In The Time Of The Butterflies Marriage Essay

Many of us have heard the shocking statistic that, apparently, half of all marriages end in divorce. This scares many people considering marriage for their life paths, so how can they avoid the trials that may lead to divorce? Although there is no divorce in Julia Alvarez's book, In the Time of the Butterflies, it does get close at times throughout the storyline. There are trials and tribulation in the marriages represented in the book. Patria and her husband have the most successful and happy marriage in the book, mainly because of their spirituality. "Mate" and her husband Leandro also have a very happy marriage, and a shared cause in the rebellion. Though, Dedé and her husband, Jamito, have the worst example of a marriage in the book. Dedé even thinks about divorcing Jamito at one point in time! Research shows that in Alvarez's book, In the Time of the Butterflies, she correctly reflects that when a marriage has a shared core belief or other commonality, it will have less

Dede realizes she and her husband “don’t talk anymore,” Jamito bosses Dede around, and keeps to himself (188). But, many of these problems started at the very beginning of their marriage, “Dede… [was] already beginning to compromise with the man she was set to marry” not long after they were engaged (79). Its observed that from the beginning, Dede and Jamito’s marriage if full of trouble. Research shows that when spouses “were distressed, their marriages followed a negative trajectory over time” (Dush et all). This means that the worse Dede or Jamito worried, the worse the marriage got. Spouses who had low levels of happiness in their marriages also qualified for having low levels of well-being (Dush et all). Dede and Jamito’s relationship lacks common qualities, which makes their marriage lower in satisfaction and creates a higher chance for divorce, which Dede almost went through with at one