Do you think the book " Go Ask Alice " should be banned ?

Question

As as child in high school I was 15, im 49 now, I read the book Go Ask Alice, i was a loner i wanted cool friends . things at home were bad. alcoholic dad mean unhappy mother. I didnt do drugs. By thi time i was finished with the book I knew what i wanted i saw the "exciting" life i wanted. I wanted her life it seemed cool it was a way to lose weight. i would fit in. i wanted to do drugs when i was done. i never got the courage to persue to try to get the nerve to ask one of the known druggies but i wanted to... Now we skip ahead about 34 years. my niece just died of a drug herion overdose. she was a loner her dad was a pot smoker he abused the mom they moved around alot Denise was until she did drugs overweight. I sat in her room, i cried i tried to figure it out. I looked up.. and there it was. right in front of me That d**n book " Go Ask Alice ". After that the next whole 2 months i was on myspace like a maniack looking at all of her friends drug talk and party talk , and thier is a spot to tell people what books you like to read. and you guessed it. there it was over and over again. Many of her friends too liked the book as thier favorite" yes I know not everyone who reads the book will die or do drugs but all her friends are still partying. real hard underage drinking smoking pot. pills.snorting heroin etc. the book really glamorizes the lifestyle. it just came up too many times.

Answer 1

No books should ever be banned. If you are that easily influenced, that's your problem, honestly. I've read the book as a teen, and I thought it was pretty great. Life has a lot more influences than the ones in that book, so you need to get a grip on what effects you. Also, I hardly think that book glamorizes drug use. She sure isn't having fun in that book.

Answer 2

You cant blame the book for what happened in yours or her's life.  You need to start blaming your parents who were abusive to you, her parents that were abusive, that didnt parent her, that didnt discipline her.

Its kind of like, guns dont kill people, people kill people.  That book didnt magically make her want to drugs, and deep down, it didnt make you want to do it either.

You need to quit looking for things to blame and put the blame where it belongs.  She did this to herself, you did it to yourself.  Your parents did it to you, her parents did it to you.

Of couse people want to drugs when they see it glamourized, but you dont have to read a book to see it glamourized, just look out the door.

Answer 3

First off, as one respondent already mentioned, books should not be banned -including "Go Ask Alice."

I'm an old guy and I've been reading since my early years ... my mom used reading as a form of punishment, that is, when I did something wrong (and there were clearly articulated "rights" and "wrongs"), then I had to read and then report back to my mom.  From that I developed a fondness for and unwavering appreciation of reading -and I'm deeply thankful for that.

Now, along the way I've read Go Ask Alice, as well as As I Lay Dying, and then there was The Raven and The Wasteland, along with The Serial Killer Letters and the Ghost of Sodom: The Secret Journals of the Marquis de Sade ... and, an infinite number of other books that cross multiple genres.  I have not attempted to kill myself or kill others ... neither have I attempted to harm myself or others.

The point is that you need to release yourself from the guilt of your niece's death.  Denise is not dead because she read Go Ask Alice ... no, she's dead because no one loved her ... no one allowed her to be a child, an adolescent, a growing and developing human being that needed hugs, nurturing, a sense of safety, and that -no matter what- everything would be fine and handled by her parents ... instead she got cheated and had to endure substance-dependent parents and friends.

Your niece is dead because those that should have -and were (in the moral world) charged with loving her didn't -they couldn't, becuase they couldn't even love themselves.  Therein is the tragedy.

You said, "I sat in her room, i cried i tried to figure it out."  To me, that's the key sentence in your post ... you can't figure it out -your niece is dead; she couldn't figure it out -she never had the opportunity to figure it out.

You -quite naturally and understandably- want to have a "reason" for her death ... you want to put your thumb on something ... point a finger at someone ... and in your quest to capture a resolution that will provide some solace -while elevating self-righteousness- you identify the book, Go Ask Alice.  It's not about that at all.

I hope you can pause and reflect on this and ease some of your pain in knowing that what propelled your niece to end her life was the fact that the adults in her life were not adults at all.

As I mentioned already, I'm an old guy and I still cherish my childhood ... I always felt safe, I never felt that my parents would not be there for me, and I absolutely knew as I made good and not-so-good decisions that my parents loved me unconditionally.  That is the difference.

Answer 4

This is a really thought-provoking question. -which is good!

I, like a lot of the other people who have commented, don't believe that books should be 'banned'.  That's the start of a dangerous path that we don't want to go down.  Examples of what happens when you do go down that path are evident enough in different countries all over the world.  Censorship, no freedom of speech, repression, human rights atrocities etc. etc.

On the other hand I do understand what you're getting at.  I think we have to consider the society and the type of modern world we are living in.  There's a real problem with parenting these days - basically the lack of it.  As one of the people commenting said, there are many parents these days who simply are not fit to have the responsibility of raising and guiding a young life; to teach their child how to think, how to grow, how to live, happily and responsibly, to become a fully rounded, happy, healthy human being.  This is the responsibility of a parent, and to do this effectively you need to be formed enough in yourself to be able to give that kind of input to somebody else. Sadly this seems to be less and less apparent.

So if that's the climate we're living in (for whatever reason) then it's no good saying ' Guns don't kill people, people do' or 'Books are only words, they don't influence you to go out and do things, we make our own decisions'.  That's not the reality.  Kids DON'T KNOW how to think very often these days, they haven't been parented/given the guidance in how to make decisions, to weigh up the pros and cons and consequences of behaviour.  Many kids have no sense of pride, of self-worth, they feel isolated.  When they see a girl in a book who feels like they do they identify with her, they feel they have something in common with that person and so they warm to her, they want to be like her.  It's about a sense of identity, of belonging, reassurance.  Teenagers are hugely influenced by other people, they want to feel secure, they want to fit in. Violent computer games, media images, celebrity culture, it's a minefield for vulnerable, impressionable youth.

No the book shouldn't be banned - but maybe it should be on the Set Texts list these days...... maybe not in English Lit. exactly but maybe in Social Studies, or Citizenship or whatever the Government calls it these days....  

Answer 5

No, evidently you mistook the meaning. It's an anti-drug book. Good God, my daughter read it & didn't think it glamorized drug use. Of course at first when Alice first started using & this was written as a diary of a teenage girl, remember? You could say so then. But the overall message & the sad ending is anything but pro-drugs. Should it be banned ? No- maybe you should read it again & if this book tempted you to do drugs, then you were doomed from the get go.What a bunch of c**p.This is too stupid to even debate. Take a reading comprehension course & get over yourself. I'm sorry for your loss but don't blame the book.Evidently you were well versed on the subject- why didn't you do something or give the advice. Did you ever think that maybe that book was a cry for help or a way of discovering if she had a problem? no, the book didn't do anything, & you can't go around burning books. Anything can be taken out of context & all of you seem to have done so. Sorry, again for your loss & you can't save the world by debating it-do something if you are so concerned.Your help would be welcomed if those kids are as far gone as you say. There are too many deaths caused by drugs & their mythology.