Why I Read Banned Books
October 9th, 2007 | by Scott |This beautiful chapter from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize Winning The Color Purple:
Dear Nettie,
I don’t write to God no more, I write to you.
What happen to God? ast Shug.
Who that? I say.
She look at me serious.
Big a devil as you is, I say, you not worried bout no God, surely.
She say, Wait a minute. Hold on just a minute here. Just because I don’t harass it like some peoples us know don’t mean I ain’t got religion.
What God do for me? I ast.
She say, Celie! Like she shock. He gave you life, good health, and a good woman that love you to death.
Yeah, I say, and he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mamma, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister I probably won’t ever see again. Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgetful and lowdown.
She say, Miss Celie, you better hush. God might hear you.
Let ‘im hear me, I say. If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you…
…I is a sinner, say Shug. Cause I was born. I don’t deny it. But once you find out what’s out there waiting for us, what else can you be?
Sinners have more good times, I say.
You know why? she ast.
Cause you ain’t all the time worrying about God, I say.
Naw, that ain’t it, she say. Us worry bout God a lot. But once us feel loved by God, us do the best us can to please him with what us like.
You telling me God love you, and you ain’t never done nothing for him? I mean, not go to church, sing in the choir, feed the preacher and all like that.
But if God love me, Celie, I don’t have to do all that. Unless I want to. There’s a lot of other things I can do that I speck God likes.
Like what? I ast.
Oh, she say. I can lay back and just admire stuff. Be happy. Have a good time.
Well, this sound like blasphemy sure nuff.
She say, celie, tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.
That’s more theology than most stuff at Mardel has. Or try this quote about not noticing the color purple in a field:
People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.
Think of what we would miss if others determined what we could read. We would miss out on passages like that that propel us to think about God in fresh and compelling ways.
Have you been blessed by banned or challenged books? In what ways. And remember The Bible tops the list of banned books.
2 Responses to “Why I Read Banned Books”
By Jenny on Oct 10, 2007 | Reply
I am atheist. However, the bible tops my list of favorite books to read. I enjoy reading other “scriptures” as well from other world religions. I like the bible best because it comes in so many forms here in the states. As a human being who loves people above and beyond any god that ever would or could exist, I feel it is a priority to see the viewpoint, and understand the hearts and feelings of various cultures and peoples. One way of doing that is to read, talk to, and truly empathize with those whose ways of thinking are most different from my own. I will never believe in a supernatural deity, but I believe in the goodness, and weaknesses of all people and strive to bring out only goodness in myself and others.
I have enjoyed my visit to your website!
By Scott on Oct 10, 2007 | Reply
Jenny, thank you so much for visiting. I hope that you will come and be a part of the community here. While most of my readership is decidedly Christian I think we all would covet and appreciate your viewpoint and the way that you see us.
I too feel that it is important to be conversational with other view-points.