Argument Essay Draft One

Books like The Hunger Games and Where’s Waldo? are in danger of being taken away and forever banned from school libraries. People are shocked that these wonderful books are being challenged. One of such books is Divergent. In honor of the first amendment that allows freedom of expression and speech, no book should be banned for people to not be able to read. Furthermore, Divergent by Veronica Roth should not be banned, because it deals with important themes and making important choices.

Bravery is one of the important themes that Divergent deals with. In the book, Tris who is the main character makes a point on what Divergent is trying to teach us. For example, in the book, she said, “‘It prepares you to act,’ I say finally. ‘You learn strategy so you use it.’” (Roth 144) This shows how Divergent teaches readers to fight bravely, and to use strategy to prepare yourself for the worst. In the book, Tris also deals with many strong issues, like the death of a mother, and the loss of a lover, which takes a lot of bravery. For example, in the book, she shares her thoughts, “I hear him telling me to be brave. I hear my mother telling me to be brave. Somehow I get up and start running. I am brave.” (Roth 444) This shows the readers how important bravery can be, and how it can help people with various issues.

Important choices are taught in the book, like sex. Sex is a very important choice to make, and an issue that should be gladly brought up, if not mentioned. In an article, “The Banned Books We Loved” by Jen Doll, Jen says that “they stand out as important books that we read, because they dealt with important hard subjects, like death or race or sex, deep emotions…” and Jen is correct. These are important subjects that people and young adults should all be aware of, because these things happen in the real world. Sex is one of these issues and is mentioned in Divergent. In the book, Tris is in a simulation and is trying to face her fears, and possible sex with her boyfriend Tobias is one of them. For example, in a conversation with him, she said, “‘Not you,’ I say. I bite my lip to keep it still. ‘Being with you… with anyone. I’ve never been involved with someone before.’” This shows the choices that young teens think about making when they are dating some, and other teens can relate to it, when they read it.

Despite all this, others claim that books with themes like violence and sex are indecent, and should not be read, and if they are banned that way kids won’t read them.  However this is not true. In “The Banned Books We Loved” it says, “Banning books doesn’t in fact hurt them much, and if anything it may even inspire more interest.” This means that banning books will not keep them away from anyone. This is because people have the right to choose what they want to read. In an article on “sick-lit” literature by Tanith Carey, Tanith insists that these themes are “questionable” and shouldn’t be “aimed at children as young as 12.” But these themes shouldn’t be questionable; they should be inspiring themes that these kids should know about. From the same reliable article of Jen Doll, it said, “a book being added to a censored list simply means the book has an important message along with being just entertaining.” Divergent is one of such books, because it was one of the many challenged books, that had many important messages that the author wanted the readers to read about.

So as you can see, the banning of books is a serious issue, and it is imperative that these books do not get banned. This is because these books are classics, and have important messages that people all over the world can relate to. If they were to be banned a very big and important part of literature as of today would be gone, and we cannot let that happen. Hence, Divergent by Veronica Roth should not be banned, along with many other great books that have been challenged, for they too may also deal with important themes and making important choices.