In The Time Of The Butterflies Identity Essay

Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies is a work of historical fiction set in the Dominican Republic under the rule of Rafael Trujillo. The tragic story depicts the life of four sisters rebelling against a deadly dictator and trying to make a justified society. Dedé, Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal unit together to fight against an oppressive and destructive government. These four individuals are composed of different and unique characteristics form together to create a threatening power towards an unjust group of leaders. The theme of coming-of-age and identity in the novel In the Time of the Butterflies is best exemplified through the character of Maria Teresa because of her character development from a immature and

Mate willingly chooses to fight in the revolution without any influence of her sisters support. Mate can not comprehend how a free nation could be a controlling stratocracy. She even compares God to Trujillo, someone of grace and equality for everyone. Learning about her honorable president’s mischievous ways was unimaginable. Mate expresses, "Everything looks just a little different"(39). She understands Trujillo is not a man of principles, rather someone who follows rules that he pleases. 21-year-old Mate is later recruited to a national underground by Minerva and her husband, Manolo and remains undercover while living with Sonia, her collegiate roommate and revolutionary friend. Mate jokes about neighbors suspecting scandalous actions are conducted in their apartment and says, “Now I can finally use my talents for the revolution”(143). She is now at a point in her life where she does not care about what others think of her, unless it is someone she could potentially marry. Mate has always been in love with idea of having a husband, and after meeting revolutionary engineer Leandro, she marries him. The young Maria Teresa, who would never kill a fly, is now a revolutionary bride fighting for her present and future