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Symbolism In In The Time Of The Butterflies

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Often in works of literature, symbolism reveals significant information about characters and the theme of the work as a whole. Symbolism in the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, is an example of this. The novel is set in the Dominican Republic, during a period of the tyrannical control of Rafael Trujillo. The Mirabal sisters, (Patria, Dede, Minerva, and Maria Teresa) from whom the point of view is set, are involved in the underground movement to rebel against Trujillo’s regime. Alverez uses symbolism to support the idea that those who may be initially considered harmless can make the biggest impact. A symbol that Alverez includes for this purpose is the butterfly. Butterflies are often viewed as harmless and delicate, they are commonly seen as a symbol for freedom. Through the fragile nature of butterflies, Alverez suggests that that the girls are not viewed as a significant threat at first. As women, they don’t seem to pose a threat to Trujillo. He gambles with Minerva over letting her go to law school. He gives her a chance to win what she wants, he wouldn’t do this if he were intimidated. Despite this lack of intimidation, Minerva was successful in making Trujillo give her what she desired: an opportunity to attend law school. Trujillo's lack of intimidation of the women considered "the butterflies" demonstrates society's common view of the time that women are …show more content…

This is another reason why out of many other nicknames that the sisters could have been given, they were dubbed the butterflies as they are usually thought of as "feminine" and "fragile". These two usual

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In the Time of the Butterflies is a book about 4 sisters, Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa. The book is about the three girls growing up and their experiences during the time of the underground movement to overthrow Trujillo. The book was written in memory of Dedé’s 3 sisters who had been ambushed and murdered, which we are aware of since the beginning of the novel. The beginning chapter of the book is describing Dedé as she waits for a woman who is going to interview her about her three sisters, she then goes into a flashback she has of her family talking at the dinner table and her father mentions someone named Trujillo, which then gives a hint at who this book might be formed around. Through the book, we read stories about times in the girls’ lives when they were going to school at Inmaculada Concepcion and being at home and falling in love, as well as there run ins with Trujillo himself.

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In the novel “In the Times of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez, the 4 Mirable sisters tell their stories about how they will destroy Rafael Trujillo. The two sisters that standout the most are Minerva and Mate, which is also known as Maria Teresa. Minerva, thro first person narration and Mate, throw her journal entries are developed to show they are unique personalities, both their feelings and, and how they develop. All 4 sisters fight for theyre rights and against Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic.

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In the Time of the Butterflies is a historical fiction novel written by Julia Alvarez. The book focuses on the lives of the four Mirabal sisters who were killed on November 25th, 1960 as a result of organizing against the government. Throughout the novel, the sisters are oppressed and hurt by the many men in their lives. The book takes a view that is not very tolerant of men. The men often do things that hurt the women in their lives, such as physically hurt them, cheat on them, or control them against their will.

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In the book In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, Minerva is shown to be motivated to fight for the revolution and for the people. This revolutionary mindset has led her to fight against Trujillo, led her into prison, and eventually led to her death. Her attempts weren’t for nothing though as Trujillo would fall shortly after and Minerva and her sisters would be remembered as leaders of the revolution. Throughout her life Minerva’s relationships and health has been greatly impacted by her revolutionary ideologies because of how devoted she is to her goals, her relationships with her sisters, and her mental health struggles after being released from prison. Minerva’s driving motivation throughout a good part of her life had been

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In The Time Of Butterflies was written by Julia Alvarez. Julia Alvarez is a Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. She wrote In the time of Butterflies in 1994. The book divided into four sections, which make the sisters to have their own sections. The story took place in Dominican Republic during President Trujillo’s dictatorship government.

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In the Time of the Butterflies is a historical fiction of the narratives of four sisters who defied the typical gender roles of women in the Dominican Republic. On November 25, 1960, three sisters, known as Las Marisopas or the butterflies, were brutally murdered by Trujillo’s people, after the discovery of their plan to overthrow Trujillo’s regime. They became l symbols for empowering women, not just in the small village they were born in, Ojo de Agua, but the whole world. In 1999, the United Nation General Assembly designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. By fictionalizing the lives of the sisters, author Julia Alvarez makes the sisters both human and heroic.

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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.

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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.

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It provides a role in character development shown predominantly in Patrias character. It shows the extent of Trujillo’s actions against the Dominican people by showing Patrias desperateness for her son. These examples depicted in the book show how the theme of religion has an impact on In the Time of the

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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.

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In the book In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez there are many times when feminism is present, along with the many stereotypes found in the Dominican culture. Julia Alvarez had many elements within her writing, when she developed a character she made it so

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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.

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Symbolism allows the author to create a story that would otherwise be bland and monotone. Without this dark romantic element, books, short stories, and poems would not have as much meaning nor appealing detail. Symbolism in "The Raven," "The Devil and Tom Walker," and "The Minister's Black Veil," creates layers of meaning and interesting characters. Symbolism has been used for centuries to spice up the literary world. Sometimes it is used in obvious ways, but other time it has to be thoroughly studied to be imperturbably understood.

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“A woman with a mind of her own. So you want to study in the capital, eh?” (Alvarez 99). This quote shows Trujillo’s interests in Minerva. It also signifies Minerva’s fearless and driven personality.

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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.

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