Sources Cited

1. (Crutcher, 150)

2. (Crutcher, 12)

3."Books banned in the United States." Adler & Robin Books, Inc. 16 Jan. 2008 http://www.adlerbooks.com/banned.html.

4."Censorship." Censorship. 16 Jan. 2008 http://www.georgesuttle.com/censorship/censors-all.shtml.

5."Banned Books and Censorship." The Censorship Pages. 1 16 Jan. 2008 .

Book Censorship

Book Censorship

Book censorship is an issue that is very widespread. Books continue to be banned because of their controversial topics. Did you ever think that there would be a novel about this issue? Well, there is, and it is The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher, an author of many books that are subject to censorship. In this book, the main issue, of course, is whether or not one of Chris Crutcher’s books should be banned. It does seem a strange to write a book about why your books shouldn’t be banned, but it is a very big topic. So, this page is going to be about book censorship.

First of all, what is book censorship? What it is is people trying to take a piece of literature off of the shelf because they think that the content goes against their morals or what they believe in. It is inevitable that no matter how much we try, there is always going to be some sort of disagreement between two groups; we are only human. It is something that has gone on for as long as there has been literature. It is a very controversial topic for one big reason; the first amendment of the constitution states that everybody has freedom of speech. When people go in and try to ban the books, some say that they are violating everyone else’s rights by not letting them freely read the material. Thus, controversy is present.

So, who are the people that want to ban the books, and for what reasons would they go to such measures? It can be a religious group, a political group, a private group, an individual, or even the government. These people ban the books all because they think that the topics are too explicit, immoral, or obscene. Of course, it is all a matter of opinion, so there is nothing to gauge if a book really is too horrible for anybody to read it, or if it is only in the eyes of a certain group of people. One book, Snow Falling on Cedars, was banned in a Washington town because it mentioned the town’s racist past. Should they be able to ban the book just so they can cover it up? They are on the limit of pushing their citizens’ rights by not letting them read that material that they should be able to. It is very strange, but the government has actually banned many books. US customs will actually not allow some books to be distributed. One would think that the government would want to let the people have freedom of speech, so it is almost a contradiction that they ban books.

The banning of books is not just a domestic practice. It happens all over the world. It is just a battle over opinions, so it really is a hard issue to resolve in a country. Honestly, it should be up to the individual to decide whether or not they want to read something, not up to someone else. At least we can be thankful that we live in America. The banning of books is a lot more serious in places like the PRC and other places where the government has tighter reigns, so no matter what you think, we have it pretty good. Just remember to think for yourself about whether or not you think something should be banned. It is all a matter of opinion based on belief.

Evaluation

The sledding hill is a book that was written by a veteran author, edited, and published, so it is obvious that it has good use of the six plus one traits of writing. This is about how each of the traits was written and some examples in the text.
The first trait of writing that was met exceptionally was ideas and content. The story was definitely packed with ideas from the author; the book is pretty much based on ideas of the author, so it automatically has to. There are many examples of Crutcher putting in ideas about religion and death, so you are able to take in and learn a lot from reading the novel. One very abstract, interesting, and clever idea was Chris’ vision of life after death; having the soul be able to connect with people and travel at speeds unachievable on earth. Novel ideas like these kept the book full of thought provoking content.
The organization in the story was also done very well. The events flowed together flawlessly without any confusion. The organization was good enough so that even the strangest parts, like Billy starting to communicate with Eddie after his death, made sense. It moved on so that the book was always entertaining. Sentence fluency was also done very well. Many of the sentences were written so that you were able to really feel like the character was talking to you, and you were able to feel their emotions. One phrase that showed some of that follows, “That’s like taking on Stephen Hawking in Jeopardy where all the categories are astrophysics. Actually, I’m the only one who thinks that, but if I’m going to get this story published, I have to take some creative license.”1 There were many sentences like those that flowed together in order to have a smooth story. Of course, in order to have them flow so well, the conventions had to be done very well, which they were. It kind of has to be something that is done well being that it is a published work.
One more trait that was presented in the book superbly was individual voice. The entire book was clearly written from a point of view that expresses his feelings. For example, his feelings toward the topic of religion showed through. He seemed to put the religious people in the spot of protagonists, as if their beliefs should be looked down upon. He also placed multiple agnostic characters in the story in order to use them to express his voice. His views toward religious people banning young adult literature also showed through. Because he is an author of YAL, we obviously know his position on the subject, but he also had characters who thought the same way. All of the characters were used to express his voice. Of course, he must also be a clever person. The word choice in sentences was very well thought out. Words used less ordinarily like “Precariously”2 make the book better. Overall, all of the traits (including presentation) were done in a way that made The Sledding Hill easier and more fun to follow.

Summary

Summary
There are many important characters in The Sledding Hill that play a big part in the plot. This is who a few of them are and how they developed:

• Billy Bartholomew: He was the smartest kid in school, and the son of the janitor. I then started to learn that he was friends with Eddie, the dumbest kid in school. He is able to find ways for Eddie to harness his true intelligence, and is a very good friend. Even after he accidentally kills himself, he comes back to his friend and helps him through his life.
  
