Summary Of In The Time Of The Butterflies By Julia Alvarez

Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor allows people to take books that they normally wouldn’t think to analyze in a certain way and opens a whole new spectrum on literature. In the TIme of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez connects with the idea and principles of Foster’s book if you take a deep look in the book you are reading. Like Foster says in chapter seven or the bible, In the Time of the Butterflies is a literary work able to connect with this chapter, having a bible reference to extend or emphasize the story thematically.

“When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.” Stated by French poet, Victor Hugo. He is stating that people should have the right to rebel against a dictatorship. When a country is under a dictator, people should speak out and fight for their independence. Some will accept the fate of the dictator and become weakened by it, but some will choose to stand up against it. Speaking out for your independence is demonstrated in the person Minerva Mirabal, from the novel In the Time of the Butterflies. In In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, Minerva Mirabal is shown as a strong woman who is able to stand up to the dictator, Trujillo. Minerva Mirabal is living in the Dominican Republic at

Julia Alvarez’s novel In the Time of the Butterflies shows the lack of fairness in society and the importance of maintaining a strong family bond. Trujillo was not fair between men and women and granting men the rights to do whatever they want. The Mirabal sisters’ revolutionary against president Trujillo and fighting for freedom of the country and its people. In Saudi Arabia women are now granted to drive, but there some other things that men can do but women cannot. The Mirabal family has a strong maintain of a family bond. Minerva is one of the four sisters who is brave and had the courage to stand for others and started the revolution against the president.

In the Time of the Butterflies revolves around the Mirabal sisters, women living in a very patriarchal, “macho” society. Their personal struggles are part of the power of their story, as they stand not only as symbols of rebellion against Trujillo, but at the same time as loving, independent women with husbands and children. Alvarez shows how the resistance against women in politics can even be propagated by the women themselves, as both Mamá and Patria initially express sentiments that women are inferior to men, or else are somehow “purer” and so shouldn’t dirty themselves with politics. In talking to the interview woman in the present day, Dedé says that women “followed their husbands,” but she knows that this is an excuse, as she is the

Grief and tragedy not only change you, but also reveal who you truly are. A transformation of faith, especially through anguish, is a theme throughout the story that binds many of the characters together, but impacts Patria’s life most prominently. In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, depicts the life of woman who goes from an aspirant nun, to a person with a lack of faith, and then back to having a strong faith in her religion. Events within the novel constituted these changes in Patria’s life with examples being her husband’s influence, the miscarriage of her third child, and the family pilgrimage which acted as a rekindling.

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.

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)

“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 Mirabal sisters were an inspiration to Julia Alvarez for her feminist movement and "are the subject[s] of her novel, In the Time of the Butterflies" (Schaefer). Julia Alvarez's mother's family "paved the way for [their] return [to the United States] and, for a time, secured their safety [in the Dominican Republic]" due to their "wealth and political connections" (Schaefer). Additionally, "a well-placed American friend of Dr. Alvarez, arranged for him to receive a medical internship in the States" which provided the family the luxury of living in a "mostly German and Italian middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood" in New York City (Schaefer). Julia Alvarez and her sisters "encountered prejudice and general ignorance" as the "only Latinas" in the neighborhood (Schaefer). Alvarez and her sisters were also "taunted as 'spics' and 'greaseballs' in the schoolyard" due to the color of their skin, accents, and names (Schaefer).

Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies tells the true story of the Mirabal sisters and their journey to overthrow Trujillo. After their deaths, the Mirabal sisters became a symbol of women struggle for the Dominican Republic. Throughout the book, it becomes apparent that women have fewer rights than men. For example, the novel depicts Minerva's struggle to get a law degree ( ) and Dedé struggle to join the rebellion due to gender roles. This only made me think and question gender roles in the Dominican Republic during Trujillo's dictatorship. Traditionally, the Dominican Republic has been a society where males are the head of the household and there is a long history of machismo (male pride). This ideology during Trujillo's dictatorship

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” 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’

This journal will be about the final chapters of In The Time of the Butterflies. The story has finally reached its conclusion, and I think that the ending was very awful. I knew that the Mirabal sisters were going to be murdered, but to read about how they died in Dede's perspective broke my heart. A lot had happened before the story had reached this point. In chapter eleven, Mate and Minerva are in jail, and they struggle to keep hope alive. Their husbands, including Patria's husband, are all in jail too. They are sad that they have to be away from their families, especially their children. Minerva does her best to help Mate and the other people in jail. What I thought was interesting was that Mate had a change of heart after talking with

In the book In The Time of the Butterflies it was alot of stuff going on.

Julia Alvarez is a Dominican Republican novelist, poet and essayist. She spent the first ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic until her family had to flee the country due to her father’s involvement in a political rebellion. Many of Alvarez’s works are influenced by her experiences as a Dominican in the United States and much of her writing takes a political and personal tone. She is known for works that explore cultural expectations of women in both the Dominican Republic and the United States and for meticulous investigations of cultural stereotypes. In the Time of the Butterflies is a historical novel by Julia Alvarez. It follows the lives of the four Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic during the time of the Trujillo dictatorship. These four sisters: Dedé, Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, were Las Mariposas, “The Butterflies” and were symbols of defiant hope in a country shadowed by dictatorship and despair. They sacrificed their safe, cozy lives in the name of freedom and in this novel, they speak across the centuries to tell their own stories. Las Mariposas describe the everyday horrors of life under the Dominican dictator Trujillo, from tales of secret crushes to gunrunning and prison torture. Julia Alvarez states that, “A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart” (Alvarez 324). In the Time of the Butterflies is a perfect example of this statement because it tells the story of true events in