In The Time Of The Butterflies: A Literary Analysis

There are many instances of Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor being applicable to In the Time of the Butterflies. One such instance of this is the appearance of the bible in the novel. Religion had a large impact on the Mirabal sisters, especially Patria who was more in touch with her religion than the other sisters. This is increasingly apparent in her views of Pedrito who she calls her earthly groom. Also, Trujillo is similar to a god through his use of spies, through which he can see everything, and his authoritative rule over the Dominican Republic.

There was tons of actions taken by Trujillo and his people who executed countless Dominicans and Haitians. One day there was an officer who arrived to Minerva’s and announced to her father that they’re invited to one of Trujillo parties, Minerva was expected to be there. She knew many stories about he has done and is plotting to do, knowing this her mother was against of her going to the party. Two of her sisters had gone with her to keep her company and have an eye out for Trujillo. There was many events happening at the same time.

In the book Alvarez informs us that this takes place during Trujillo 's reign over the Dominican Republic in the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Throughout history dictators have risen and fallen all across the world. Many have been seen as evil, and sometimes good to others, but no matter what a persons view tend to be there are some who even consider them god. Due to a dictators extensive powers and complete control over every aspect of a persons life this is what comes to be. Trujillo is just the same, at first his true motives were questioned and it wasn’t apparent to all what he really was. As the Mirabel sisters grow up it becomes clear that Trujillo is in control of more of their lives than it may seemed. Trujillo leads a complete authoritarian rule over the Dominican Republic with spies everywhere, this can suggest that he trying to assume the role of a terrible god, who is always watching and ready to punish. While all

10 years ago today, we lost 3 of the most influential women, who got murdered under their own ruler’s orders. These women were the Mirabal sisters, or the Mariposas, went through a lot throughout their lives when Trujillo was in power, especially with his severely oppressive regime. Trujillo would hire spies to see if anyone did not agree with him or his ideas, and would assassinate them. Isn’t that purely inhumane to do to someone? Because of this, many people disliked Trujillo and his thoughts, of which the Mirabal sisters, Minerva, Patria, and Mate and Dede were among some of the people who thought so. These sisters couldn’t stand what Trujillo was doing anymore, so they decided to join the National Underground as a revolt against him. Many would say what these women did isn’t justified since it eventually it got them killed, but I believe it is worthwhile due to the fact that the Mirabals stood up for what they thought was right, while knowing that there may be a horrible outcome at the end. I’ve discovered that the sisters sacrificed a lot, including Minerva giving up her education and the sisters orphaning their kids, to fulfill their beliefs on what they think is

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” (Andre Gide) In the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, written by Julia Alvarez, four sisters are led through a risk infested journey in which they must overcome hindrances with hollow consequences. This historical fiction novel takes us through a rollercoaster of events, incorporating everything from the partialities towards women, to life below the oppressive administration of the Dominican Republic’s dictator, Rafael Trujillo. The events painted by the four sisters give us some insight as to the positives and negatives of life in the Dominican Republic. As the novel progresses, we see the diversity in relation to the

The shift in tone and changes in the description of the surrounding environment reveal Simons character development. The difference in how Jack is describe interacting with his environment, shows Jacks transition into savagery. William Golding uses complex nature imagery to subtly depict characters loss of innocence.

The relationship between Kambili and Aunt Ifeoma and her family, also develops her relationship with Papa Nnukwu – Eugene’s non-Catholic father. All her life, she has been taught by her

reviels how the Mirabel sisters get involved in the revolution against Trujillo's politics and how

Death is a word associated with loss, grief and sadness, but in the novel In the Time of the Butterflies we see death in a whole new perspective; martyrdom. Strong, independent, caring, honest, and having firm beliefs are all characteristics we see in a martyr especially in Patria. In the novel we explore the wonders of Julia Alvarez’s writing and get to witness Patria as a martyr and an individual who fought for the right of women against a dictator: Trujillo.

