By M. ELIZABETH GILLSON
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison are returning to the book shelves of the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Northern Virginia. These books, which contain graphic written and visual depictions of sexual acts, were pulled from shelves when parents spoke out and opposed their presence in public middle and high school libraries.
After a review lead by the FCPS library services coordinator, FCPS Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services Department Noel Klimenko announced that the books were, “appropriate to include in libraries that serve high school students,” and that the books “have value beyond their pages for students who may struggle to find relatable stories.”
Parents have argued that the books violate federal obscenity laws, and that such books normalize pedophilia. Fairfax County Superintendent of Schools Scott Brabrand justified the decision, saying that FCPS are “committed to providing diverse reading materials in our libraries that reflect our student population, and allow every child an opportunity to see themselves reflected in the library and in literary characters.”
Brabrand’s comment displays a fundamental lack of understanding of the role of literature in education, and as an art. This reveals a deeper problem with the FCPS education. Even had parents won this particular battle against pornographic materials on school shelves, they would not be able to rest easy with the current standard for choosing “appropriate” reading materials for their children.
Brabrand extolls “diversity” of reading materials. Surely the man who oversees operations of the 11th largest school district in the nation knows that “diverse” means “differing from one another” or “composed of distinct unlike elements or qualities.” Diversity is a neutral value, and is neither essentially good nor bad. There are thousands of cultivars of roses. A diverse rose garden would be a lovely and a good thing. There are also thousands of types of roaches, but a diverse collection of roaches would be repugnant and not a good thing. FCPS students would be far better served by good reading materials than by merely diverse ones.
Second, Brabrand values books that “reflect the student population and allow every child an opportunity to see themselves reflected in the library and in literary characters.” Certainly the superintendent of a school system with an approved budget of 3.4 billion dollars knows the story of Narcissus, right? In the age of Snap Chat and selfies the last thing that young people need is another medium that reflects back their own image! While human life is fundamentally good, human nature is broken. All of us experience that brokenness when daily confronted with our diverse vices and foibles.
Adults generally have the maturity to handle this with humility and perseverance, but for adolescents navigating the perennial challenges of maturation, this reality can lead to anxiety, self-doubt, and confusion. Additionally, today’s young people are coming of age in a time darkened by fear, disoriented by relativism, and pervaded by the stench from senseless killing and violence. It is not good for young people to open books only to find their reality reflected back at them.
Art in general, including literature in particular, should be “relatable,” but ultimately the great value of art is that it draws us out of ourselves and our limited experiences and nourishes and fosters that innate human longing for something better. Nobel Prize winning author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn recognized in literature a means to offer a different type of reflection to readers, “. . . you look into it but instead of yourself you glimpse for a moment the Inaccessible, a realm forever beyond reach. And your soul begins to ache.”
This ache is a longing for the transcendent — some reality, some experience, that exceeds humanity’s limited material life. In a culture formed by materialistic thought, there is a prevailing notion that man is no more than a physical creature, whose physicality is the sole determinant of his life. But that is not true! Human nature is both physical and spiritual. Men and women are enfleshed souls. Anthropologists have found that even some of the oldest and most simple societies understood this as evidenced by their elaborate burial traditions.
Believers in the God who reveals Himself in words and deeds understand that men and women are made in the image of God. “God made man in His own image, in the divine image He created him, male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). In these written words that open the first pages of Sacred Scripture, God reveals not only Himself, but also the first truth of humanity. The written word, thus, is fundamental to a full understanding and a realistic reflection of each human person. Men and women will only truly recognize themselves, when they see that they, themselves, are a reflection of divinity.
There are stories of starving Holocaust concentration camp prisoners trading food for the written words of Hebrew Scriptures. Even today, under Communist and fundamentalist Islamic regimes, men and women risk imprisonment and death to read and share the Bible. People cling to, fight for, and even die for this literature, because through reading, studying, and believing in it, they transcend the pain and suffering of their own limited experiences. These words have given hope to countless people that their lives are a participation in a goodness, truth, and beauty that will be neither thwarted nor ruined by anguish of their own personal experiences.
Good literature, in a relatable way, recalls the primordial truth of human nature that was first revealed in the Word of God. Eternal truths are woven throughout good literature, even when not blatantly asserted. Literature should prepare its readers to understand and accept ultimate truths.
Young people need books that will not reflect back just their own fallen nature, but rather, the great dignity they have as person made in the image of God. A good book will inspire its readers to strive to overcome their own weaknesses, and amidst the suffering of life to dare to hope in the infinite perfection of God.
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