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SECOND

LETTER

Don't Let the Fear of

What Is Difficult ParalvzeYou

I believe the best way to begin is by consideringthe

u'hoie issueof dlfficultv. of what it is that is difficult and
that triggersfear.
It is said that somethingis difficult when facing it or
dealingwith it provespainstaking;in other words,when it
presentsan obstacleon some level. "Feat" as defined by
the Aurdlio Dictionary, is a "feeling of unrest before the
notion of real or imaginarydanger."We fear weatheringa
storm. We fear loneliness.We fear not being able to overcome the difficulties involved in understandinga text.
There is alwaysa relationshipbetween fear and dlfficulty. But it is obvious that in this relationshipthe subject
also figures,a subject lvho is fearful of what is difficult,
u,ho fearsthe storm, rvho fearsloneliness,or who fearsnot
being able to overcomethe difficulty in understandingthe
text or not being able to produce some intelligenceof it.
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In this reiationshipbetween the subject',vhofears and

the situation or object of that t'ear, there is yet another
component,which is the fearful subject'sfeeling of insecurity in facing the obstacle.This insecurity may be based
on the subject'slack of physicalstrength,lack of emotional balance,or lack of scientific competence,real or
imaginary.
The issuehere is not denyingfear when the dangerthat
generatesit is fictitious. The fear itself is concrete.The
issueis not allowing that fear to paralyzeus,not allowing
that fear to persuadeus to quit, to face a challengingsituation without an effort, without a fight.
When faced n'ith fear of any kind, one must first objectively ascertainwhether there are reai reasonsfor
that fear. Second,if those reasonsdo exist, one must
match them againstthe availablepossibilitiesfor overcoming them successfully.Third, if an obstacle cannot
be overcomeright away,one must determine what steps
to take toward becoming better capableof overcoming
it tomorrow.
I wish to emphasizethat dfficuby is alwaysin direct relation to an individual'scapacityto respondto it, in light
of his or her own evaluation of the ability to respond.
One may experiencemore or lessfear or unfoundedfear;
one may even,when realizingthat a challengesurpasses
the limits of fear, drown in panic. Panic is the state of
s
mind that paralyzesan individual faced with a chailenge
that he or she easilyidentifiesas absolutelybeyond any
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possibieattempt to respond.I can be in fear of loneliness,

but I experiencepanic in a city struck by an earthquake.
At this point I would like to reflectspecificallyon one's
fear of not being able to understanda text whose comprehensionis necessaryto the discoveryprocessthat is
part of education.I rvould like to focus on that paralyzing
fear that defeatsus even before we make anv attempt to
understandthe text.
If one takes on a text whose comprehensionwill require somework, one needsto know
whether one'sability to respondis at the level of the
challengeposed,that is, the challengeof understandingthe text.
whether one'sability to respondis lessthan needed
to meet the challenge.
whether one's ability to respond is more than
neededto meet the challenee.
If one's ability to respondis lessthan neededto meet a
given challenge,one must not allow oneselfto be immobilized by the t'earof not understandingor, by defining the
task as impossibleto realize,to simply abandonit. If my
ability to respondto a text is lessthan neededto comprehend the text, I must seekthe help of someone,not just the
teacherwho assignedthe reading,in overcomingat least
some of the limitations that make the task more difficult.
Sometimesthe readingof a text requiressome previous
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experiencewith anothertext that preparesthe readerfor a

step upward.
One of the most dreadful mistakes \^'e can possibly
make as we study, either as students or as teachers,is to
retreat before the first obstacle we face. Such a retreat
makesthe mistakeof not acceptingthe responslbilitypresented by the task of studying, as by any other, to those
who must complete it.
Studying is a demandingoccupation,in the processof
which we r,vill encounter pain, pleasure,victory, defeat,
doubt, and happiness.For this reason,studying requires
the development of rigorous discipline,whlch we must
consciouslyforge in ourselves.No one can bestow or impose such discipline on someoneelse;the attempt implies a total lack of knowledgeabout the educator'srole
in the developmentof discipline.In any case,either we
are the agentsof this discipline,or it becomesa mere appendageto our selves.Either we adhere to study with
delight or accept it as necessityand pleasure,or it becomes a mere burden and, as such,will be abandonedat
the first crossroads.
The more we accept this discipline, the more we
strengthen our ability to overcome threats to it and thus
to our abiitty to study effectively.
One such threat, for example, is allowing ourselvesto
not use such auxiliary tools as dictionaries,encyclopedias,and so on. We must alwaysincorporateinto our intellectual disciplinethe habit of consultingsuch tools to
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the extent that, without them, studying would be made

difEcult.
Allowing the fear of not successfully
accomplishingthe
processof text comprehensionto immobilize us evades
the first battle. From there, it is just one step to accusing
the author of being incomprehensible.
Another threat to seriousstudy, a threat that is one of
the most negativeforms of avoiding overcoming the difficulties we face instead of taking on the difficulties of the
text itself is our proclaimingthat we understandwithout,
hon'ever,putting our assertionto the test.
There is no reasonwhy I shouldbe ashamedof not understandingsomething that I read. If, holvever,the text I
cannotunderstandis part ofa body ofreadingsseenasessentiai,in order even to gain the perspectiveto judge
u'hether the text is essentialI must overcome my dif[cultiesin understandingit.
It is no excessto repeat that reading, like studying, is
not simply brolvsingleisurelyover the sentences,
phrases,
and ,,vordsof the text without any concern for knowing
rr'herethey may take us.
Another threat to completing the difficult and pleasurabletask of studying, a threat that results from the
iack of disciplineI spokeof is the temptation alwaysbefore us to abandonthe printed page in the middle of
readingand to glide far away in imagination.Suddenly,
though rve havethe book physicallyin front of us,we are
reading it only mechanically.The body is here, but the
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mind is on a distant tropical island.This way, it is reallv

impossible to study.
We must be forewarned that only rarely does a text
easily lend itself to the reader's curiosity.At the same
time, it is not every curiosity that can penetrate the text
intimately in order to study its truths, its mysteries,its
weak points. Only epistemologicalcuriosity-that which,
by taking some distancefrom the object,"approaches"it
with the intent and the pleasure of unveiling it-can
begin to uncover the text, and even this fundamental curiosity is not enough.Usingthat curiosityto approachand
examine the text, we too must give ourselvesto the text,
must surrenderto it. In order for that to happen,rve must
equally avoid other fearsthat scientismhas instilled in us.
For example,there is the fear that our emotions, our desires,may ruin our objectivity. Whatever I knon' I know
with my entire self: with my critical mind but also with
my feelings,with my intuitions, with my emotions.What
I must not do is stop at the level of emotions,of intuitions.I must placethe objectsof my intuition under serious,rigorousinvestigation;I must never disregardthem.
in sum, the reading of a text is a transactionbetween
the reader and the text, which mediatesthe encounte4l
between reader and r,r'riter.It is a compositionbetweenll
the readerand the writer in which the reader"re-writes'l'
the text making a determined effort not to betray the au
thor's spirit. And lt is not possible to do that ',t'ithou
critical comprehensionof the text, which in turn re54

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quires overcoming the fear of reading,whlch gradually

takes place within the processof developing the discipline that I spoke of. Let us insist on that discipline.It
has to do with reading and, for that reason,with writing
as rvell. It is not possibleto read without writing or to
u'rite without reading.
Another important aspect,and one that challengesthe
readereven more as "re-creator"of the text he or she
is not deposited, static
reads,is that text comprehension
and immobilized, within the pagesof the text, simply
n aitinB to be uncoveredby the reader.If that were the
case,we could not saythat readingcritically is "re-writing"
n hat one has read.That is why I spoke of reading as a
compositionbetween reader and writer in which the most
profound significanceof the text is also the creation of
the reader.This point brings us to the need for reading
also as a dialogic experiencein which the discussionof
the text undertaken by different readersclarifies,enlightens,and createsgroup comprehensionof what has been
read.Deep down, group readingbrings about the emergenceof different points of uiew that, as they become exposed to each other, enrich the production of text
comprehension.
Of the experiencesI have had with readingin and out
of Brazil,I would singleout as the best the onesI gained
from coordinatingreadinggroupsaround the text.
What I have observedis that apprehensionbeforereadins or fear itself tends to be overcomeand one is free to

