The Heroes Being Unwritten: A case against 21st century American book banning and censorship through the analysis of Native American (Hopi and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)) and White European American childhood literature and societies

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/fb494b04n

Abstract

This thesis sought to establish the potentiality of social impacts due to contemporary literary bans and censorship in America (in the 21st century) through the analysis of pre-existing American societies (the Hopi, Haudenosaunee, and 18th-19th century colonial America). The literature and oral traditions analyzed from these three cultures/societies come directly from the group they belong to. In each case, an emergence or creation story was analyzed in addition to another folktale. All the stories analyzed function as means of character education, that is as moral teachings with the intent of developing the character of children. In my research, I found a consistent correlation between the morals, values, and expectations of individuals conveyed in a society’s literary story worlds and the real world. This link was particularly present regarding social concepts of gender roles, class/economic systems, and human relation to the natural world. This correlation indicates a trend that could affect the future of American society in drastic ways, as the morals and values being excluded from contemporary character education (due to literary bans and censorship, occurring presently) may correlate to the disintegration of these morals and values in American society.

Creator