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A Brief Summary Of The Butterflies By Julia Alvarez

1344 Words6 Pages

The Mirabal sisters, known as “Las Mariposas” or “The Butterflies” wanted to try to overthrow the leader of the country, Trujillo, because they believed he was oppressive and cruel. Because of this, their lives became very dangerous as the government wanted to stop them from achieving their goal. They faced many hardships along the way, from spending time in jail to having government officials drive them around the city. Through the use of perspective, imagery, and point of view, Julia Alvarez proves that individuals may need to give everything they have in order to make a change they believe in. Because this is a novel, Julia Alvarez is able to alternate each chapter from the perspective of one of the sisters, which betters the reader’s understanding of each girl’s …show more content…

While she was on a retreat in the mountains with the church, there was an invasion. Many people were shot and the final death toll was 49 men and boys. However, one of the deaths happened right in front of Patria. She “saw the wonder on his young face as the life drained out of him” (Alvarez 162) and because the boy was young, Patria felt connected to him, as he was about the same age as her oldest son. Alvarez’s imagery is very vivid, so the reader can thoroughly understand what Patria saw and one of the reasons why Las Mariposas wanted to make a change. The government was not protecting their people, and it resulted in ruthless deaths like the one Patria witnessed, and because of this, Patria decided she was not going to sit back and watch people die. Due to this event that Patria saw, the reader can get a clear understanding of why Patria wanted to join, and how terrible and extreme the events were that led her to want to join the revolution. Later, still from Patria’s perspective, we see what the government has done to try to stop the rebellion from

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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,

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Patria has been a leader all her life and she is also caring and respectful. She got married at a very young age to Pedrito and has 2 children and one stillborn child. Patria is a wonderful mom and is very protective and caring towards her 2 kids, Nelson and Norris. Patria was the last but most revolutionary for many reasons. In Julia Alvarez’s novel

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Thus she begins to feel compassion towards her community, who had also experienced loss, but as a result of Trujillo’s regime. In this way, her miscarriage challenged Patria’s previous teachings of faith, forcing her to think more deeply about the extent to which she related to it. This quote can be seen as a turning point in Patria’s relationship with her religion and willingness to join the revolution, and demonstrates how one’s values can change as they navigate internal and external conflicts. Similarly, Alvarez shows how Patria utilizes her faith as a form of empowerment throughout the novel to find comfort during uncertain moments. During the last day of a visit to a religious retreat, Patria witnesses an innocent boy being killed by Trujillo’s guards.

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This characteristic of having such strong commitment helps depict her as a revolutionary because she stood up for what she believed in no matter the circumstances and was willing to face the consequences of her actions. Another way Alvarez portrays the Mirabal sisters as revolutionaries is through their ability to be confident in themselves and stand up to powerful people and take risks.

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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.

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In the Time of the Butterflies, a novel by Julia Alvarez, tells the story of four sisters living in the Dominican Republic during Trujillo’s reign in the nation. The novel details the sisters’ fight for freedom against the dictatorship, as well as giving readers a personal glimpse of these women’s lives. It shares all four sisters’ fictionalized perspectives and shows their opposition to the regime from beginning to end. When people think of heroes, they think of individuals that show courage, that stay strong in the face of danger and what they stand for, whether they be superheroes or people like firefighters. Most people remove themselves from the idea of accomplishing heroic feats because of the separation between the “ordinary” and the heroic.

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Dedé sent Patria a note: Sorry. Jaimito says no” (177). Dedé seeks the approval of Jaimito to support her sisters in the revolution. Jaimito tells her she cannot and Dedé remains obedient to Jaimito instead of true to herself. She behaves in conformity with her beliefs about women’s submissiveness to men, and allows Jaimito the right to control her choices.

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I’ve already more than appeared.” This showed that even though she abandoned the Lord, the Lord didn’t abandon her and he even sent the Virgin Mary to her but since she had lost her faith she wasn’t aware of her presence. Through the rest of the book Patria is faced with troubles yet she doesn't give up on her faith. When the church is being bombed she continues to pray. After she watches a young man die, she joins the revolution with the church.

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It provides a role in character development shown predominantly in Patrias character. It shows the extent of Trujillo’s actions against the Dominican people by showing Patrias desperateness for her son. These examples depicted in the book show how the theme of religion has an impact on In the Time of the

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The courageous acts of the Mirabal sisters Harrison Thomas In the novel in the time of the butterflies, Julia Alverez the author shows how the Mirabal sisters were extremely determined to take down Trujillo and his dictatorship. Throughout the novel the Mirabal sisters Dede, Minerva and Patria were all seen participating in the rebellion using courage by their side to do numerous things. Some off these things consist of slapping Trujillo, running away from armed guards, and even sneaking out every night to keep the secret away from Dede’s husband. Finally, the sisters are all seen caring and looking out for each other all throughout the book using courage to help make their decisions.

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Focusing on Patria, after listening to advice about joining the revolution she has made her final conclusions about what she wanted to do about the situation. Julia Alvarez uses Patria's faith in God as an illustration of courage. Patria is a very religious person. She used her faith in God to help her get through difficult situations demonstrating moral, physical, and emotional courage in time of danger.

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Childhood is something extremely important in the development of people, and whether their adolescence is good or bad, it often shapes their futures and personalities. The book In The Time Of The Butterflies by Julia Alverez demonstrates this while simultaneously bringing readers into the world of young revolutionary women. Alvarez tells the story of four young women who live in the Dominican Republic and start seeing the world in a new light as they mature from sheltered individuals who speak to barely anyone outside of their family and neighbors, to school girls learning about corruption in the outside world; Minerva, the oldest of the sisters, was the first to start the descent into rebellion. When the Mirabal sisters were young,

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As the eldest sister, Patria is introduced as a motherly figure toward her sisters. She married at a young age and was happy being a wife and mother. Her Christianity is central to her character, and although it was tested due to the death of her stillborn child, a retreat in the mountains with her church group profoundly affects both her faith and her view of the rebellion. At the retreat, Patria witnesses a young rebel, not much older than her own daughter, being shot and killed by Trujillo’s guard force.

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