Literature can be used as an outlet in spreading pre-existent knowledge that educates society on various topics. Erasure of literature, in a sense, means erasure of history. The book ban that is predicted to happen in the United States of America under the presidency of Donald Trump is the end of literary freedom and the start of oppression of education. We have seen this exact behaviour in previous fascist governments such as Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, Francoist Spain, Stalin’s Soviet Union, and many more… Book banning/burning is an act of oppression and a way to control the public’s opinion and education level used by many dictators in the history of humanity. It is an act to brainwash, to force a population to conform to the belief system of their “leader”.
“The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive rights and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exist.”
Foreword: A promise to America. (2025). In Mandate for Leadership, the Heritage Foundation (pp. 4–5).
The statement above and the text following it show us that the target of censorship is books dealing with LGBTQIA+ themes, themes of race and racism, graphic content or mature themes, books promoting critical race theory or similar concepts, and books featuring diverse (racially, sexually, ethnically, or ideologically) characters.
| Name of the Book | The Author | The Main Themes of the Book |
| The Bluest Eye | Toni Morrison | Systematic racism and internalized oppression that African Americans faced. |
| Beloved | Toni Morrison | Slavery, racial oppression, identity. |
| The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | Political turmoil of Afghanistan and classism. |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | Racism and classism in the American South, systematic oppression. |
| The Hunger Games | Suzanne Collins | Classism and direct political commentary of inequality. |
| The Handmaid’s Tale | Margaret Atwood | Gender oppression, totalitarianism, fascism, political subjugation of women. |
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | Totalitarianism, consumerism. |
| 1984 | George Orwell | Totalitarianism, censorship, political manipulation. |
| Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | Economic struggles and social injustice. |
| The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | The Great Depression’s effects on America’s socio-political systems. |
| The Hate U Give | Angie Thomas | Systematic racism, police brutality, political movements. |
| The Glass Castle | Jeannette Walls | Poverty and classism through the lens of a woman raised in a dysfunctional family. |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky | Sexual abuse, problems of youth regarding mental health. |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | Racism, slavery, in the pre-Civil War era. |
| The Catcher in the Rye | Jerome David Salinger | Identity, classism, rebellion. |
| The Colour Purple | Alice Walker | Systematic racism, sexism, oppression, and the empowerment of African American women. |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | Censorship, dictatorship and loss of intellectual freedom (oppression of individuality) |
| The Giver | Lois Lowry | Utopian commentary of totalitarianism. |
| Lord of the Flies | William Golding | Identity, social norms, dystopian commentary on society. |
(Data is collected from American Library Association’s list of “Top Most Frequently Challenged Books: 2010-2019”)
As you can see from the list above, with the potential ban of said books in America (and possibly in the following years/decades in other countries), the country’s new generation is headed towards a dystopian society where individual thinking is forbidden. If the social awareness of racism, sexism, classism, fascism, personal identity, gender expression, and the general knowledge of human rights are erased from the public discourse, then in the following years, oppression, dictatorship, and a life under a fascist regime might be the scenario waiting for the world.
Knowledge is the most powerful tool one could wield. That is why in the past, history shows that the previous dictators, world leaders, cultists, religious figures, and many more used the limitation of knowledge as a tool to elevate and spread their belief system and gather followers. If we were to refuse the light literature provides us, the only thing left behind would be a dark tunnel that swallows our hopes, dreams, aspirations, and our very existence.
We are regressing and forgetting the lessons we learned from the past. Despite technological advancements, the current socio-political climate suggests we are heading towards a new Dark Age. This agenda of oppression is a pattern that many fought to break free from, and many succeeded with great losses.
A book ban is forced ignorance, dear readers, and as the residents of this earth that we inherited from the ones who came before us, it is our duty to stand up to erasure and preserve the knowledge for the ones that will come after us. In the end, we all possess the power to free ourselves from the shackles of oppression and fight for what is right.
