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In The Time Of The Butterflies By Julia Alvarez

1564 Words7 Pages

Butterflies are exceedingly beautiful. They gracefully fly as the sun beams on them endlessly. Their delicate wings allow them to be “free”. In Julia Alvarez’s novel “In The Time of The Butterflies”, four sisters (The Mirabals) from the Dominican Republic, encounter many obstacles. The novel takes place during Rafael Trujillo’s rule. In 1960, three sisters Minerva, Patria, and María Teresa are members of a secret movement against Trujillo-- all except for Dedé, the surviving sister. Throughout the novel, all of these sisters develop in many areas. One of these important areas include the struggle of being a “good Catholic girl”. María Teresa (Mate), the youngest of the Mirabal sisters, goes through many struggles that gradually develops her …show more content…

The OAS come and interview all of the political prisoners and question them. Minerva advises María to give them the letter of her personal account but she doesn’t listen and decides not to give it to them because she doesn’t want to put Santiclo in danger-- this shows another action of Mate being brave. Before her turn with the OAS, Minerva tells María, “Revolution is not always pretty, Mate. Look at what they did to Leandro, to Manolo, what they did to Florentino, to Papilin, to you, for God’s sake”(251). María has always been known as the weak and fragile one but God has equipped her into a brave young woman. María is literally doing this for God’s sake. The expectation is to fully believe that God does everything for a reason whether it’s good or bad. María deals with this expectation by “flying” and looking through eyes of a new perspective-- that life is like a diary itself because everybody is the author of their own stories that mold who they are. Butterflies can’t fly when it’s cold but through God nothing is impossible. María Teresa kept pushing and pushing with her wings because she knew that God’s sake was there. Whether it’s a revolution against the evil works of Trujillo or the spiritual revolution in her heart, her wings will be the things that will set her

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In chapter 11 of In the Time of Butterflies, a positive aspect of prison for Maria Teresa is the strong relationships she built with the other women because it gave her something to depend on while she was going through tough times. On April 8, Maria Teresa wrote about her conversations with the other women in prison. Her and another lady Magdalena started talking about the strong connection that all the women shared in jail. After the conversation began between the two, the other women came over to Maria Teresa and Magdalena and started to share their ideas and opinions. All the women were starting to come together as a group and their relationships were getting stronger.

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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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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.

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Religion in The Butterflies The theme of religion is found throughout the book In the Time of the Butterflies. Julia Alvarez uses the theme to give life and development to the characters as well as advance the story. It provides a brighter more pure side to contrast the events of the Rebellion and Trujillo’s actions. Religion also keeps the people of the Dominican Republic together providing guidance for them.

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Marxist Criticism focuses on class struggle and power structure in a literary piece (Davidson). In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez can be analyzed using Marxist Criticism to show how power is maintained in the novel. Trujillo maintains his power by convincing girls to live in his homes, jailing citizens who try to overthrow him, and killing citizens that he has large problems with. Trujillo uses his authority to make all of his citizens obey him so that he can keep his power, or else they must deal with severe consequences. Trujillo acts this way to prove that he is the man in charge and ultimately prove that he is unbeatable.

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Women’s struggle for power in a patriarchal society has been a monumental fight throughout the ages, and even now women around the world fight for the right to simple rights like an education, and voice within society. In Julia Alvarez's book In the Time of the Butterflies the character Minerva Mirabel portrays women’s fight for power through her own personal struggle for power in her home against her father, and in the Dominican Republic society against Trujillo, and patriarchal norms of the time. Minerva’s struggle for power in her family is displayed through her thoughts and actions concerning her father’s patriarchal rule of his household, and her going against what was assumed to be the way a daughter was supposed to behave. She doesn’t follow her father blindly, and trust him simply because of his authority, she treats him as someone equal to her.

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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.

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From the moment that the Dominican republic was free from Trujillo’s dictatorship, contrasting viewpoints have come up regarding the sacrifices of the Mirabal sisters. While some argue that the Mirabal sisters sacrifices were not beneficial and worthwhile to the revolution because it resulted in the orphaning of their children and three young lives were lost. Others argue that the Mirabal sisters sacrifices were effective for the revolution since it changed the future of their country. I deem the sisters sacrifices are justifiable because their sacrifices had an important purpose. Isn’t it true that Trujillo's was absolutely in power for 31 years however, because of the three young sisters his cruel regime ended.

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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).

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Although due to being a poor, uneducated woman whom is treated like an object, Mayella is not a powerful character. For 19 years of Mayella’s life she has been

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Butterflies Reflection In The Time of the Butterflies I am exposed to many different viewpoints. An important one being Minerva Mirabal. This novel takes me through the crazy lives of the Mirabal’s. This family is in a personal war against El Jefe Trujillo.

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Maria Teresa, in her journal, writes about her different experiences in the prison cell with the other girls that she shared the cell with. At one point, she felt as though the other girls were less than her, but as time went by, she began to gain a sense of appreciation for them. Their generosity struck her attention and at that point, she realized that their characteristics were to be admired. Every girl in the cell had a terrible past, some worse than others; however, Maria Teresa quickly learned not to define a person by their actions and environment, but rather to acknowledge their personality. The other girls’ simple acts of kindness, such as giving others their own belongings, changed Maria Teresa’s standpoint.

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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).

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Once she decides to join the revolution, she is fearless in her efforts to end Trujillo’s regime, regardless of her personal outcome. Minerva fought until the day she died, and with her death, a better future for her country was

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