until the point when she goes on a rampage using her telekinesis power and kills almost her entire high school. This text should be removed from middle school libraries because it contains many graphic sex scenes as well as promotes violence with murder and abuse.

            To start with, one of the most “challenged” authors, according to ALA, is Stephen King, mostly for expressing both explicit sex and rape scenes. Specifically, a part in his book that shows this is when Carrie’s mother was talking to her about the time when she was raped by her father; “It wasn’t until he came in that I smelled the whiskey still on his breath. And he took me. Took me! With the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey still on him he took me… and I like it!” (248). After this scene, a parent may not want their children to read this book because of the vocabulary in it and the way that a person could be raped. What makes it even worse is that the person could potentially like it. Having a book that shows scenes like this is not appropriate in middle schools, especially if the teenager’s parents don’t know that a book with sex scenes is on the shelf in their children’s school.  Another particularly compelling piece of evidence for this is when the West Lyon Community School Library in Iowa had stated that the book “does not meet the standards of the community.” Many schools all around the country think this too, a book by Stephen King normally has many sex scenes such as his other book, “Different Seasons.” The community may be a peaceful society in Iowa and after reading Carrie, a child may be influenced by the book and potentially think rape/sex is okay. High schools are already banning Stephen King and if adolescents during that age are written off as being not mature enough to read Stephen King, then middle school students may not be mature enough either.

            Furthermore, this book features many sex scenes, but it also presents many scenes of abuse to Carrie which may frighten adolescents or maybe even provoke a bully to do the things expressed in the book such as teasing and making fun of others. In particular, a scene where Carrie’s mother became really mad at her she reacted in a very violent way, “She was whirled into the closet head first and she struck the far wall and fell on the floor in a semi daze. The door slammed and the key turned.” (67). This shows how abusive Carrie’s mother had become. If a parent was to see this in their child’s book they might not want their children reading this either because it may create children to become quite wary and paranoid of their own family. To see what a fictional character could do may also give young teenagers in middle school potential nightmares about this type of thing and could scar them. Another piece of evidence that suggests provoking bullying was when Carrie’s peers were throwing napkins and tampons making fun of her, Carrie described it, “Then the laughter, disgusted, contemptuous, horrified, seemed to rise and bloom into something jagged and ugly, and the girls were bombarding her with sanitary napkins…”(9). This reveals how badly Carrie was being bullied, and to other teenagers it may be seen as a way to make fun of/ bully a person in need. The way that Carrie reacted to being bullied was by being violent which may portray the fact that the easy way out of bullying is to be violent rather than telling an adult.

            On the other hand, although it is a very inappropriate book doesn’t mean that other readers can’t read the book, if they believe that they are mature enough. It is true that after reading Carrie, a high school student, Suzanne Plunkett, wrote, “I don’t recall killing any prom kings after I finished it,” but, just because one student didn’t act out in a violent way doesn’t mean that others won’t.  The book contained a violent act in which Carrie murdered her entire school because she was being bullied. According to ALA, Carrie was rated #81 on the top 100 most challenged books ever since it was created. What this makes clear is that not only parents believe that Carrie should be banned from both middle and high schools, but people who specify in books and who make up that list are experienced adults that come from ALA. If ALA believes that Carrie is a challenged book out of the millions of books out there, then it should be banned. It is also important to acknowledge the fact that this book is fiction and that none of it actually happened, but although some students know that, they still might be influenced by the book subconsciously because of the murder that Carrie did. This was the way she had acted out because of bullying and it can potentially provoke other people who are being bullied to hurt the bullies and not go to an adult or their parents. Many students believe that Carrie shouldn’t be banned, but there are so many parents out there who know their kids and so many adults who research the way books affect a persons mind and they have the right to choose the books that get banned for the safety of young teenagers. Telling your child to simply not read the book will not stop them from finding it on their own and read things that they may or may not be mature enough to read.

