Banned Books: The Classics
This guide will discuss the hot topic of banned books through answering a few main questions including: 1. What are banned books? 2. Why are books challenged/banned? 3. Where can I find these titles?
Classics
Classics - Novels deemed exceptional, timeless, and universal.
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Challenged Classics - Novels of exceptional quality that have been protested due to its controversial nature.
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Banned Classics - Novels in which a challenger successfully convinces others in power to remove the work of written art from shelves preventing others from reading it.
Banned or Challenged Classic Reading Suggestions
Banned or Challenged Classics in the Library
Title of Book |
Reason for Challenge/Ban |
Find in the Collection |
| The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Language and Sexual References | Available in our Mays Landing and Atlantic City Campuses |
| The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger | Viewed as "Obscene," Profanity, and Sexual References | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck | Language and Sexual References | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee | Language, Racial Slurs, Promotes Racial Hatred/Division & White Supremacy, and Sexual References | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
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The Color Purple by Alice Walker |
Profanity, Sexually Explicit Conduct, Violence, and Drug Abuse |
Available in our Mays Landing and Atlantic City Campuses |
| Ulysses by James Joyce | Labeled as "Obscene" | Available in our Atlantic City and Cape May Campuses |
| Beloved by Toni Morrison |
"Inappropriate Topics" and Violence |
Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| Lord of the Flies by William Golding | Language, Violence, and Racist | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| 1984 by George Orwell | Pro-Communist and Sexual Matter |
Available in our Mays Landing and Cape May Campuses |
| Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov | "Obscene" | Not available, but you can find Keys to Lolita in our Mays Landing Campus |
| Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck |
Language, Racial Slurs, Offensive, Violent, Blasphemous, and Derogatory Views |
Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| Catch-22 by Joseph Heller | Language and Derogatory View of Women | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| Brave New World by Aldous Huxley | Language, Morality, Sexual References, and Drug Use | Available in our Mays Landing and Atlantic City Campuses |
| Animal Farm by George Orwell | Pro-Communist, Political, and Indecent Images | Not Available, but the Audio and Graphic Novel Versions are Available |
| The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway | Language, Sexual Content, and Anti-Semitism | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner | Offensive, Language, Abortion, and Masturbation | Available in our Mays Landing and Cape May Campuses |
| A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway | "Painfully Accurate" and "Sex Novel" | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston | Language and Sexually Explicit | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison | Language, Violence, and Sexuality | Available in our Atlantic City Campus |
| Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison | Degrading Language and Sexually Explicit | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell | Racial Slurs, Sexual Content, Violence, and Slavery | Available in our Mays Landing Campus |
| Native Son by Richard Wright | Language, Violence, and Sexually Explicit | Available in our Mays Landing and Atlantic City Campuses. |
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey | "Pornographic," Glorifies Criminal Activity, and Violence | Available in our Atlantic City and Cape May Campuses |
| For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway | "Spreading Propaganda" | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| The Call of the Wild by Jack London | Language, Sexual Content, and Violence | Available in our Mays Landing Campus |
| Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin | Rape, Masturbation, Violence, and Degrading of Women | Available in our Atlantic City Campus |
| All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren | Political | Available in our Mays Landing and Cape May Campuses |
| The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien | Satanic | Available in our Mays Landing Campus |
| The Jungle by Upton Sinclair | Socialist Views and Oppositional to Communism | Available in our Mays Landing and Cape May Campuses |
| Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence | Obscenity | Available in our Cape May Campus |
| A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess | Language | Available in our Mays Landing, Atlantic City, and Cape May Campuses |
| The Awakening by Kate Chopin | Immoral and Scandalous | Available in our Mays Landing and Cape May Campuses |
| In Cold Blood by Truman Capote | Language, Sexual Content, and Violence | Available in our Mays Landing and Cape May Campuses |
| Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie | Criticizes Islam, Blasphemous of Mohammed, and Caused the Death of 5 People during Riots | Available in our Cape May Campus |
| Sophie's Choice by William Styron | Sexual Content | Available in our Mays Landing Campus |
| A Separate Peace by John Knowles | Language | Available in our Mays Landing and Atlantic City Campus |
| Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh | Promotes Homosexuality | Available in our Atlantic City and Cape May Campuses |
| Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence | Obscene | Available in our Atlantic City and Cape May Campuses |
| The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer | Language and Obscene | Available in our Mays Landing Campus |
| An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser | Involves Love Affairs | Available in our Mays Landing and Cape May Campuses |
| Rabbit, Run by John Updike | Obscene, Sexual Content, and Promiscuity | Available in our Mays Landing and Atlantic City Campuses |
Reference
American Library Association. (2021). Banned & Challenged Classics. Advocacy, Legislation & Issues. Retrieved from https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics