The Censors

The setting is important to the theme because it is where —

• Juan and his mother live

• an explosion blew off the hand of a worker

• government officials censor letters

• Juan first met Mariana

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

2.Paragraph 10 is mostly about —

• what Juan does at work to track down his letter to Mariana

• how Juan fools authorities about what he is really doing

• how Juan becomes obsessed with censoring the letters of other people

• how Juan reports another worker who wants to organize a strike

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Working in Section E is significant because it is where —

• letters are read and analyzed

• letters are checked for explosives

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.3

CCSS.RI.8.3

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.3

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

Which excerpt from the selection is an example of irony?

• 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.

• 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.

• Ulterior motives couldn’t be overlooked by the Censorship Division, but they needn’t be too strict with those who applied.

• You don’t form a habit by doing something once, he told himself as he left his boss’s office.

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

What is the best summary of this selection?

• Juan becomes so caught up in his work at the government censorship agency that he censors the letter to Mariana that he had hoped to retrieve, and he is killed for his action.

• Government officials become aware of Juan when he joins the censorship bureau, soon implicates others in crimes, and quickly becomes the agency’s best censor.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2