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.
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is a historical fiction novel about the tragedy of the late Mirabal sisters. Though the book is acclaimed by parents, students, and teachers for it’s fictional adaptation to the historical moments of that time, sadly it was challenged due to its diagram of how to build a time bomb. Port Washington is a school district with a goal of furthering students intelligence through literature and ensuring the safety of their students and families. A school in that district, Paul D. Schreiber High, had this novel on the list of books to be read in sophomore English class in 2000, the book was voted to be banned because of its easy descriptions of malice. This book is an opportunity to enrich the student's
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.
Liliana Villa In this section of In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez uses various literary elements specifically interior monologue, and figurative language to show how Mate discovers she is willing to sacrifice herself for the movement. Mate was taken by officers in hopes she could be used as persuasion towards Leonardo through torture. When Leonardo tells the officers to leave her out of it, the officers in turn beat Leonardo. Mate, being in shock, began screaming for them to stop, she claims “It felt like my very own stomach was being punched”, which shows at first Mate was only thinking about what was happening to her own life.
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.
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.
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.
Geraldine Brooks’ book People of the Book: A Novel introduces the story of the Sarajevo haggadah, a Jewish book, throughout the chapters. She also shares all the stories it went through and the sacrifices people from different communities and backgrounds had to go through to keep the haggadah safe, to make it to today. In Brooks’ novel she discusses about different community languages that the characters use; however, the community I chose to talk about and that interested me was the Albanian community. The language is mostly used in the chapter “An Insect’s Wing: Sarajevo, 1940” where Lola, a young Jewish girl, experiences running and hiding away from the Nazis, coming back to Sarajevo, and being saved by a Muslim family that uses values of the Albanian community, beliefs, and language around Lola to protect her.
Marco Pérez Dr. Rony Garrido The short novel, Aura, by Carlos Fuentes creates a mythical reality to reference Mexican history. He uses Aura, Felipe Montero, and Consuelo as a reflection of the past and the present, where for example, Consuelo represents the past and Felipe the present. In this paper I will explain how the love story of Felipe, Aura, and Consuelo represent Mexican history. In addition this paper will explain how myth breaks down into different elements, such as religion, legends, traditions, and beliefs, all of which are manifested in the different characters and their actions within this novel.
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.
Dillard writes, "It was a small thing, a moth, but it seemed to me a magnificent moment, the stillness of the moth’s body as it died, the awful effort of its last stiff wings." This passage evokes a sense of empathy for the moth and its struggle, and also highlights the
In her essay “The Death of the Moth,” Virginia Woolf illustrates the abrupt life of a moth matching with the appropriate complexion of life and death. She starts the essay out by showing how deplorable life is and ends the essay saying how powerful life is. With this being said, it leaves the reader in confusion, thinking if they should take the path of throwing life away or keeping life safe to their hearts. In this composition, Woolf invests the moth in a role that represents her life. She simply builds a comparison between life as a whole and the life of a moth.
Throughout history, women have made a name for themselves. By rising up and fighting for something that they believed in, the Mirabal sisters made a name for themselves in the Dominican Republic and in Julia Alvarez’s novel In the Time of the Butterflies. By applying a theory to a novel, readers can relate the book to the world they are living in today (Davidson). Feminism can be defined as a dynamic philosophy and social movement that advocates for human rights and gender equality (“Feminism”). Feminist Theory involves looking at how women in novels are portrayed, how female characters are reinforcing stereotypes or undermining them, and the challenges that female characters face (Davidson).
Strether begins to believe his mission to retrieve Chad promises “nothing…for [him].” The realization that there might be nothing to gain is directly connected to Strether’s newfound conflation of figurative and religious iconography—a practice that continues to arise as Strether continues to become better acquainted with Madame de Vionnet. Strether’s shift in seriously analyzing European Catholicism by the way of his fascination with Madame de Vionnet transforms Madame de Vionnet into something far more powerful than religious iconography, but, instead, transforms her into religious figure with her own accompanying iconographic features. Madame de Vionnet becomes a religious figure that converts Strether
The 1986 drama-filled mystery film, “The Name of the Rose”, is directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. This film is not only a murder mystery, but film that puts into question the meaning of “truth” from theological, philosophical, scholarly, and historical perspectives. William of Baskerville, a Franciscan friar, and Adso of Melk, a young man about eighteen years old who is traveling at the side and under the protection of William, encounter a wealthy Benedictine abbey and begin on the path to aid in discovering what’s right and wrong. The abbey’s mission began due to the Pope John XXII suspecting a group of Franciscans of heresy; heresy is a belief or opinion not in alignment with orthodox religion.
