The Future Of Our Literature

The days of the printed word may be numbered. As technology has expanded, so has our ability to obtain information. The television, internet, and now our telephones provide us with oceans of digital content. After reading Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, I am amazed at some of the similarities between the future world he describes and our present time. It's hard to deny that many of us have become slaves to the television and the internet. We relate to fictional families on our sitcoms and are bombarded with meaningless information on the web. The difference is that many of us are still able to sift through the junk and find worthwhile content that pushes our critical thinking abilities. Parents can teach their children to become critical viewers that are able to find education in every form of media. So in my opinion, technology is not harming us the way Mr. Bradbury had envisioned. We are embracing new ways to receive information, and integrating our classic literature.

As I had already mentioned, my fear was that the book may be an endangered species. With many books being available in digital form, people are placing their entire library on single devices called eReaders. The Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook are just two of the most popular eReaders on the market today. They not only allow you to store an incredible amount of literature, but they also provide internet access for the user to obtain even more content. A Harris Interactive Poll shows that the number of eReader owners is growing, and these users are more likely to buy and read books. My concern with these e-books is that they now become easier to censor. A digital copy can be easily modified and they may force you to replace your old copy with the new one. It's also possible for you to lose your right to the e-book, and your access to it will be taken away. If you own a physical copy of a novel, you would never have to worry about this. Many people also feel that reading the physical copy of a book is much more enjoyable than reading it on a computer screen. As the popularity of digital content increases, people may grow more comfortable using eReaders. As long as we continue to promote reading to our children, it won't matter how the content is being delivered.

The idea that the government would ever burn books for the good of our country sounds improbable. There have been many times in our history where books were burned to control people's religious and political views, I just don't see our country allowing this to happen on a large scale. What bothers me isn't the fact that books are being burned in our country; it's that they are becoming completely banned from our schools and libraries. As with any form of entertainment, there will be material that is inappropriate for certain people. Parents and teachers should be held responsible for what students are reading, but I don't think books should be completely removed. What may be offensive and inappropriate content to one parent may not be to another. It's not fair that every child should miss out on important pieces of literature due to minor language or a sexual situation. There is a positive effect that comes from the banning of these books. Controversy increases demand, and each book becomes more popular. Many of these stories are then adapted for television or the movies. There is also a yearly celebration called Banned Books Week. Since 1982 they have promoted our freedom to read and taught people the dangers of censorship. I have found various lists of books that are currently banned, and I'm saddened to see that many of them were required reading when I was in school. They were never seen as harmful, and many of them had important lessons to teach. I know it will be a continuing battle to protect these books, but I am completely certain that our future will never compare to the insanity found in Fahrenheit 451.