The Censors By Luisa Valenzuela

Background: Born in Argentina,Luisa Valenzuela (b. 1938) published her

first story at the age of seventeen. After graduating from the University of
Buenos Aires, she moved to Paris and traveled abroad for several years. She
returned home in 1974 to find political turmoil and oppression: a fascist
dictatorship, a System of government in which a leader suppresses opposition
through violent means, now ruled Argentina. Despite threats of censorship
and physical harm, she began using her writing to document the horrors of life
under a dictator.

★ Guided Reading Questions - Background

1. What did the author, Luisa Valenzuela, find when she returned to her home in 1974?

She found political turmoil and oppression when she returned to Argentina.

2. What is censorship and how does it connect to the information you read in the background
information?

Censorship is the suppression of content which is what the Argentinian government was threatening
to do with Valenzuela’s work.

Directions:
Task 1: Read for general understanding.
Task 2: Complete each individual chunk.
Task 3: Answer guided reading questions.

CHUNK 1

Directions: Hashtag paragraphs 1 &2 and highlight textual evidence that supports each
hashtag. *hashtags are the subjects of the paragraph; what is each paragraph about?

1 Poor Juan! One day they caught him with his guard down before he could even realize that what he
had taken as a stroke of luck was really one of fate’s dirty tricks. These things happen the minute
you’re careless and you let down your guard, as one often does. Juancito let happiness—a feeling you
can’t trust—get the better of him when he received from a confidential source Mariana’s new address
in Paris and he knew that she hadn’t forgotten him. Without thinking twice, he sat down at his table
and wrote her a letter. The letter that keeps his mind off his job during the day and won’t let him sleep
at night (what had he scrawled, what had he put on that sheet of paper he sent to Mariana?).
#loveletter #censorship #fear
2 Juan knows there won’t be a problem with the letter’s contents, that it’s irreproachable, harmless.
But what about the rest? He knows that they examine, sniff, feel, and read between the lines of each
and every letter, and check its tiniest comma and most accidental stain. He knows that all letters pass
from hand to hand and go through all sorts of tests in the huge censorship offices and that, in the end,
very few continue on their way. Usually it takes months, even years, if there aren’t any snags; all this
time the freedom, maybe even the life, of both sender and receiver is in jeopardy. And that’s why
Juan’s so down in the dumps: thinking that something might happen to Mariana because of his
letters. Of all people, Mariana, who must finally feel safe there where she always dreamed she’d live.
But he knows that the Censor’s Secret Command operates all over the world and cashes in on the
discount in air rates; there’s nothing to stop them from going as far as that hidden Paris
neighborhood, kidnapping Mariana, and returning to their cozy homes, certain of having fulfilled
their noble mission. #fear #censored # letter #violatingperson #anxious

★ Guided Reading Questions

3. Who does Juan write a letter for? Who will read his letter once he puts it in the
mail? What would happen if the letter reached its destination?
Mariana. When he found his letter to Marina, he censored it without regret. However the next day
he got executed

4. Why does the author choose not to reveal the contents of Juan’s letter to
Mariana? Why is Juan fearful of sending his letter? Do you think Juan lives in
an oppressive society? Why or why not? *hint: do you know the type of relationship that
Jaun and Marianna has? Would the contents of the letter make a difference in what happens
when Marianna receives the letter

5. How is mystery, tension or surprise created in this chunk? Fill in the blank with
one of the three options. *think about Juan’s letter. Do you know the contents? Would this
create mystery? Tension? Or Surprise?

This chunk creates__________ because the reader is not sure what is so secretive in the letter, as
well as __________ because it introduces the oppressive government Juan lives under.

CHUNK 2

Directions: Write a gist statement for paragraphs 3 & 4. Gist statement = summary of
each paragraph. Should be one to two complete sentences.

3 Well, you’ve got to beat them to the punch, do what everyone tries to do: sabotage the machinery,
throw sand in its gears, get to the bottom of the problem so as to stop it. This was Juan’s sound plan
when he, like many others, applied for a censor’s job—not because he had a calling or needed a job:
no, he applied simply to intercept his own letter, a consoling but unoriginal idea. He was hired
immediately, for each day more and more censors are needed and no one would bother to check on
his references.
Gist Statement:

4 Ulterior motives couldn’t be overlooked by the Censorship Division, but they needn’t be too strict
with those who applied. They knew how hard it would be for those poor guys to find the letter they
wanted and even if they did, what’s a letter or two when the new censor would snap up so many
others? That’s how Juan managed to join the Post Office’s Censorship Division, with a certain goal in
mind.

