Four beautiful Dominican heroines known as the Butterflies make a big change on the world for women. “Each represent courage, love, and sacrifice”. The Butterflies bravely went against their ruler Trujillo and went through a lot of troubles. One of the four Butterflies whom were the bravest is Minerva. Minerva was the oldest, and wanted to go to law school. She was responsible, smart, pretty, caring, and like to be fair. Minerva felt trapped and wanted freedom, but did not know what she was fully getting into.
Minerva joined a school and went to Inmaculada Concepcion, where she meet Sinita. Sinita was a young girl who Minerva was friends with, she did not like Trujillo and had secrets about Trujillo. Sinita told Minerva her secret and it was that Trujillo killed her 3 uncles and he is not who he seems to be, after that Minerva did not like Trujillo anymore. But one girl caught both Minerva and Sinita’s eye , Lina lovaton, she had a beautiful voice and sang in the choir. Lina was a role model to the young ladies. Unfortunately Trujillo found Lina attractive and bought her gifts, the Nuns were getting suspicious. Trujillo got Lina pregnant and moved her into a mansion all by herself in Miami. Minerva arrived back home and was curious
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Trujillo specially wanted Minerva to be there. Her parents and sisters were concerned, Trujillo tried to make a move on Minerva and she slapped him. Minerva’s family decided to leave early even though they weren’t allowed. The next day Trujillo’s crew shown up at the Mirabal families house and took the father to prison and Minerva for questioning. She was questioned about Leo’s letters and the father was in prison for 3 weeks due to leaving the party early. When Minerva’s father was released he acted very odd, he had an heart attack and eventually died. Trujillo felt bad so he sent Minerva to law school.She graduated but did not receive her
The mirabal sisters protested against trujillo and then they got beat to death by Trujillo men. They protested against trujillo. The mirabal sisters were killed on international day against violence against women. Their death was a conspiracy theory. Trujillo was assassinated six months later.
The church formed a new movement in order to prevent and avenge the deaths of the innocent citizens during Trujillo’s regime. Eventually, Patria and the church proved to be formidable enemies to Trujillo as he remarked, “My only two problems are the damn church and the Mirabal sisters” (281). Thus, showing how at the end, it was due to this love shared between Patria and her kids that led to the establishment of the church, which was crucial to the fall of Trujillo. Although the sisters had created a strong foundation with the church through their love of their children, they further enhanced the rebellion by loving their husbands.
Minerva’s central role in the revolution separates her from her family, and she has to sacrifice so much to save her country from Trujillo, the corrupt president of the Dominican Republic. This leaves her missing her family and wanting nothing more but to be the loving mother to her kids. Although Minerva is tired of leading a double life, she forces herself to confront the inner conflicts that trouble her. Sometimes, she would “lie in bed, thinking, ‘You must gather up the broken threads and tie them together” (267).
In Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies the theme of entrapment is seen multiple times throughout the book, mainly to represent the authoritarian regime of Trujillo. There are several different types of entrapment in the book but the main three are the discovery of entrapment, physical entrapment and the roles of women holding back the women from fulfilling their destinies. These three point mainly surround Minerva, who can be considered the bravest sister for being the first one to get involved with the revolution, but the other sisters deal with entrapment as well.
I believe Trujillo became frustrated and impatient with Minerva’s
In the novel In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez uses Minerva and Dede to discuss gender roles because both the characters of Minerva and Dede respond to gender roles in completely different ways. To begin, once the challenges of Trujillo become more intense, Dede finds herself unable to handle it, “She shuts her eyes tight and wished blindly that everything would turn out all right” (pg. 78). This statement is important because it illustrates the gender roles women should take on throughout the novel. Specifically, this quotation shows how Dede hopes for her husband find a solution to the issue at hand, as she closes her eyes instead of facing the problem. Alvarez uses Dede to exemplify the characteristics a woman should acquire,
As vengeance for their political activities, Trujillo orders three of the sisters be killed on Puerto Plata Road, with their driver ear Rufino, while returning from visiting their husbands in jail. The women and
Courage Courage is strength in the face of pain. Julia Alvarez portrays different types of courage in her novel, In the Time of the Butterflies. The novel is set during the time of Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. As a result, some of the Mirabal sisters; Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Patria, to take a step in joining a revolution against him.
Her mom teaches Esperanza many life lessons throughout the story. The reader learns that the mom dropped out of school because she “didn't have nice clothes” (91). The mom regrets this decision as staying in school could have let her lead a better life in a wealthier place. Esperanza quickly realizes that she wants to stay in school to move out of Mango Street. This mom is also there for emotional support when Esperanza needed it.
Virgilio Morales, known as Lio, was a young revolutionary who fought against Trujillo. He influenced Minerva to demand change for Republic Dominica. Lio Inspired Minerva to fight against Trujillo’s dictatorial government. He encourages her to involved in the revolution, which changed Minerva’s lifestyle: “When I met Lio, it was as if I woke up. The givens, all I’d been so many covers when you sit up in the bed” (86).
Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies is a work of historical fiction set in the Dominican Republic that focuses on the four Mirabal sisters who bond together to rebel against the corrupt leader of their country, Rafael Trujillo. The four Mirabal sisters, Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa form closer relationships with each other as they figure out a way to bring down the tyranny of Rafael Trujillo. Although they have a mutual goal, each of the Mirabal sisters has different feelings and thoughts throughout this time period. The theme of coming-of-age and identify is best exemplified through the character of María Teresa, known as Mate, through the ways she matures throughout the novel and becomes her own person who stands up for what she believes in.
Lola takes advantage of her deteriorating mother whose illness represents the declining hold of the norms over Lola. Since her mom “will have trouble lifting her arms over her head for the rest of her life,” Lola is no longer afraid of the “hitting” and grabbing “by the throat” (415,419). As a child of a “Old World Dominican Mother” Lola must be surrounded by traditional values and beliefs that she does not want to claim, so “as soon as she became sick” Lola says, “I saw my chance and I’m not going to pretend or apologize; I saw my chance and I eventually took it” (416). When taking the opportunity to distinguish herself from the typical “Dominican daughter” or ‘Dominican slave,” she takes a cultural norm like long hair and decides to impulsively change it (416). Lola enjoyed the “feeling in [her] blood, the rattle” that she got when she told Karen to “cut my hair” (418).
Alvarez and her family have a lot of trauma considering there lives in the dominican republic and living under the dictator,through it all alvarez's parents raised a daughter who would share their story in a fashionable matter that told the story how it was.
Anaca Griffin Ms. Rudolph Honors English 10 January 9, 2023 In the Time of the Butterflies Character Analysis “Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.” Anthony Brandt. Brandt is stating that no matter how much one changes throughout one’s life, they are born with family and die with family. People have highs and lows throughout their lifetimes, but they have family to make it through.
The Mirabal sisters, also known as La Mariposas, have been known throughout the Dominican Republic for participating in a major revolution against their unjust ruler, Rafael Trujillo. After years of the sisters’ hard-work, along with the others who were involved in the revolution, their work paid off when Trujillo's regime ended with his assassination. However, in order for them to have taken part in this act against Trujillo, the Mirabal sisters had to sacrifice several things from their lives, most importantly, their freedom and their relationship with their family. Many people believe that these sacrifices were not necessary because the sisters didn’t need to go to the extent where the end result would be them orphaning their children. Nonetheless,