Satire In Luisa Valenzuela's The Censors

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Satire has always been utilized worldwide as an effective way to critique the vices in one’s society. Luisa Valenzuela’s “The Censors” employs satire to comment on government censorship. The protagonist, Juan, enrolls in his local censorship facility after he mails a letter to his companion in France, hoping to intercept it before it can be censored. Before Juan can find his letter, he becomes corrupted by the program and only wishes to be the perfect censor. Juan ends up censoring his letter once it gets to him, resulting in his execution. Ultimately, Luisa Valenzuela’s “The Censors” utilizes irony as a critique on the censorship program. Juan censoring his own letter, ultimately the repercussion being his death, exemplifies the harsh irony