Gist Statement:

★ Guided Reading Questions

6. What is Juan’s plan? What does he do to achieve his goal? How does he feel
when he begins working at the Censorship Division?

7. What textual evidence from paragraph 4 supports foreshadowing that Juan’s

plan might not succeed?

8. How is mystery, tension or surprise created in this chunk? Fill in the blank
with one of the three options.

This chunk creates ________ because it introduces Juan’s mission to find his own letter
without the government realizing his plan.

CHUNK 3

Directions: Write a gist statement for chunk 3. Gist statement = summary of each
paragraph. Should be one to two complete sentences.

5 The building had a festive air on the outside which contrasted with its inner staidness. Little by
little, Juan was absorbed by his job and he felt at peace since he was doing everything he could to get
his letter for Mariana. He didn’t even worry when, in his first month, he was sent to Section K where
envelopes are very carefully screened for explosives.

Gist Statement:
6 It’s true that on the third day, a fellow worker had his right hand blown off by a letter, but the
division chief claimed it was sheer negligence on the victim’s part. Juan and the other employees were
allowed to go back to their work, albeit feeling less secure. After work, one of them tried to organize a
strike to demand higher wages for unhealthy work, but Juan didn’t join in; after thinking it over, he
reported him to his superiors and thus got promoted.

Gist Statement:

7 You don’t form a habit by doing something once, he told himself as he left his boss’s office. And
when he was transferred to Section J, where letters are carefully checked for poison dust, he felt he
had climbed a rung in the ladder.

Gist Statement:

8 By working hard, he quickly reached Section E where the job was more interesting, for he could now
read and analyze the letterscontents. Here he could even hope to get hold of his letter which, judging
by the time that had elapsed, had gone through the other sections and was probably floating around in
this one.

Gist Statement:

9 Soon his work became so absorbing that his noble mission blurred in his mind. Day after day he
crossed out whole paragraphs in red ink, pitilessly chucking many letters into the censored basket.
These were horrible days when he was shocked by the subtle and conniving ways employed by people
to pass on subversive messages; his instincts were so sharp that he found behind a simple ‘the
weather’s unsettled’ or ‘prices continue to soar’ the wavering hand of someone secretly scheming to
overthrow the Government.

Gist Statement:

★ Guided Reading Questions

9. Does Juan lose sight of his mission? How? Does he become loyal to the government? Is this a
good or a bad thing? How does Juan’s mindset change from one he was first hired to
currently?

10. How is tension created in this chunk? *hint: what does Juan become obsessive over? Is
he focused on sending his letter to Mariana?
CHUNK 4

Directions: Write a gist statement for chunk 4. Gist statement = summary of each
paragraph. Should be one to two complete sentences.

10 His zeal brought him swift promotion. We don’t know if this made him happy. Very few letters
reached him in Section B —only a handful passed the other hurdles—so he read them over and over
again, passed them under a magnifying glass, searched for microprint with an electronic microscope,
and tuned his sense of smell so that he was beat by the time he made it home. He’d barely manage to
warm up his soup, eat some fruit, and fall into bed, satisfied with having done his duty. Only his
darling mother worried, but she couldn’t get him back on the right road. She’d say, though it wasn’t
always true: Lola called, she’s at the bar with the girls, they miss you, they’re waiting for you. Or else
she’d leave a bottle of red wine on the table. But Juan wouldn’t overdo it: any distraction could make
him lose his edge and the perfect censor had to be alert, keen, attentive, and sharp to nab cheats. He
had a truly patriotic task, both self-denying and uplifting.

Gist Statement:

11 His basket for censored letters became the best fed as well as the most cunning basket in the whole
Censorship Division. He was about to congratulate himself for having finally discovered his true
mission, when his letter to Mariana reached his hands. Naturally, he censored it without regret. And
just as naturally, he couldn’t stop them from executing him the following morning, another victim of
his devotion to his work.

Gist Statement:

★ Guided Reading Questions

11. How does Juan’s job change his personal life? What textual evidence supports this
transformation? *hint: textual evidence can be found in paragraph 10.

12.What comparison is Juan’s mother making when the author states, “only his darling mother
worried, but she couldn’t get him back on the right road”? *hint: think about who Juan is
working for? Remember why Juan applied for the job and how he has changed since working
for the Censorship Division.

13.How is surprise in this chunk created? *hint: what does Juan do when he finds his own letter?