Second Letter

attempt to inuent the meaningof the text in addition to

just discoveringit.
Obviously, in preparation for group reading each participant reads individually, consults this or that auxiliary
tool, and establishesthis or that interpretation for certain
portions of the text. The processof creatingcomprehension of what is being read is graduallybuilt in the dialogue between the different points of view about the
challenge,which is the author'score meaning.
As an author, I would be not just satisfiedbut exultant
if I came to find out that this text had causedits readers
to conduct the kind of committed reading that I have
been insisting on throughout this book. Deep down, this
must be every author's true dream-to be read,discussed,
critiqued, improved, and reinvented by his or her readers.
Let us return for a moment to that aspectof critical
reading accordingto which the reader becomes,littie by
little, equally the producer of the text's meaning.The
more the reader makeshim- or herself a real apprehender
of the author's comprehension,all the more he or shewill
become a producer of text comprehension,to the extent
knowlthat such comprehensionbecomesreader-created
edge rather than knowledge that is deposited in the

Second Letter

that the author talks about, the reader knowsthe meaning

of the text and becomescoauthor of that meaning.The
reader then will not speak of the meaning of the text
merely as someonewho has heard about it. The reader
has worked and reworked the meaning of the text; thus,
it'nvasnot there,immobilized,waiting.Here lies the dfficultlt and the t'ascinationin the act of reading.
Unfortunately, in general what has been done in
schoolslately is to lead studentsto becomepassivebefore
the text. Exercisesin reading interpretation tend almost
to be verbal copies of the text. Children learn early on
that their imaginationdoes not work: Using their imagination is almostforbidden,a kind of sin. In addition,their
cognitive abilitles are challengedin a distorted manner.
They are invited neither to imaginatively relive the story
told in the book nor to gradualiy appropriate the signifi-

readerby the readingof the text.

When I understand an object, rather than memorizing
the profile of the concept of the object, I know that object, I produce the knowledgeof that object.When the
reader critically achievesan understandingof the object

canceof the text.

It would certainly be through the experienceof recounting the story, leaving their imagination, feelings,
dreams,and desiresfree to create,that children would
end up taking a chanceon producinga more complex understandingof texts.
Nothing, or almost nothing, is done toward awakening
and keepingalive children'scuriosity,their consciouslycritical reflection,so indispensableto creativereading,reading
capableof unfolding into the rewriting of the text read.
This curiosity,which needsto be stimulated in the student by the teacher,decisivelycontributes to graspingthe

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content of the text, which in turn is fundamental for creating the text's significance.
It is true that if the content of reading has to do with a
concrete fact of social or historical reality or of biology,
for example, no interpretation of the reading may deny
that concretefact. But that doesnot mean that the reader
should memorize word-for-wordwhat hasbeen read and
repeatthe author'sdiscoursemechanically.
This would be
like a "banking"t kind of reading, in which the reader
would "eat up" the content of the author'stext with the
help of the "nutritionist teacher."
I insist on the undeniable importance of the educator
in learning to read, inseparablefrom learning to write,
which learnersmust dive into. Learning to read entails
the discipflne of mapping out the text thematically,2
which must be realized not by the educator alone but
alsoby the learners.The learnersmust unveil the interactions between themes within the whole of the author's
discourse,and their attention must be called to the citations made within the text, as well as to their role. It is
also important to underline the aestheticmoment of the
author's language,his or her command of the language
and vocabulary,which implies overcomingthe unnecessaryrepetition of a given word four times on a singlepage
of the text.
A rich exercise,which I've heard of now and again,
even though it is not carried out in schools,is to enable
two or three writers, of fiction or not, to speak to their
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student readersabout how they produce their texts.They

speakabout how they deal with the themes or with the
plots that involve their themes,how they work out their
language,how they pursue the beauty of speech,of description,of leavingcertaininformation suspendedso the
readerscould exercisetheir imagination.They alsospeak
about how they play with the transition from one time to
another in their stories and, finally, about how writers
readthemselvesand how they read other writers.
Finally, as learnersexperiment more and more critically with the task of reading and writing, they must
graspthe social plots in whlch language,communication, and the production of knowledge are constituted
and reconstituted.
\OTES
l. See Paulo Freire, Pedagogt of the Oppressed (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e

Terra,1970J.
and OtherWorks
2. SeePauloFreie, CulturalActiont'or Freedom
(Riode Janeiro:
Paze TerraJ.

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