Of Minerva In Julia Alverez's In The Time Of The Butterflies

The Goddess of a Revolution
Names are more than just words. They have the power to shape and even influence our destiny. In the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alverez, the author evinces that Minerva’s characteristics are symbolic of those of the roman goddess Minerva. In the novel, Minerva starts as a fearless young girl and grows into a godly status where people look up to her as an example. She starts by grouping people in for the revolution, finding a meeting spot, executing orders for ammunition, and even fighting Trujillo’s guard's hand to hand. Similar to the Roman Goddess Minerva, known for being the goddess of wisdom, war, and strategy, Minerva Mirabal embodies the qualities of the goddess through her revolutionary

When Minerva and her sisters were in jail, the guards came to collect the crucifixes fearing that it was a plot of some kind to escape. While all the other prisoners complied and gave the guards their crucifixes, Minerva “started kicking and swinging her arms. Santicló’s cap flew across the room and Tiny was smacked in the face. Bloody Juan got a bloody nose when he tried to intervene” (237, 238). This shows that Minerva is not surrendering to the guards and even though the other prisoners give in, she fights for what she thinks is right. Minerva also explicitly states to Mate that “we Mirabals [have] to set a good example” (236). This further shows that Minerva is setting an example for her sisters and her fellow citizens quite like how the roman goddess Minerva also sets an example for her family and her patron cities. For example when Minerva refuses to give her crucifix to the guards and the guards forcibly take her out to solitary confinement, “a voice from one of the cells they passed called out, Mariposa does not belong to herself alone. She belongs to Quisqueya! Then everyone was beating on the bars, calling out Viva la Mariposa” (238). The chant sung by the prisoners can be compared to a prayer where the god they are worshiping is Minerva Mirabal and this is significant because it

Minerva is strategically intelligent by burying all the ammunition and tools for the revolution. Minerva sends Patria with some boxes to hide “Come with her request to hide some boxes” (184). This is significant because it shows Minerva is brilliant because by burying some of the ammunition she has split them up so if one stash were to be found the other would still remain hidden. Minerva is also very intelligent in choosing Patria’s house as the meeting location. Since Patria was extremely religious and faithful to the church, her house would seem much less of a target to Trujillo. Moreover, Patria’s backyard was also the perfect place to host the meetings as it was remote and surrounded by trees and bushes. This suggests that Minerva is very intelligent by making a wise choice over their second choice, the Mirabal farm which would have been very easy to guess for Trujillo. This is significant because this highlights Minerva’s wisdom, quite like the Roman Goddess Minerva who was known for being the Goddess of Wisdom. Another time, when Minerva is in a meeting with Trujillo to be pardoned for her misbehavior at the party, she brings up the topic of studying law. Trujillo calls for a die roll to decide if she could go to law school. Minerva quickly “reach[es] for the heavier set of dice and begin shaking