Summary Of In The Time Of The Butterflies By Julia Alvarez

The novel, “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez, is a fictionalized story of the real events surrounding four sisters who lived in the Dominican Republic during the reign of terror of the dictator Trujillo. The story recreates a fictional life of the sisters since they were young girls until three of them met their untimely death. The story is told through Dede Mirabel’s eyes, the only surviving sister among the four. The four sisters are different and join their sister Maria Teresa, who is the mastermind of the resistance movement, after their own various experiences that prompts them to desire a just environment. In the end, they are assassinated in a mountain pass as they are traveling back after meeting their husbands in prison. It is a story of bravery and courage. Thus, Alvarez challenges the traditional views of women such as the view that a man is the head of the family, the view that women are

This description of the man suggests that he is the decision-maker and makes all the decisions which the rest of the family members have no choice, but to abide by. It also implies that as the head of the family, the man is free to say or do whatever he wants to. However, in the novel, “In the Time of the Butterflies”, Alvarez appears to challenge this concept of the supremacy of the man as the head of the family. It is evident that Dede’s mother wielded a lot of power in the family. For instance, Dede recounts an instance where her father almost speaks something concerning Maria Teresa that her mother disapproved of. Dede states, her mother “coughs her correcting-your-manners cough”, and her father is forced to change his statement (Alvarez 8). This incident reveals that Dede’s father listened to their mother and did not say whatever he wanted to as is expected in a typical patriarchal