Understanding does not excuse. Instead, it should inform the creation of systems and procedures that recognise that people do terrible things given the chance and inform rules that make us better people by putting the rights of prisoners first, even if those prisoners had been trying to kill us all. (http://www.stephennewton.com/2004_05_01_blog_archive.html#108360666198430834)"
"Many critics have characterized Lord of the Flies as a retelling of episodes from the Bible. While that description may be an oversimplification, the novel does echo certain Christian images and themes. Golding does not make any explicit or direct connections to Christian symbolism in Lord of the Flies; instead, these biblical parallels function as a kind of subtle motif in the novel, adding thematic resonance to the main ideas of the story. The island itself, particularly Simon’s glade in the forest, recalls the Garden of Eden in its status as an originally pristine place that is corrupted by the introduction of evil. Similarly, we may see the Lord of the Flies as a representation of the devil, for it works to promote evil among humankind. Furthermore, many critics have drawn strong parallels between Simon and Jesus. Among the boys, Simon is the one who arrives at the moral truth of the novel, and the other boys kill him sacrificially as a consequence of having discovered this truth. Simon’s conversation with the Lord of the Flies also parallels the confrontation between Jesus and the devil during Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, as told in the Christian Gospels.(http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/themes.html)" Many parents are against children reading this book because they too believe that this book is a representation of evil and of the devil. They feel that this book and its message will corrupt them from reading it.
William Golding’s first novel, Lord of the Flies, is a highly challenged novel. It has been pushed on numerous occasions to be banned. Many of the people that contest this book are parents who fear that their children, after reading it, will become malicious and evil, much like the children in the novel. The children in the novel survive a plane crash and wind up being alone throughout the novel, until the end. They become savages and do everything it takes to survive, meanwhile, forming a little society in which Ralph assumed the leadership role. Jack in turn, having a “savage personality and ability to tell people what they want to hear,” overtakes Ralph as the leader and establishes a corruption in power (http://www.rit.edu/%7esjg2490/lotf/characters.html).
Some people feel that this book should be banned because the group of young boys is similar to the portrayal of a gang. One person states, “the boys and gangs have tendencies to single out others (Piggy) to boost their own self confidence” (http://cre8thoughts.com/index.php?showtopic=3047). These people feel that this book will convey a message to their children that it is alright to form a gang or any other malignant group, such as that which the boys become after Jack is the “evil” leader of the group. Also, the Library Bill of Rights states that, “’Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.’—Article 3, Library Bill of Rights” (http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/challengesupport/dealing/Default1208.htm).
There are clearly sufficient reasons to ban books, Lord of the Flies, for example, being one of those books. It was number seventy of the year’s top one hundred challenged books, and displays all sorts of violence and disturbing scenes, nonetheless being carried out by young boys.