Pierce College Humanities presentation

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Presentation by Payton Bahbah, Pierce
College, WA

2. The Censors
By Luisa Valenzuela

3. Political History
 The Dirty War
 President Isabel Peron was overthrown in a coup d'état in march of 1976
 1976-1983 Military Dictatorship under Jorge Rafael Videla and later Roberto Viola and Leopodo
Galtieri
 Military brutality had started over two years before the coup
 20,000-30,000 people were killed or “disappeared”
 Thousands were exiled both by force and by choice
 The United States largely backed the dictatorship
 “…the U.S. government gave the junta over $35 million in military aid and sold it another $43
million in military supplies.” (Young)

4. Cultural Context
 Extreme Censorship
 Censors monitored media, music, letters, etc.
harshly
 The secret police would get rid of anyone who was
deemed unsafe by the censors
 Argentine Rock
 Used American style and made a distinctly
Argentinian version
 Rebellious and expressive way for the youth to
share their opinions
 The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
 These women protested and searched tirelessly for
their missing children and grandchildren
 Largely ignored because they weren’t seen as a
threat to the regime
 Catholicism is and was a cornerstone of many lives in
Argentina
 Connection between church and state

5. Luisa Valenzuela
o Born in Argentina in 1938
o Her mother was a notable writer and she grew up surrounded by talented
authors
o Published her first short story at 17
o Published her first novel in 1966
o Bachelor of Arts from the University of Buenos Aires
o Invited to the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa in 1969
o Fled to the United States 1979-1989 to teach at the Columbia University
o "I decided to leave in order not to fall into self-censorship. Exile may be
devastating, but perspective and separation sharpen the aim.”

6. Plot summaries
“The Censors”
Juan becomes a censor to catch his letter and avoid the
penalty of the censors, but ultimately seals his own fate.
 Juan writes a letter to Mariana.
 He realizes the letter could be dangerous if read by a
censor, so he applies to become one.
 He soon becomes a model employee and is obsessed
with his job.
 Juan loses sight of his original goal as a censor, focusing
on being the best censor he can be.
 He ends up censoring his own letter as if he had not
written it.
 Juan is executed by the censor’s secret police.
“Papito’s Story”
A man tells the story of how his quiet, unassuming neighbor is
confronted by the police.
 Julio describes how Papito had rarely spoken to him. Only
in passing and only briefly.
 One night, police wake him up, pounding on Papito’s
door.
 Julio listens through the wall while Papito and his girlfriend
talk anxiously.
 Papito tells the police to let the woman come out of the
apartment so she isn’t harmed.
 Papito shoots himself instead of surrendering

7. Literature Analysis
• First Person
• Third Person Omniscient
Point of View
• Lonely
• Tense
• Somber
• Hopeless
• Ordinary
Mood
• The People of Argentina
Protagonist

8. Literature Analysis
•Loneliness
•Solidarity
•Struggle
•Catholicism
•Longing for hope
•Fear
•Death
Themes
•The Police= Government oppression, hatred
•Juan= The people who chose to be blind to the horrors
•The letter to Mariana= Censorship and lack of freedom
•The cross, prayers, etc. = Strong religious roots
•The wall= Separation then Unity
•Papito/Juan= the fate of the people
Symbols

9. Interpretation
Papito’s Story
I think this story is a beautiful representation of the situation in Argentina at the time. Julio and Papito were never closer than
acquaintances, yet Julio still feels a close sense of solidarity with Papito and displays the fear of the government that was deeply
rooted in these people.
The mood of tension and fear in this story is brought about by the police that have come for Papito. At first, Julio thinks that they
have come for himself, and he can’t imagine why. The police needed little reasoning to kill whomever they pleased, which would
have been especially terrifying to Julio. He had done nothing intentionally, yet feared for his life. I think this represents the unity
that the people of Argentina felt due to a common enemy: the government, and more specifically the police. Fear of and hatred
toward the police is evident in the majority of the short stories in the book. The absolute terror inflicted by them in Argentina
echoes through the book as a common theme. Every person who was not part of the police was constantly aware that they
meant trouble and death. The thousands of disappeared, tortured, and blatantly murdered were victims of this system.
Papito is introduced as the type of person who didn’t like to engage in small talk. He was an easily dismissible person and Julio
had never felt much of a connection to him. The night that the police came, however, Julio feels that “…tonight I should have put
my hand through the wall and made him accept our bond once and for all.” (p. 59) The lonesomeness is tangible in this piece,
and I would dare to say that many in Argentina felt alone in their struggle for justice. The intense oppression left little hope and
had many people feeling as though they were alone in the fight. But as Julio demonstrated, the wall that separated them was
also what united them. Julio wished to be close to Papito and stand with him in his fight, even though Papito thought he was on
his own.

10. Works Consulted
"Luisa Valenzuela." Encyclopedia of World Biography. . Encyclopedia.com. 12 Jun. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
Young, Kevin. "Washing U.S. Hands of the Dirty Wars: News Coverage Erases Washington's Role in State Terror." NACLA
Report on the Americas, vol. 46, no. 2, Summer, 2013, pp. 58-61. ProQuest,
http://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2048/login?url=https://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2057/docview/1433385911?accountid=22
80.
Murray, Edmundo. "Dirty War." The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Modern World, edited by Peter N. Stearns, vol. 2, Oxford
University Press, 2008, pp. 530-531. Gale Virtual Reference
Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX1549100566/GVRL?u=puya65247&sid=GVRL&xid=6fa1dd27.
Accessed 13 June 2019.