Racism complaint: DUP peer and free speech activist hit out at idea of classic literature being pulled from Northern Ireland's curriculum because some people take offence at racism described inside

Lord Weir said that this would mean embarking down a "very dangerous road" which is "potentially very damaging to society", while Mr Young said such an approach would end up with "To Kill A Mockingbird, the paintings of Pablo Picasso, and the complete works of Shakespeare” also being cast aside.

The issue arose on Thursday, when the BBC's Robbie Meredith published an article on BBC NI's news site headlined 'Call to remove Of Mice and Men from GCSE course'.

It was based around a complaint from one Apolonia Mbondiya that her daughter (who, like her, is black) had been given the American novel to study for GCSE.

The novel is written by John Steinbeck and follows two farm labourers during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

It recounts some of the racism of that era, and some characters use "the 'n' word".

Because of this, Ms Mbondiya's daughter (an A* student according to her mother) had opted not to pursue an English A-level, saying that classroom discussion about the racism described in the novel made her "feel weak".

Ms Mbondiya told the BBC: "We need to move on and to do things that are inclusive and protect the mental health of our young people, whether black or white… I'm not sure what Of Mice and Men is actually teaching kids."

Of Mice and Men is widely regarded as among the greatest books of the last 100 years; a survey by bookseller Waterstone's had previously put it at number 35 on a list of "books of the century".

The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment defended the novel for its "popularity with both teachers and students" – but also said that it "welcomed the opportunity to review and refresh the literature offered to students", according to the BBC.

• ‘ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE’ •

Lord Weir served as Northern Ireland's education minister from mid-2016 to mid-2021, albeit with a three-year pause due to the Sinn Fein boycott in the middle.

He said that society must "guard against" a "lapse into a sort of Orwellian-type nightmare" in which the only literature allowed is "so politically-correct" and "so anodyne".

He told the News Letter: "If we wash through a range of classic literature, there are various things people may well find they don't neccessarily agree with."

But "it's a very dangerous road" when a society "seeks to expunge some of the great works of literature on the grounds there's something in them that we don't particularly like".

He said: "If somebody is writing a piece of literature, not only will it reflect the views of that particular time, but it may also be that it reflects a particular viewpoint of a character in a story."

He gave the example of a story about slavery.

A slave-owner from that era would surely use racist language said Lord Weir, therefore toning it down or expunging could give "a false impression of some of the endemic racism that was there", and risk misrepresenting "the iniquities of slavery".

He cited another example: Alf Garnett, the lead character in the 1960s/70s television comedy 'Til Death Do Us Part', who exhibited bigotry towards immigrants.

Mr Garnett "was ultimately a figure of ridicule," said Lord Weir: "He was ridiculed for his particular views, and clearly would've used language that would have been offensive."

"If the idea is to kind of hold a mirror up to people and say 'some of these views being expressed are not only wrong but really, really stupid,' if you don't actually have somebody expressing those views, that isn't going to expose them," he said.

• ‘THE BOOK ITSELF IS ANTI-RACIST’ •

Also responding to the BBC story was Toby Young.

Mr Young founded a London secondary school, has written a series of books, and in 2020 set up the UK's Free Speech Union to challenge "intellectual conformity and moral dogma".

“Of Mice and Men is an unequivocally anti-racist novel and it’s in that context that the n-word is used," he told the News Letter.

"It doesn’t in any way endorse its use or the racism that underpins it.

"If a student of GCSE English is incapable of understanding that the n-word is being used by the characters in the novel to illustrate what John Steinbeck considers a gross injustice, then that student hasn’t been properly taught.

"Rather than ‘protect’ students from classic words of English literature, lest they find them upsetting, we need to educate them so they can hear words they find offensive and learn how to contextualise them.

"I appreciate that that may be difficult for some students, but if they cannot manage it they will be cutting themselves off from all art and literature which doesn’t comply with the speech codes of the present day.

"In addition to Of Mice and Men, that would include To Kill A Mockingbird, the paintings of Pablo Picasso and the complete works of Shakespeare.”

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