ipl-logo

Struggle For Power In Julia Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies

527 Words3 Pages

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. …show more content…

It’s shown through her fighting against the cultural norms by going into the study of law and fighting against Trujillo’s patriarchal behavior. She isn’t just interested in getting a husband like most girls were and tries to gain power through getting an education,, ”I’m not interested in admirers until I have my law degree (Alvarez 99).” She additionally struggles for power to fight against the patriarchal society, by not just going along with Trujillo’s patriarchal behavior, “The university is no place for a woman these days (Alvarez 99),” Trujillo tells her, playing off the culture and talking down to her using patriarchal thinking as seen in his syntax or structure of his dialogue, after not getting what he wants. However this does not dampen her attempts at grasping for power, and she displays a rather aggressive method of gaining power from Trujillo later on by slapping him after he sexually assaults her, displaying a thought process of her not thinking of him as someone higher, or more equal than

Show More
Related

Comparing The Mirabal Sisters In In The Time Of The Butterflies

297 Words | 2 Pages

In the Dominican Republic, women were expected to go by what their husbands and fathers said. Women portrayed to have less power and authority than men. In “In the Time of the Butterflies”, the Mirabal sisters showed something very differently, instead they demonstrated the equal authority they have with their husbands. Their power challenged gender limitations that were forced on them by their patriarchal Dominican culture. Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa all were sisters who became involved in political movements against President Trujillo.

Read More

Time Of The Butterflies Character Analysis

286 Words | 2 Pages

In the Time of the Butterflies, characters are seen making morally challenging decisions. Maria Teresa, Mate, is the youngest Mirabel sister. She is described as virtuous and fears elementary things. However, Mate and Minerva are held captive in prison. Fortunately, The OAS Peace Committee schedules to interview a prisoner in each pavilion, Mate has been selected.

Read More

Strong Relationships In Maria Teresa's In The Time Of Butterflies

308 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Analysis Of Julia Alvarez: A Genetic Of Justice

543 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine you and your family living under a gruesome dictator and having no freedom . Julia alvarez “ a genetics of justice “ is a novel about a young girl and her family living under a dictator with a totalitarian government in the dominican government. In this novel you learn about her journey and how she becomes to be the women she is today . “No flies fly into a closed mouth “is a quote used by her mother through the text. In the novel it also talks about the dictator and is unusual daily life .

Read More

Compare And Contrast Maria Teresa And Minerva

278 Words | 2 Pages

Minerva was talking about real pressing items on how Trujillo was a bad person and how many were dying under his reign. She had a serious tone and often never had light topics or talked about her social life at school. Maria Teresa on the other hand most important topic was her first communion. We saw little drawings of what Minerva wore and how a girl stole her diary. It accurately shows the difference in age of the two girls.

Read More

Julia Alvarez: The Voice Of The Mirabal Sisters

1176 Words | 5 Pages

Julia Alvarez: The Voice of the Mirabal Sisters Numerous accounts of families affected by oppressive dictatorships exist all around the world. Julia Alvarez, an author whose father was involved in a resistance group to such a regime, is a prime example of one of those stories. After leaving her childhood home of the Dominican Republic, Alvarez struggled to adapt her lifestyle to match that of an average American. During this time period, Alvarez recalled her experience under an authoritarian government and combined it with her impressive storytelling skills to create a fictional documentation of another family just like her’s.

Read More

In The Time Of The Butterflies Theme Essay

1029 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

In The Time Of The Butterflies Feminist Analysis

1377 Words | 6 Pages

In society many find that males hold dominance and make all of the major choices. This is just a stereotype that many people seem to believe. There are many stereotypes for a variety of concepts but that does not mean they are true. There are few females that stand up against sexist stereotypes, but for the few people who have spoken out against them literature has been an effective way of getting their message out. Feminism has impacted literature in several ways; it allows people to share their messages about stereotypes.

Read More

In The Time Of The Butterflies Patria Character Analysis

540 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Real Women Have Curves Essay

992 Words | 4 Pages

In “Real Women Have Curves,” Carmen seems to be very traditional with the way she raises her daughters and expect them to assume traditional roles of women in a household. Furthermore, this give her a belief that Ana should not go to college to receive further education since she only needs to stay at home and get married. This is due to the patriarchy ingrained in traditional culture, which has long been set up to remove women off power and rights. For example, in “The Patriarchal Family” by Gerda Lerner, the author states, “Patriarchy in classical antiquity and in its European development was based upon monogamy, but in all its forms a double sexual standard, which disadvantages women, was part of the system.” (253) Moreover, the system is sustained by, “gender indoctrination; education deprivation; the denial to women of knowledge of their history...by discrimination in access to economic resources and political power,” (Lerner 254)

Read More

How Is Minerva Reflected In The Time Of The Butterflies

458 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Relationships In Wildwood

1093 Words | 5 Pages

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).

Read More

Feminism In The Time Of The Butterflies

953 Words | 4 Pages

The female characters are portrayed as independent, strong willed women that are full of determination to fulfill their dreams, who also defy stereotypes. Minerva is portrayed as a strong woman when she fulfills her dream of getting a form of higher education, which also goes against social norms in the Dominican Republic. She says, “I want to go to the university[...]I’ve always wanted to study law” (Alvarez 98). By attending the university, Minerva is completing her dream and going against female stereotypes. Another example of women being strong willed in the novel is when the Mirabal sisters fight and die for a cause they believed in.

Read More

The Mirabal Sisters Character Analysis

777 Words | 4 Pages

The Mirabal sisters were revolutionaries who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. During the revolution, they were given the code name “Las Mariposas”, or “the butterflies”. The term “mariposa” suits each sister in a different way. Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and Mate Mirabal each have their one reason to be compared to a butterfly. The nickname “mariposa” shows who the Mirabal sisters are; they transformed from domestic, innocent mothers and wives into brave, defiant martyrs for national freedom.

Read More

Helena Maria Viramontes 'Growing'

620 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story “Growing” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the author focuses on the forces that separate women from being themselves and rights to live their own lives. In the story, the father forces the youngest sister in the family, Lucia, to chaperone her older sister, Naomi. The reason he compels Lucia to chaperone her sister is to report Naomi’s every action, behavior and conversation to him. Despite Naomi wonders why her father refused to trust her and put someone to spy on her, the only reply from her father is “TU ERES MUJER” (36). Naomi was being punished just because her gender identity.

Read More

More about Struggle For Power In Julia Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies

Open Document