Banned Books Week: The Call of the Wild

I realize it's been a long time since I've updated, and it's a shame. I really intended to write more now that I'm back in school and not working 3 jobs. But alas, graduate school and one job are keeping me pretty busy. However, I do have a mission this week: It's Banned Books Week! BBW celebrates the freedom to read, and the freedom for anyone to access any book, any time, any where. As a future librarian, I am dedicated to the freedom of information, and strongly opposed to the censorship of information by one group of people, for another group of people. So this week, I'm going to try to post several times with bits of goodness about some of my favorite books that have been banned or challenged in the world.

To kick off my BBW extravaganza, I'm celebrating one of my favorite authors, Jack London. His novel, The Call of the Wild. As one of Jack London's most popular works, and as one of the most-read books in the world, it's hard to imagine that people have tried to censor it. But it's actually on ALA's list of commonly challenged classics, at #33 of 100, in fact.

The reasons for the challenge are easy enough to see: scenes of violence and cruelty. In fact, some people have tried to ban the novel because they felt that London's depiction of the treatment of dogs in the Yukon int he 19th century was promoting or condoning animal cruelty. However, London was simply writing about what he knew. He spent almost a year in the north, living in the towns that built up around the hubs of the gold rush, and he remembered what he saw. Abuse of dogs was not uncommon at that place and time, so his depiction of the violence and cruelty that the dogs, especially his main character, Buck, are treated with is not inaccurate. It is likely that the challenge to the violent imagery is because people often think of London's novel as a chidren's book because it does have a dog as it's main character, when in reality, its themes deal with adult ideas and feelings.

The most challenges to London's work were from European regimes. It was burned in Nazi Germany, and Italy and Yugoslavia banned it for being too radical.

If you have never read The Call of the Wild, I would strongly recommend it to anyone, adult or teenager. It would probably not be best for a young child, because of the violence, although I believe I was fairly young when I read it. As always, the decision of whether or not something appropriate for a child depends on the person's maturity, and if the parents are able to help the child understand the more adult aspects of the work. The story is the narrative of Buck, a dog stolen and sold into the harsh work of a sled dog in the Yukon. He is sold from master to master, and at times subjected to a variety of mistreatment, until he comes under the care of John Thorton, who develops a bond with Buck the dog has never experienced, having never been treated with such kindness. I won't tell you more, or spoil the ending. The novel deals with several different themes, like survival, redemption, and loyalty between dogs and their masters.

So go read. If not this, then try something else from ALA's 100 most challenged books. Take this week as opportunity that for the large majority of us, we have been given the ability and opportunity
to read. Celebrate that freedom.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade