The Censors, by Luisa Valenzuela Essay -- Satire, Symbols, Analysis

The Censors by Luisa ValenzuelaThe short degree The Censors by Luisa Valenzuela is set in Argentina during the dictatorship of Jorge Videla who reigned from 1976 to 1983. Juan, the protagonist of the text, starts the history by writing a letter to his old friend, Mariana, at her unseas 1d residence in Paris. He had received Marianas new train from a confidential source and was too excited to think of his actions originally writing and sending the letter. Later, Juans mind was off his job during the day and he couldnt sleep at night, thinking of the letter (Valenzuela 966). He believes the contents to be innocent and irreproachable, but the censors of the Argentine government examine, sniff, feel, and read between the lines of separately and every letter (Valenzuela 966) for the signs of uprising among the people. He then thinks of the censorship offices and the passing few letters that are actually sent. He ponders the months or age that a single letter could take to be deliv ered and all that condemnation the freedom, maybe even life, of both the sender and receiver are in peril (Valenzuela 966). Juan is troubled for Marianas well being. He knows that the Censors closed book Command operates all over the world and theres slide fastener to stop them from going to the obscure Paris neighborhood and kidnapping Mariana (Valenzuela 966). soon he decides his course of action is to join the Post Offices Censorship Division and retrieve his letter to save Mariana. Juan was hired like a shot as there was a great demand for censors and no angiotensin converting enzyme bothered to check on his references (Valenzuela 966). He was content to be working(a) all he could do to retrieve his letter was being done. nonetheless when he was sent to Section K where envelopes were ... ...ack to destroy Juan. Since he didnt find the letter to be important, he acted carelessly and discarded it and was one more victim of his devotion to his work (Valenzuela 968). Altho ugh many people would not go as far as to essentially commit self-annihilation through the government, Valenzuela is making the point that secrets are dangerous. At the same time, Valenzuela is exhibit the average soulfulness can always be corrupted and caught up in their government if said government is corrupt. The most innocent person will always be tainted and destroyed by an nefarious government. Through Juans letter and actions, Valenzuela depicts the satirical theme of how anyone can be corrupted by a perverted government.Works CitedValenzuela, Luisa. The Censors. Elements of Literature piece Literature. Trans. David Unger. Austin, Texas Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2006. Print.