In The Time Of The Butterflies Entrapment Analysis

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. In in the Time of the Butterflies, Alvarez writes about entrapment, even at the beginning she starts to introduce symbols and quotes that hint at the huge theme throughout the book. Minerva is the first sister to discover this in the book. For example, her rabbits were a symbol but she had no idea. “Sometimes, watching the rabbits in their pens, I’d think, I’m no different from you, poor things. One time, I opened a cage to set a half-grown doe free. I even gave her a slap to get her going. But she wouldn’t budge!” (Pg. 11) This quote talks about the symbol of rabbits. The rabbits are trapped but they have don’t want to leave and this confuses Minerva. All she wants to do it leave her farm and go to school. What she doesn’t realize is the rabbits don’t know any

As butterflies, even if they don’t live for very long, they represent coming across as delicate and pretty to look at but actually being incredibly strong and free. Minerva did face many of the main difficulties with law school, being the first sister to become active in the revolution and just by being as strong-minded as she was but all of the other sisters faced entrapment whether it was their relatives in jail or being a women that held them