In The Time Of The Butterflies Character Analysis

I have noticed several influences in In the Time of the Butterflies, primarily gender inequalities and political tensions. Alvarez also does a great job incorporating the Dominican Republic’s traditions and religion. Unfortunately, this article did not have much relating to the politics in this novel’s time period, but did mention quite a few examples of gender inequality. The first sign of gender inequality I saw in this novel was rather subtle, “a car slowed, and the boys inside called out compliments. Sister scowled fiercely at them…” and based on the Sister’s response to this, I believe ‘catcalls’ would be a better term instead of compliments (Alvarez, 27). The article transitioned to family and mentioned that children stayed in their

The Dominican Republic’s dictator Rafael Trujillo had thousands of people killed because of their disobedience to him. From the 1930s to 1960s the country was under the control of Trujillo. He had taken control of the Dominican Republic and used his power against people who decided not to follow him and his laws. The four Mirabal sisters, Minerva, Patria, Mate, and Dede were all risking their lives because of their involvement in the underground, against their harsh dictator. In the book In the time of the Butterflies, the four Mirabal sisters perspectives are impacted by the underground movement against Trujillo because of each of their involvement with the revolution.

In the Time of the Butterflies during the 1940s, in the Dominican Republic, the ruler or dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo punished people if they didn’t do as he told them and plenty of other cruel things. He ruled for about 30 years, so the people were tortured for quite a long time. He became the dictator by eliminating everyone who had power above him. He even married his wives just to use them to get the the top and control everyone. It was just an unfair way to handle things and an unfair country overall. In her book, “In the Time of the Butterflies,” Julia Alvarez incorporates the history of the famous Mirabal sisters by telling the history of their life and how it was back then for their Dominican Republic country. Julia Alvarez

Minerva was not afraid of Trujillo like everyone else. She had her own opinion of him and wasn't afraid to express that opinion in her own actions. Minerva thought to herself, "Under the tablecloth, a hand is exploring the inner folds of a woman's thigh. I

In the novel In the Time of the Butterflies, written by Julia Alvarez, one of the main characters, Minerva, shows many different types of courage throughout the whole story. The novel is about the true story of how a family is dominated by their countries dictator and the daughters attempt to free themselves and their family.

In the Time of the Butterflies, written by Julia Alvarez, creates a fiction story about the true events of the Mirabal sisters and taking over the Dominican Republic’s government. In the Time of the Butterflies contains the classic war between passion and responsibility. Personal causes, love, a desire for revenge, determination to redress a wrong, or other emotions or drives conflict with moral duty. In In the Time of the Butterflies, many characters confront the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. Patria, the oldest Mirabal sister, struggles with her faith, and deciding whether to join the revolution with her sisters, or to follow her faith. Patria’s religion was an important aspect of her life since she was very young and throughout the course of the story, she attains and loses her faith in God.

Throughout history women have always been minimized from social, sexual , and political aspects juxtaposed to men. Just like in the novel  In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, the author uses the Mirabal sisters to demonstrate the inequalities set in the Dominican Republic. The dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo causes the Mirabal sisters to come together and overthrow Trujillo’s regime.Trujillo. Rafael Trujillo was despised by many yet many were forced to worship him like some type of paragon. As the novel progresses, illustrations of male dominance often appear throughout each chapter. The Mirabal sisters: Minerva, Patria, Maria Teresa and Dede each demonstrate the ability to overcome stigmas in order to obtain freedom.

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.

“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 struggle for equality has existed for thousands of years. The first decree of human rights was drafted by King Cyrus in 539 BCE and is still an evolving issue today (Finkel). The book In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is a historical fiction novel written to tell the tale of the Mirabal sisters and their struggle against a dictator in the Dominican Republic. As women, the sisters were objects of discrimination by the dictator’s regime. Their struggle against obstacles forced consequences upon them for speaking their minds in a censored society. Through Mate Mirabal, the youngest sister, we see a shift in characterization from a cautious adolescent to a strong woman who helps change her country. Joining the rebellion and spending time in jail changed Mate into a courageous person. In In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez uses the change in Mate’s characterization to describe the impact of oppression and people’s need to have their voice heard.

Rafael Trujillo, a Dominican dictator, developed a harsh reputation as being one of the most violent and domineering leaders of South America in his thirty-one years of power. In The Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez provides insight into the effects of Trujillo’s infamy by sharing the stories of three Dominican sisters and their struggles to gain independence and speak their truth. The Dominican-American author dramatizes the lives of the Mirabal sisters, three historical women who were assassinated in 1961, for their involvement in the anti-Trujillo movement. Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, a Cuban critic of Latin American literature, provides a bias insight with regards to the novel.

In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, takes place in the Dominican Republic during Trujillo’s control of the country. Dedé and Minerva are two extremely different Mirabal sisters, shown by how they respond to Trujillo taking over their country. Dedé and Minerva are only two of the sisters. There are four in total: Minerva, Dedé, Patria and María Teresa. The four sisters take turns throughout In the Time of the Butterflies telling their stories from the 1940s while living in the Dominican Republic. Manipulating her point of view and attitude, Julia Alvarez uses an impassioned style of writing to portray Minerva’s strong leadership and an explicit style of writing to portray Dedé’s willingness to compromise.

One often dreams of making an impact on the world; however these dreams, more often than not, remain adventurous thoughts. For the Mirabal sisters, of the Dominican Republic, dreams quickly became a reality. Minerva, María Teresa, and Patria Mirabal helped to free the Dominican Republic of their oppressive leader, Rafael Trujillo. In Julia Alvarez’s novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, the inspiring and heroic story of the Mirabal sisters is told through the perspectives of the sisters. Alvarez creatively fictionalizes the early lives of the sisters and solemnly illustrates the sisters’ final days. Following the release of Julia Alvarez’s novel, many critics expressed both positive and negative reviews. Some suggested the Mirabal sisters were inaccurately portrayed; however, other critics cite strengths in the novel, and one critic reclassifies the novel’s genre.

“In the Time of the Butterflies” takes place in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. The author, Julia Alvarez is a native of the country, but moved to the US at a young age. She first heard about the sisters roughly around 1986 and instantly felt the need to share their story with the world. In the book, Alvarez tells the story of the Mirabal sisters and their fight for freedom against the Dominican dictator Trujillo. Rafael Trujillo reigned for about 30 years until his assassination in May of 1961. Trujillo’s reign of terror began in 1930 and the violence soon followed. The self centered dictator changed the names of cities and murdered roughly about 20,000 Haitians from the neighboring country. The book not only tells the sisters’

Guided by support and noble intentions, the main characters from the two novels became obsessed with their causes. Minerva, one of the Mirabal sisters, gave away her son Manolito to Patria so that she could focus on the