Role Of Adversity In Markandaya's In The Time Of The Butterflies

for a wild ride through their lives from their point of view. "In the Time of the Butterflies" is about

In her novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez unfolds a dramatic character transformation of the Mirabal sister, Maria Teresa. She is detailed to be a very thoughtful character who always seem to look out for others, especially those important to her in life. Alvarez induces this empowering development of Maria Teresa through the usage of diction, point of view and selection of detail.

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.

Minerva with her revolutionary fever and contagious spirit seems unstoppable for a time in her fight against Trujillo’s regime. Despite warnings to watch out for her safety and well being, Minerva continued to push boundaries and dared to go where all other Dominicans feared to go. Patria was the religious, faithful sister, who showed her hidden boldness starting a Christian revolutionary group and joined with Minerva. Maria Theresa was the happiest, the most upbeat, Mirabal sister. In the beginning, she was only along for the ride, but as she continued to work towards the change for her country, she became more and more inspired and touched by her own goals. Lastly, Dede was always the most cautious and careful sister. She was one who remained uninvolved with her sisters’ revolution. Dede had warned the others that were danger and that should not go up to the secluded prison. She and although her sisters tried more than once to include her in their cause, she refused. –From Smith In The Time Of The Butterflies (http://www.blogger.com)

For decades Minerva, Maria Teresa, Patria and Dede’s bravery and heroism have lived in the heart of many Dominicans who suffered from the ruthless dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. The Mirabal sisters were four brave women who defied the traditional role of women in their Era and had a major role during revolution against Trujillo. Much of their story has been told in books and in movies from many different accounts. In Julia Alvarez’s novel “In the Time of the Butterflies”, she writes fictionalized personal accounts of the Mirabal sisters. Julia Alvarez structures her Novel in three parts with each chapter having a first person narrative for each sister. Alvarez personalized the way each of them would speak, feel and think, to even structuring Maria Teresa parts in the Novel as journal entries. This paper is an attempt to analyze how the structure of Julia Alvarez’s novel “In the Time of the Butterflies” can give the reader a better understanding of the Mirabal sisters, while utilizing Manuel F. Medina’s “Writing From Memory: History, Stories And Narrative Voices In In The time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez”.

To begin, Dede’s ability to support and stay in contact with her sisters without getting too involved with the dangers of the government allow her to stay safe, as well as tell accurate stories from the time of Trujillo’s reign. Through all the struggles her sisters undergo, Dede still supports and cares for them. Even after her sisters are freed from jail, Dede still finds herself in the habit “of staying over the nights before our visits. She said she had to be at Mama’s early the next day anyhow to help with all of the children once we left”

During the 1930s - 1960s in the Dominican Republic there was a dictatorship going on by Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo ran the Dominican Republic as his own personal possession. He and his friends held nearly 60 percent of the country's resources. If things didn’t go Trujillo’s way then that person who broke the law would be either prisoned or vanished. In her book, “In the Time of the Butterflies”, Julia Alvarez explores many different themes, such as Family, Courage, and Freedom. Each of the Mirabal sisters had different personalities. Patria the oldest sister was the most religious. Dedé the second eldest was the only sister who survived. Minerva the third Mirabal sister was the one who was more wrapped up in the revolution. Maria Teresa the youngest of the sisters just wanted to be like her oldest sisters.The butterfly is a symbol for the main characters, the Mirabal sisters. Butterflies are unique, they represent freedom, and they have a very short life span. The Mirabal sisters, much like the butterflies were unique, and died young. They had to sacrifice their lives in order to be free like butterflies.

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.

Rafael Trujillo, a dictator of Dominican republic said “ He who doesn’t know how to deceive does not know how to rule”. So that was Trujillo’s plan, while the whole country was celebrating the freedom of their country Dominican republic, he was planning to be the fear of people, and use women however and whenever he wanted. That’s what he did, became a dictator, made people start and end their day with him and used women like a piece of kleenex used it and threw it away. This dictatorship caused a lot of people wanting to overthrow like the butterflies and if women wanted to fight for their freedom, the husband didn’t let them because of the anxiety that of getting killed. In the book In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, opposing action done by the government/Trujillo influenced Minerva and Patria’s perspective of their rights leading them to want to overthrow the government, in contrast, Dede’s perception on moving forward as women changed because the negative

In the Time of the Butterflies, a beautiful novel that weaves together real life events and fictional creation into a memory of dedication, love, and loyalty. A remembrance of the people who fought for the Dominican Republic's freedom from tyranny. One of the tyrannies suppressing the Dominican people and a central motif of the novel is the relationship between man and woman.

When writing about important historical figures, people often make the error of building these figures into the image of an invincible, godlike hero, when in fact, they are ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things. The author of In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez, takes a historical figure, Minerva Mirabal, and shows the completely human side of the woman who inspired the revolution against the Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo. Despite her self-doubt and other insecurities, Minerva exhibits remarkable courage that inspires a revolution.

The book In The Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez emphasizes the patriarchal culture of the Dominican Republic. Throughout the book, it was shown how much power men held over women in the Dominican culture. It was expected that the women would be housewives while the men had the real jobs. Minerva challenged this by expressing her desire to study law. The fact that the Mirabal sisters started a revolution and stood up to Trujillo especially in a culture where women are maybe afraid to speak up over men just shows how strong each of the sisters were.

In the Time of the Butterflies Essay During the setting in which In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is written—20th century Dominican Republic—a woman’s body was seen as a disposable object to men. However, the Mirabal sisters choose to go against this gender stereotype and instead express themselves in their own way, using it as a form of expression to show their involvement with the revolution. In Butterflies, Alvarez uses the female body as a symbol to fight against societal restriction placed on females—the more significant a change in the body, the more involved the sister was in the revolution.

Courage: an attribute that evokes hope in the optimistic and fear in the vengeful. This virtue can be hereditarily gained or awoken from within an individual. However, how one acquires courage is not the only pivotal moment in a person’s life; the transforming nature of courageous acts can come to define an individual’s personality. This is clearly seen in Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies. Three prime examples of courage’s fortification of people are the “Mariposas,” Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa Mirabal. These three sisters display masterful control of their courage when they resist the oppressive dictatorial regime in the Dominican Republic. Their valor helps inspire the hopeful citizens and infuriate

“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’