• Eddie Proffit: He is really a smart kid, just one with ADHD who loses some close people. He goes into depression and stops speaking. Luckily, Billy’s ghost comes and helps him find happiness. Eddie ends up infiltrating in an attempt to stop a book from being banned. It may not be successful, but it was something that really made himself see what he could do.
  
• Reverend Tartar: A hardcore conservative man of god, he wants to ban the book and all of its profanity so the children will not be exposed to all of it. He is only doing it for what he thinks is right, so he isn’t a bad guy. Will Eddie be able to beat him?
  

Summary: The story takes place in Bear Creek, Idaho during the twenty first century. Eddie and Billy are having a great time as best friends. But, Billy and Eddie’s close father die, so he goes into depression. He is mad and starts to question God. He does not know why he would let something like that happen to him. At the same time, his mom starts to see the reverend Tartar more and more, even though he hates him. Eventually, Tartar even says that Mr. Proffit’s agnostic beliefs were bad. After that, he says that it was God testing Eddie, and that he should join the youth group and get baptized. Meanwhile, Eddie has been reading a Chris Crutcher novel at school. This book has helped Eddie out in so many ways, so he sincerely loves it.
Then, Tartar’s church starts to find out about the book. Being full of explicit material, they decide that it is their duty to ban the book from the school. They even ask Eddie to help them with the banning. Not sure of what to do, Eddie turned to Billy’s ghost who has been paying him regular visits and gets advice. He even starts talking to Billy’s dad. He decides that it would be best for him to continue with the church and turn on them at the last question. It would be the ultimate plan, and, he wouldn’t have to lie to them because he hasn’t been talking for months, and will continue not to. So, the day of his testimony, he lets go of all of his thoughts; everybody is shocked that he was really not one of them. Soon after, the hearing was going to be on about whether or not they should ban the book. Both of the sides come and have a huge argument. Crutcher ends up attending the hearing personally. But, the church prevails and the book is banned. But, Eddie can say that he stood up to what he believed in and did a good job. His life will now turn for the better

Blog 3

Death

One area that The Sledding Hill certainly focused on was death. Although death is a subject that is regularly avoided talking about in our culture, Chris Crutcher willingly added the element in this book. Without the tragic deaths of his dad and best friend, the story would not exist. So, these are some of my thoughts about death in this example of young adult literature.

Of course, right in the beginning of the book, Eddie Proffit is introduced as a character whose life is clearly affected with ADHD. Then, just as his friendship with Billy is at a high point, his already troubled brain is put into turmoil as he experiences a loss. First, his dad who he has always looked up to is killed by a rupturing truck tire. That only made him more dependant on his good friend Billy who is also dedicated to helping out his friend in times of need. But, it doesn’t stop there. Billy, the smartest kid in school goes and kicks a stack of sheetrock on himself! Both of these role models in Eddie’s life are taken by an easily avoidable death within the same month. Was Crutcher being too hard on Eddie, or was he just trying to make a point about what the death of loved ones can do to someone? I personally choose to believe the latter because the rest of the book is about Billy’s journey to finding himself again.

One other part of the book involving death that interested me was the author’s perception of it. I wanted to know how he got some of his ideas towards what happens to his characters after their lives on earth have expired. I thought it was very interesting how he referred to life on earth as one’s Earthgame. After your Earthgame was over, your 21 gram was taken from his body and he was instantly enlightened with all of the knowledge that he could ask for. Then, he could travel around at universe speed and go into the minds of anybody that he wanted to. The one thing that truly fascinated me was how he could work up the energy to bump people. He could also communicate with people who have minds that jump around a lot because there were windows of time that were perfect for it. In my mind I have never really thought about the dead in their afterlife actually being able to communicate with those living on earth. I had always thought that there was some sort of impregnable barrier separating the two, so Chris’ idea was very intriguing to me. It was a very fascinating experience for me to read this book because there were so many new ideas to think about.

Over all, I think that the element of death contributed greatly to the novel. I am glad that it was part of the story because Chris Crutcher’s ideas about life after death are very detailed and from an interesting perspective. Even though I do think that the characters could have died in less pathetic ways, I think that the outcome of the story still ended up the same. It was a good story about a kid who must regain stability after experiencing the deaths of his father and best friend.

