In The Time Of The Butterflies Sacrifice

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.

“The Moths” by Helena Maria Viramontes is a fictional short story about the narrator’s personal hardship of watching her grandmother die slowly because of natural causes. Although, the name of this story is “The Moths” don’t let this fool you. In this story, references to moths are only used twice. Using the moths, the author is able to convey a theme, help create the tone, and resolve the central conflict. I believe that the moths are actually being used in this story to symbolize some sort of healing and relief. In the following paragraphs, I would like to defend my claim and also show you examples of how Mrs. Viramontes utilizes the moths for many different elements in this story.

If the average person wanted to stand up to adversity, would they have the courage to do it? In the historical-fiction novel, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, the four Mirabal sisters (Dedé, Minerva, María, and Patria) stand up to adversity and join a revolution against the tyrannical Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. In their own time, all of the sisters gain the courage to join the revolution and attempt to remove the Trujillo regime from power. The Mirabal sisters commitment to their cause raises the questions: What is courage, and which sister best exemplifies the qualities of courage and why? Courage is an individual who defends their beliefs and does not fail because of fear. Minerva best exemplifies courage through her selfless composure, resilience, and defiance to the Trujillo regime, and her inspiration to others.

After both Minerva and Mate, her younger sister, join the revolution, they find themselves in jail very quickly. “We're in Cell #61, Pavilion A, La Victoria—Dulce, Miriam, Violeta, Asela, Delia, Sina, Minerva, and [Mate]”(Alvarez 228). Minerva knows from the beginning that by joining the rebels, she will most likely end up in jail; however, she continues to do what she believes is right for her country. Nevertheless, once when they are inevitably imprisoned, Minerva never lets her courage falter as Mate wonders, “Where does that sister of mine get her crazy courage? (Alvarez 238).” This yet again proves her strength and also her faith in the power of the revolution. Many in the Dominican Republic stay quiet when it comes to Trujillo’s tyrannical rule because they are afraid of being thrown in jail and being kept from their families. Despite this great fear, Minerva knows that it would be worth the sacrifice and she uses her extreme courage and blinding faith to make it

In Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies, the novel contained many text to world connections such as mafias and dictatorships by portraying the effects of disobeying the orders of a dictator. In chapter two, Minerva was talking to a peer, Sinita, about how Sinita’s family was destroyed by Dictator Trujilio. Trujillo killed Sinita’s brother, father and uncles once he found out that the men turned their back against him. This is once Minerva found out that the leader they look up too is a murder. In today’s world, if a person turns their back against a gang ruler or a sovereign would the person themselves and their family would end up dead.

“In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez fictionalizes the harrowing lives of the Mirabal sisters, who came to represent an underground resistance against the dictator of their native Dominican Republic, Trujillo. Though the Mirabal sisters were indeed real and parts of Alvarez’s novel reflect true events, this is a fictionalized account of what these sisters faced throughout their lives. Readers know from the beginning that three of the four sisters will not survive the regime, but they were shown to be noble warriors for their people throughout the novel regardless. Alvarez utilizes immersion, tension, and point of view to weave a unique story of survival and strength in the face of opposition.

loved, we see how she questions it against the revolution. Minerva reacted, I turned into

In the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, the life changing stories of the Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic come to light. One of the sisters, Minerva Mirabal, is quite a unique character in the fact that she is audacious and fearless but at the same time she is also caring and amiable when she knows what is equitable or not. One way that we see the considerate side of Minerva is when she agrees to meet and help the other daughters of her father go through school. The construction of Minerva’s character comes shortly after she meets her other sisters for the first time and possibly changed her to who she became by the end of the novel.

The setting of the book took place in the Dominican Republic. In 1960 by Julia Alvarez the Author of the time of the Butterflies. She rented a ca it was with a road map in it.

Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of Butterflies is a work of historical fiction set in the Dominican Republic under the rule of powerful dictator known as Trujillo. Four sisters work together to resist a force greater than themselves to stand up for their beliefs and protect their family. Patria, Dede, Mate, and Minerva, “the butterflies”, experience the loss of their father and family members to the regime. They work together to retrieve them back or use their losses to drive them to overthrow their compelling government. Each of the sisters represent a larger theme of the novel such as religious importance, identity, or coming of age. Minerva Mirabal is driven by the need to escape the “cage” she is locked in by Trujillo. Therefore, the theme

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.

In the time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, is a fictional story about the Mirabal sisters during the time of the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic in 1860. The book was is told by the sisters in their points of view.. In the book the sisters represents butterflies, because they show they are free and change. Each sister embodies freedom and changes in their own littler ways, but for different reasons.

This shows that Minerva wants to rebel against the government not for her own freedom or enjoyment, but that she wants to do it for the people she cares about. Which in this case is every citizen of the Dominican Republic. Minerva had always been a frontrunner of the revolution since the beginning. This is made obvious to the reader is when Minerva is listening to speeches given by another revolutionary in Cuba. “There was a broadcast of a speech by this man Fidel, who is trying to overturn their dictator over in Cuba.

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.

The Mirabal sisters live in a home with strict rules in which to do anything they have to ask for permission. This leaves the girls with the feeling of entrapment. Once the girls convince their father of letting them go to school to obtain an education one of the Mirabel sisters Minerva mentions, "I'd just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country (Chapter 2, page 13)." This particular quote signifies just how trapped these girls are and how even out of their home, their whole country, being ruled by a dictator, is in a way a “cage”. Julia Alvarez includes this quote to symbolize how the government controls the public and like parents, watches their every