            Therefore, even though the text is fiction, middle school students should not have access to it because it may provoke them to do violent things, have sex, and be more wary of their own family. Carrie’s story not only shows how she became so deranged and violent but she also includes a message saying that the best way to get back at someone hurting you, is revenge and violence. Carrie’s life was not easy and instead of giving a better way to deal with it such as, speaking to somebody, she teaches that violence is the answer not the other way around.

Works Cited

"CHALLENGE/BANNING FACTORS." THE CENSORSHIP OF STEPHEN KING. Weebly, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. <http://thecensorshipofstephenking.weebly.com/challengebanning-factors.html>.

Driscoll, Molly. "California High School Considers a Ban on a Stephen King Book." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

<http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/1015/California-high-school-considers-a-ban-on-a-Stephen-King-book>.

King, Stephen. Carrie; a Novel of a Girl with a Frightening Power. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974. Print.

Writing Project for Social Awareness

Prompts

1.Write a reading response on a social issue in a literary work (your independent reading book, short story, essay, or poem/song). Be creative, detailed, and specific. Also write 1-2 paragraphs describing your process in writing the poem and what problem/issue is it about?

2.Writing/Creating - Get inspired for your writing project. Do 1 or both of the following.
Brainstorm and plan. Write a response to 1 or 2 related works. You can follow the reading response structure or the following:

• Introduction: brief objective summary of what you see in the work
• 1-2 body paragraphs focusing on specific parts and your interpretation of what they mean
• Conclusion: what has the work of art made you think, feel, and wonder about social issues in the world.

3. Observe your surrounding (school, home, neighborhood, media). Write a list about all the scenes or situation you come across on a daily basis that you think are unfair and/or not right in some way. Pick one of the ideas from you list and write a longer entry about it – 2-3 paragraphs. Describe the problem whats wrong with, cause and effect, and possible solutions

Original Poem

Why?

I will never forget about them.

I will never let myself forget about them.

I will never forget their short young lives.

Especially how fast their life ended.

Not a thought, not a blink, not even a beat.

Just the sound of a crash.

I will never forget to look both sides.

I will never forget to say, “I love you.”

I will never cross a red light.

Because I will never forget about them.

I will never not be scared.

I will never forget how many people died around our community.

This world will never be safe.

I will remember and carry on and remember them.

I will never even begin to understand.

You don’t even get to say goodbye.

This life just steals you away.

I will never forget the dead look in that reporters eyes.

I will never stop saying that this life is hard.

One question always pops up, why?

I will never stop looking for them in that big blue sky.

            I wrote this poem thinking about all of the people in our school, community, and all around the world, how people are being killed because of reckless drivers. The number keeps rising and to me, it wasn’t that surprising. I remember looking at the TV looking for the news and I can recall hundreds of stories about people being hit by cars. I wrote this poem to express my feelings toward the topic about how unsafe our world is becoming. Writing this poem, I thought back to how I felt every time I got an email or a letter containing the fact that someone I knew was dead. It scared me how teenagers who pass by me in the hallways would pass away the next day. Even if I didn’t know them that well or talked to them a couple of times, it still hurt. While writing this poem, I expressed my feeling of anger towards people who had let our community and our world become so unsafe. I could never believe that a child who had so much potential to become a wonderful adult could have their life take away so quickly. I realized while I was writing this poem that you don’t get a letter a week before saying that you will die that day. You never know if it could be you next or someone you could really care about. I tried to get the message that you should be careful of the streets and to treat those people around you knowing that they could be gone in the blink of an eye. This poem was written using my mentor poem, “What I Will” by Suheir Hammad. I used the poet’s technique of repetitiveness and climaxes throughout my entire poem. I was really inspired by that poet to turn my own poem that reflected my own feelings similar to how that poet showed her feeling toward her own topic.

