The Censors Poem Meaning

“Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life.” – Bob Marley. Freedom is the power to act, speak, or think as one wants. Logically it is better to die fighting for freedom than become a prisoner all the days of your life. However if you think through with this statement, you do not actually get to live to experience freedom if you are already dead fighting for freedom. Selfish people would think this way and would rather live than to fight for freedom which results to that person reaching a dead end. Literally a “dead end”. They die in the end because they are too pusillanimous to salvage something that could end their melancholy. The short story The Censors was able to convey the message of a person who was
However, since he was in a country where freedom doesn’t exist and censors were extremely strict. He became afraid. Afraid of what the government will do to him once they see his letter and choose what to censor in his letter. In a way you can call him a paranoid coward. “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.” (Page 90, Line 32-35) He chose to work for the censorship division in order to escape his fear of the government reading his letter. Juan could be an example of some of values of the people that work for the governments that don’t provide freedom. It shows that those who work for liberal-less governments are cowards who are afraid to speak up. Unfortunately their destinies are unfortunate. Juan’s life is one of the examples of the ironic endings people work for governments end up with. As Juan was censoring each letter carefully and prudently, he became loyal to the government. “Soon he became so absorbing that his noble mission blurred in his mind.” (Page 91, Line 67-68) So loyal to the point where when he heard about some people working in the censorship resisting, he immediately reported them to the government which allowed him to receive a promotion. His career
This stories shares the struggle on gaining the freedom they deserved and wanted and the sacrifices they made on their journey towards freedom. Reflecting upon the story, they definitely agree that freedom must be demanded and it is not given. The story was conveying the message that freedom wasn’t easy to grasp onto the peoples’ hands. A great amount of perseverance was needed to reclaim the freedom they deserved even at the costs of peoples’ lives. This story shows the comparison of life before fighting for freedom and life after fighting for freedom. “Security vehicles racing to get out of town and all the men leaning over the parapet above us with stones in their hands stopped in mind-throw and yelled ‘Run! Run!’” (Page 74, Line 26-28) As displayed from this quote, life in Egypt was chaotic and hectic. But the people tried so hard to stop the chaos. “We had come together, as individuals, millions of us, in a great cooperative effort. And this time our project was to save and reclaim our country” (Page 75, Lines 39-42) Because of their perseverance, they were able to reclaim their country and be free. “We stood our ground and sang and chanted and placed our lives, with all trust and confidence, each other’s hands. Some of us died.” (Page 76, Lines 80-83). But of course this freedom had to come in a cost. The