Bronx Masquerade

       After reading Bronx Masquerade, I felt a sort of content with the ending. I enjoyed the ending poetry slam when Tyrone reflected on the experience and the Epilogue in which another student hoped to be in Mr. Ward's class. With an ending as such, I still wondered-- why is this banned? After further research, I found that the Book was banned in the early 2000s for the influence of lack of confidence, negativity, and language. But after reading that I was still confused which brought up another question-- do books really have the influence to change how someone may view themselves? This is an ongoing topic today that arose with not only me but oddly enough with those who challenge books in the first place. Ultimately, I think it's a blurred line. I do think books have the ability to change someone's view point, but not in a way that people think. A lot of talk around challenging books come from parents who believe that books change their children, but in the whole "this book is gonna make my child skip school" or the "this book is gonna make my child 'turn gay'" type of way. This ideology I find to be completely false. I do not believe at all that Bronx Masquerade is gonna make middle schoolers want to not pursue a future, get pregnant, or hate themselves. Yes I believe that with the content this book covers, adolescents are able to be educated on the matter. But, it's simply not going to make students copy the behaviors made by the characters in the book. 

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