Throughout In The Time Of The Butterflies, Patria goes from being very religious and attending church often to losing all her faith, to falling in love and risking everything for her family, and even losing her child to a miscarriage and having to overcome the tragedy, all within her short life.
At a very young age, Patria, is brainwashed by nuns and the religious commitments of being a Roman Catholic. After this exposure, Patria longs to be like the nuns. For the majority of her life, she aspires to follow god in hopes god will take care of her throughout her entire life. At the Church she is washing feet as part of a ritual during Holy Week in the Roman Catholic culture. Up next in line, Pedrito steps up to get his feet washed. They talk and quickly fall in love with each other. Even faster after, they get married all while Patria is just 16 years old. The married couple has their two first children together and they are happily living. This reigns true until their third child. While the couple try to have a third baby Patria doesn 't feel so good. The baby ends up being a miscarriage thus creating the turning point to Patrias life. She is devastated. During the time of her pregnancy, Patria was drifting away from her plans on being a nun and she became less religious while with Pedrito and focusing on being a mother. After her miscarriage, Patria wonders if the outcome was due to her becoming less religious and if she is being punished by god as a result. Now, Patria