Heroic Sisters in In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

In the book, Trujillo himself directly causes violence. This evidence comes from Minerva’s chapter at the Discovery Dance when Trujillo is dancing with her. “And then literally, he draws me to him, so close I can feel the hardness of his groin pressing against my dress… He yanks me by the waist, thrusting his pelvis at me in a vulgar way…” In this quote, Trujillo himself is directly causing the violence.

“Beat me!” he heard her cry. “Throw me down and beat me, you dirty little coward!”

her to get a job and provide for her family. When she says ‘Next week

Vargas Llosa uses violent language and profanities to express Trujillo’s aggressive behaviour and cruel, bitter attitude towards those around him. He refers to others in racist terms, which reveals from as very early stage his xenophobic mindset and absolute superiority; this is clearly true due to his intolerance for other races and nationalities. His character also uses an abundance of homophobic slurs and seems very concerned by only associating with 'manly ' men. Nearly every woman Trujillo comes across is considered as a sexual object for him to own, in a way that is almost primal. Most females he comes across in the novel are referred to as 'bitch ', showing clear disregard for the opposite sex and even deep rooted anger towards them; we later learn that this is due to his sexual difficulty with Urania which turns into frustration. However, faced with this clear sign of his ageing and decline, Trujillo is unable to confront his own reality, and turns viciously against the closest thing he can blame other than himself: women.

made it possible for herself to go to college and get a law degree. "I want to go the

how badly she wanted to go to law school and what she would do in

When she looks up again the two faces had merged, further validating the comparison between God and Trujillo. A similar merging of Trujillo occurs in chapter 6. The paper fans that the girls received at the party thrown by Trujillo have the Virgencita on one side and Trujillo on the other. Minerva states “ Sometimes it was El Jefe’s probing eyes, sometimes it was the Virgin’s pretty face I couldn’t stand to look at.”.

Having courage is one thing, however, using it is a lot harder. In the book, In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alverez depicts Minerva’s growth in courage from unwilling to accept intellectual courage, to having her physical courage triggered, to being able to fight courageously without being triggered in her fight against, the dictator, Trujillo. In In the time of the butterflies, Alverez uses Internal conflict to portray growth of Minerva’s courage. When the reader is first introduced to Minerva she is tentative to demonstrates intellectual courage.

There are several events that lead the Mirabal sisters to oppose the “Trujillo regime”. The first event is at their high school play when Sanita almost shot Trujillo with the arch. After that day Minerva never saw Sanita again. Also, Trujillo’s party play a big role in the events that lead the Mirabal sisters to oppose to his regime. Trujillo invite the Mirabal family to his party, where he asked Minerva to dance with him. Trujillo was inappropriate with Minerva, and Minerva act with an instinct response (with a slap). That respond was really scandalous because everyone sees Trujillo as the God of the Dominican Republic. That lead Trujillo taking Minerva’s father into jail, where after his release die because he was tortured by the military.

This woman was misjudged many times by the society she lived in but that only posh her hardest to become the example that she is in today's society . So she made a deal with “El Jefe “ if he let go of her dad and allowed her to go law school, she would do anything to return the favor so he agreed . But Minerva knew she

Through the use of her moral courage, Minerva is able to lead a revolution and inspire hope into a nation. At a young age, Minerva discovers the atrocities Trujillo commits. This revelation sparks a drive in Minerva and begins her obsession with rebellion. Although Minerva could be exiled, shunned, or even killed, she still promotes her cause since she knows it is the equitable thing to do. Through her insurrection, Minerva incites the Dominican Republic to stand up against Trujillo. This is apparent when She and her sister Dedé arrive in Monte Cristi to remove their belongings from their family store, and in the square “There must have been over a hundred people” (279). The aforementioned proves that Minerva’s very presence causes manifestations of hopeful citizens. With the optimism her righteous pluck evokes, Minerva is able to advance the fight against Trujillo even in

Seeing the impoverished and uneducated way that her father’s family is living causes her sympathy to shine through and she asks if she can enroll the girls into school. This transformation, shows that she sympathizes with people who have been affected by social justice issues. Later in the passage, Minerva’s goes from describing her feelings towards this other family to focusing on Carmen María’s point of view. Changing Minerva’s perspective of the other family shows that Minerva is becoming open to accepting her father’s other family. The reader can also see that her desire to enroll the girls in school is for their benefit, not her own. Minerva’s selflessness is seen through the transformation in Carmen María’s attitude. When Minerva initially addresses her, Carmen María “clutch[es] the collar of her dress” (ln 18). Alvarez’s use of the word “clutch[es]” helps the show that she is fearful of Minerva and is making herself seem small in comparison to Minerva (ln 18). After hearing Minerva’s kind request to enroll the girls in school, her stature changes and “the look on her face is relieved” (ln

that she is deeply in love, even though she has only just met him, "Go

spend the next five weeks at the Grange with the Lintons. She spends most of her time

work, she has to do housework so that the house won't fall into a mess. But the fact