Social Awareness in Art/ Photography

Most people in America feast on their “MacDonald’s” or take food for granted but, photographer James Nachtwey has a way of traveling to the world’s most hostile countries to try and photograph the issues that are happening in the world. This photograph named, “Somalia, 1992 - Child starved by famine, a man-made weapon of mass extermination,” presents an image of a victim of famine in Africa. It shows a little starved boy and his mother and in the background their community is poor.

One of the main features of this photograph is that of a little boy and his mother. I believe that the photographer is trying to show us how bad it really is in Africa. The little boy has his ribs literally showing through his skin. I think that the fact that this boy is leaning over on the ground really shows how bad famine can get. His mother is standing next to him and not doing anything. I think that Nachtwey photographed it this way to show that famine was a really common thing in Africa and that it can really have a deep effect on the child’s life. The little boy also has no clothes on and I think that that also represents how poor Africa’s economy had actually got. Even in the title of this photograph shows how much famine has affected Africa and their lifestyle.

The other thing being featured in the photograph is that of the overall background and of the man holding a gun. The house in the back a long with the ground and the streets show how little money and help Africa is getting. Not only are they being victims of famine, but they are also not being treated the way some other people do in the world. The house is cracked and broken interpret how bad their lifestyle was too. The man holding the gun also represents how violent and how hard life is in Africa. It shows the things that some people have to do to survive in this world while others take it for granted. Africa isn’t being treated the way that they should be is what this photographer is trying to make the world see. The life is hard because of their lifestyle and their people and the things that they have to do in order for them to try and make the best out of their sad lives.

This photograph really made me feel great pity for Africa and what is happening over there. Seeing the child there starving made me think twice before I would throw leftover food in the garbage can. Seeing this and their economy made feel angry towards America and how we aren’t doing as much as we could to help Africa. I couldn’t help thinking about all of these people who take food for granted, who take so many thing for granted when there are so many people who need help in order to survive. It made me want to push toward giving money to charities that help kids in Africa. So, although this photograph made me really sad, the photographer to me really inspired me to help Africa by giving them donations and not throwing out leftover food. It made me really appreciate what I have and try to give back more to all of the people who are less fortunate around me.

Observing my Surroundings

Community

Homelessness

            Every day when I walk to school or anywhere in general, I see different kinds of people who are sifting through the garbage or curling up in a blanket to protect themselves against the cold. I see people who are homeless everywhere including the train. Every time one of them asks for money it breaks my heart to look up into their sad eyes and say, “sorry” when I don’t have any money to give. I feel guilty every time I see a homeless person. Homeless people are suffering from so many things outside of our own houses that some people don’t even see it.

            People who are homeless often become homeless because their short on money, they get kicked out from their apartments, or even if they have a drug or alcohol problem. When people become homeless they can’t always get anything to eat so they go through garbage which can cause diseases and infections, they can’t shower and be clean because they have nowhere to do it, and they don’t have much money to get warmer clothes for winter so they might end up getting many diseases from that. Homelessness is very serious because there are some kids out there who are homeless and that’s not good for their health.

            In order to solves homelessness we need to raise money from all around the community to create more homeless shelters so that people who are in desperate need of help will be able to get the help that they truly need from these shelters. They’ll be able to pick themselves back up and get out there for a job so they can get more money to support themselves. If one person raises money to give the government so that they can help the homeless, then more people will reach out to their own families and friends to raise money. Homeless people are in desperate need of help, we need to start helping them so that we can save so many people. If one person starts helping then more will follow them and before you know it, the percentage of homeless people will go down. Also, next time you see a homeless person, donate a dollar to them because for all you know that dollar could be their entire dinner. If you help one person, you’ll not only give him help but you’ll also make someone who has been wronged happy. Homeless people don’t deserve to be on the streets, they are people, just like us.

  

Works Cited

“What I Will” by Suheir Hammad. – Mentor Poem

"James Nachtwey." James Nachtwey. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/>. - Photograph