And Tango Makes Three and Tyyl: A study of censorship and banned books in twenty-first century America

Abstract

This thesis explores and questions the effects of censorship in the United States and Puerto Rico, specifically Young Adult and Children’s Literature. Literary censorship has both oppressed the authors’ right to expression and the readers’ right to know. By the use of two of the most challenged texts in the past decade, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s And Tango Makes Three and Lauren Myracle’s ttyl, it questions: if censoring texts is appropriate to protect the child’s innocence from corrupted ideologies or if it serves as indoctrination to preserve preferred ideologies. Additionally, it will discuss the level of scrutiny which challenged themes are regarded with; how recurrent controversial social themes such as violence develop a level of tolerance while infrequent themes such as sexuality are deemed intolerable. Moreover, it discusses the level of success of implementing these texts in the Puerto Rico Educational System schools and libraries. This discussion will include various example of how teachers can efficiently employ these books inside the classroom. This may provide the opportunity of valuable insight for students, because of the relevancy of these themes in their daily lives. Finally, this study discusses how literary censorship is a burden to education which limits knowledge and attempts to replace it with dogmas or misleading information.