All four sisters reject their stereotypical role as women in the society by standing up for their beliefs and the revolution. When Minerva said,” It’s about time we women had a voice in running our country,”(Alvarez ?Chapter 1?) shows how outspoken she is about her country. The way Minerva demands equality shows the influence that men have over women in the Dominican culture. During the 1960s, the men expected women to be housewives, and to just cook and clean. In the book when Jaimito says,” The Mirabal sisters like to run their men, that was the problem. In his house, we was the one to wear the pants.”(Alvarez, 176-177) That shows that men expect women to be below them.

Papa closes Kambili’s mind to believe that people of other religions are dangerous to her livelihood because he learned at a young age that Catholicism is the only religion that can be acceptable which he then pushes onto Kambili; however Aunty Ifeoma opens up Kambili’s mind by showing that people of other religions are indeed different from her but are not evil even though Aunty Ifeoma grew up Catholic like Papa was.

However, she was also silenced, afraid to use her voice for fear she would be punished like a child would be when talking back to a parent. Kambili and Jaja don’t live a healthy childhood growing up with the father they have. In Ogaga Okuyade literary criticism, she states, “The psychology of Kambili's development and her brother, Jaja's, is unstable.” (Okuyade, paragraph 15). Kambili and her brother are not allowed to strive for adulthood. They are not allowed the freedom to be who they want to be and instead are controlled like mindless machines. They only begin to learn what real freedom feels like when they visit they’re Aunty Ifeoma. Even then, Kambili struggles to find her voice, to find her wings and fly free alongside her brother in their Aunt’s home. Aunty Ifeoma believes in the Christian religion, but unlike Kambili’s father, she does not force the religion upon others to learn like it's a law. She does not beat or punish those who do not wish to

To illustrate her proposal of an ideal family, Adichie exemplifies Aunt Ifeoma’s family, who builds a community a of love and accepts other’s differences. The family dynamic of Kambili’s family live in anxiety and silence, following Papa’s mandate and everyday schedule. The family is structured in this manner due to the terror Papa engraves into their minds. Once the families overlap each other, the children see a dramatic social difference between them, as Amaka presumes her cousins odd and stuck up because of their wealth status. For example, when Kambili doesn’t acknowledge Amaka’s friend’s comment about her hair, Amaka implies as if Kambili is too good for them. “[Kambili] did not recognize [she] was referring to [her], until [Amaka] said, ‘Kambili!,’ ” but Aunt Ifeoma explains that although Kambili may seem odd, they must account each other with respect because they are not used to these new customs (141). The undeniable difference in both families’ dynamics is the way

Taught by missionaries that his own language and culture are religiously and intellectually inferior, Eugene suppresses his roots to the extent of changing his accent in the presence of caucasians. Eugene’s cultural self hatred is so great that he even takes it out on his family. However, this particular Nigerian Catholic view is not unanimous. Father Amandi retains far different views of God and the Church despite the Catholicism he shares with Eugene. While Eugene goes so far as to refer to his own father as “a heathen,” Amandi’s liberal views include acceptance of the pantheistic Papa-Nnukwu and appreciation of his own Igbo culture and music (62). These differing examples of Catholicism in Nigerian culture ensure Ngozi’s mission “that there is never a single story” of Nigerian religious views (Ted.com). Furthermore, religion is present as a force of growth and damage in Kambili’s life. Her father mentally and physically abuses her in an effort to save her from “Godlessness” resulting in crippling paranoia that prevents her from even speaking (). However, Catholic kindness wielded by the capably caring hands of Father Amandi propels Kambili to believe in herself and largely undoes the damage done by her father. Furthermore, the kindness and regularity of Papa-Nnukwu despite his pagan religion leads Kambili to a new, more loving, understanding of religion. When Kambili realizes “that there is never a single story” of

My little brother and I were walking home from his primary school and decided to take the long way as we still had some time before we had to be home. The long way to our house was always more exciting than the shortcut, as there were all kinds of butterfly 's fluttering about, not to mention there was an awesome playground on the way as well. Phoenix, my brother, and I decided to play around for a little and, once we had finished playing, decided to try and catch the butterfly 's that we saw on the way home. Nearly an hour later we arrived at our front door with grins on our faces from having caught two butterflies. After having walked my little brother home from school I said to my mum "I 'm going for a walk to release the