Are The Mirabal Sisters In In The Time Of The Butterflies Marxism

Imagine people thinking they are more important than you based on their economic and social class. Imagine everything you have achieved get taken away from you because you are in a lower class. During the 1960s, this is what was happening in the Dominican Republic. Marxism is the economic theory that human actions are economically determined and class struggle is needed to create historical change. In the Time of the Butterflies, the Mirabal family is among the middle class in this communist-run country. The government is ruled by the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo who is among the upper class. Julia Alvarez’s novel In the Time of the Butterflies portrays Marxism through the Mirabal sisters as they realize the suppression imposed

They each resemble different aspects of the economic power they have and how they resist the socioeconomic structure in their country. All the sisters except for Dede are referred to as one of the Butterflies because Dede is the only sister who doesn’t join the revolution and she decides not to rebel. Minerva is the bravest in the family, especially during the revolution. She becomes wrapped up in the revolution and is the sister that is most willing to stand up for her beliefs. Maria Teresa is the youngest and the most innocent. Although she is the youngest, she still protests along with her sisters. Patria is the oldest and the most religious. She is the slowest of the sisters to join the rebellion because she has trouble choosing the right path but ends up joining in the end. The sisters are educated, which is unique because most women did not receive an education at this time. Trujillo is the evil dictator ruling over the Dominican Republic and the Mirabal sisters. Trujillo has a lot of money and he controls all of the Dominicans economy and rights. Wealthy people socialize with him and get invited to his parties but those people do not realize the harm he creates. Being under the rule of a terrible dictator, makes the lower classes unite and rebel against the evil government. The Butterflies were key figures in the

Trujillo reveals how he got his power when Alvarez adds, “According to Sinita, Trujillo became president in a sneaky way. First he was in the army, and all the people above him suddenly started dying off till he was the only one right below the head of the whole armed forces” (17). Trujillo stops at nothing in order to gain power. Nothing stopped him before he became the dictator and nothing will stop him now. He made it to the top of the class system and everyone below him is afraid to speak up. The Butterflies unite a large part of their country by making them realize how corrupt and evil Trujillo is. “The three of them helped form a resistance group called the Movement of the Fourteenth of June, which was named after a rebellion attempt to topple Trujillo’s dictatorship” (Reichard). They gave everyone an equal voice in the rebellion and included both men and women. Minerva stands up against Trujillo in order to bring equality to her