The Censors By Luia Valenzuel

Freedom Have you ever wondered about how words came to be and got their meanings? The meaning of words changes overtime, as people use them in different ways. However some words like the word ‘shirt’ are very straightforward and are easy to interpret, but other words such as, ‘love’, ‘hope’, and ‘freedom’, carry much deeper meanings. The word freedom means to be free; to be free can mean to have the right to conduct oneself in whichever way they like, without restraint, it can mean having power over others and their freedom, and it can have a special meaning to each individual.

Freedom in the dictionary is defined as: The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint; in other words for each individual

People with power, can do whatever they want and say whatever they want because they have control over others. They have the power to punish those who oppose their views, and since they are the ones who punish or restrict others no one is able to punish or restrict them. One form of using power to restrict others, (in order to maintain personal freedom), can be found through censorship; which is used to restrict others freedom. Leaders use censorship to restrict messages people are able to convey through speech or other measures. This is seen in the story The Censors by: Luisa Valenzuela which tells the story of Juan, “Well, you’ve got to beat them to the punch, do what everyone tries to do: sabotage the machinery, throw sand in its gears, that is to say get to the bottom of the problem to try to stop it.This was Juan’s sound plan when he, along with many others, applied for a censor’s job — not because he had a calling like others or needed a job: no, he applied simply to intercept his own letter, an idea none too original but comforting. He was hired immediately, for each day more and more censors are needed and no one would bother to check on his references.” This depicts the character Juan, becoming a censor in order to have the freedom to mail the letters that he wants to mail without consequences. He wants to gain power and be the one doing the censoring, in order to avoid being the one who gets censored. This way he limits others freedom in order to have his own