Blog 2

Religion in The Sledding Hill

Without doubt, one of the major issues that was presented in the novel was religion. The story would not have developed without this element, so there is no question about if it exists. I think that religion is something that concerns almost everybody, theist or not, so it is a very relevant topic. This is what I think about this topic and how it was presented in this novel.
First of all, the author is most likely displaying ideas of his own. I will have to say that he does make good points and he does a superb job of utilizing many of the characters in order to do this. As we all know, the book is about a clash between two groups. On one side are the intellectuals, who seem to question the church and some of its ideas, and on the other side are the extremely conservative and traditional Red Brickers, who are unhappy with a book that is in the school’s curriculum. They feel that it discusses topics too taboo for teenagers to hear about from anybody except their parents. The way the story is would lead to the obvious conclusion that Chris is on the more “borderline” or “on the edge” side as he is the one who writes these novels, and gives the main characters the same traits. All of this made me want to know what Crutcher believes in. Personally, I think that the religious diversity in our country is a very interesting and valuable thing, and it was fascinating to read about it in this book, which really made me think about the author. These next paragraphs are going to be about reasons why Crutcher could be either a Christian theist or one who does not associate themselves with that institution based on my interpretations of what was presented in the story.

The following is about why I think that the author may have traits in the story that would suggest an atheist. The first reason that made me get this idea had mostly to do with the characters. He placed two characters (Mr. Proffit and Eddie) who were clearly agnostic. This could suggest that Chris feels the same way towards religion as them. Although, he could have put Eddie in the situation of having a Christian mother and an agnostic father to show some insight into what that situation is like for real kids in the same position. I am always fascinated to talk to my friend from the PRC who was raised without any religious biases from his parents and had to decide what to believe in on his own; I always wonder what that was like. One other reason why he may have these ideas is that when Eddie asked Billy’s ghost something about god, Billy answered by giving the subject in question the title “the universe”. The author could have written that because he honestly believes in something other that the Christian god, because he did not want to offend any non Christian reading the book, or because he wants the reader to think. There were other things written that would suggest his beliefs, and I am not sure the exact reason for him writing them; only he knows.

These points are reasons that lead me to believe that Chris Crutcher in fact is a Christian. In the text, he directly states that in the story, there are no bad and good guys. He is sure to clarify that the Christians in the story are not bad people. He shows that they have a genuine cause for trying to ban the book, so he might actually be a Christian, just not as traditional as the portrayed Red Brickers. Also, towards the end, instead of having characters like Eddie and Chad decide to not believe in God, he just chooses to have them have a less traditional outlook on it. There is also one major point that may suggest a Christian faith. After Billy dies, he turns into a 21 gram object that can do anything at the speed of the universe. He might really be implying that Billy is some sort of soul or angel. Once again, Chris Crutcher is the only one who really knows, so it is a mystery.
Please know that I do choose to put my faith in Christianity, but am not trying put any bias in this that would make is seem better for Crutcher to believe in God. This posting was written only so I could share my curiosity about the intriguing topic in the story. Please give me your opinion on what you think about this. I am very excited to see how others interpreted the book!

Blog 1

Was the Book Propaganda?

After reading the story, I started to question the reason that it was written for. I started to get the notion that it had at least as much about glorifying Chris Crutcher’s books as it did about Eddie Proffit dealing with death and religion. So, this posting is about why I think that the book was written with a second purpose in mind.

I started to think about this first when the class got assigned to read Warren Peece. Of course that is a fictional novel made up for the story, but it was supposedly written by Crutcher. At first I thought it was humorous that an author would be alluding to himself in the form of a character asking themselves what this Chris Crutcher guy must be like, but it continued. There was more and more talk about Crutcher and what kind of character he must be, so I started to think that it was strange. I had to wonder if the he was arrogant or cleverly funny for the references to himself.

Then, as the story started to unfold, I realized that it was not as much about a sledding hill, that was only briefly introduced three times, but a book. The sledding hill was about why one of Chris Crutcher’s novels should not be banned! Because Warren Peece (I like the pun) was a made up book, he could have used some made up author, but he instead chose to use himself. I would like to clarify that I have nothing wrong with almost all of the story, I think it was written very well, but the book seemed like a very, very clever ad campaign. I was just astonished that the issue of young adult literature (specifically that of Crutcher) being banned was presented in another book by that same author. So, was the story really targeted at convincing people not to ban his books, or was he just trying to add irony into his book? I would like to know. It may be that he was unsure of which issue to write about, so he chose book censorship, and decided to use himself. It seems very strange.

If it is trying to convince us, it would be to no great effect. If our parents and school board don’t have any worries about circulating the book in the first place, why would we need to be convinced? Also, if our school board did not allow this book to be circulated, we would not even be reading it, as the probability of us randomly coming across it is not great. These opinions of mine would lead me to think that he just wanted to write a story about the topic, but I am still not sure.
In my opinion, the story was propaganda, but with a thought provoking story about a kid with ADHD and his dead friend to the side of it. It was about why Chris Crutcher’s novels shouldn’t be banned. The book was even about the book itself when Billy snuck into Chris’ computer and planted the story that we are reading. Although, please do not think that I did not like the story. I enjoyed reading it much, but I was just left wondering if it was a giant add campaign for all of Chris Crutcher’s novels. Maybe it was just a funny story. So, please tell me what you thought, and if you think that any of my points in this blog do not make sense to you. I would be happy to reply!