Summary Of Julia Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies

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

“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

It shows that, by abusing Minerva, he himself is a violent person. One of the factors as to why his regime is riddled with so much violence is the fact that he is violent, and rubbing his personality off into his rule. This evidence also shows the connection between Trujillo’s oppressive style and violence. In this case, the violence is both caused by and is oppression.

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.

As a young child, Minerva Mirabal always spoke her mind, despite her mother’s wishes that she would bite her tongue but Minerva would argue that women deserve to have a voice in their country, the Dominican Republic, as well. The time in which this story is set is during the regime of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, a strict dictator with suffocating policies. Brutal oppression of actual or perceived members of any opposition was the main focus of Trujillo's rule. If any person spoke out against Trujillo, they were almost immediately assassinated. However, young Minerva possessed strong opinions mostly about the treatment of women, but this would eventually change to become a complete revolt against Trujillo and his policies. Minerva’s coming of age was over a period of time and the biggest change wasn’t directly stated in the novel. Sinita and Lio both played major roles in pushing Minerva to revolt against Trujillo, Sinita passionately telling Minerva of the cruelties of Trujillo and how it affected her family and Lio being a young professor at the university that

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

Although the sisters joined the revolt to stop Trujillo, they also joined to make the Dominican Republic a better place. During their involvement with the rebels, the sisters became known as The Butterflies, because they were a sign of hope and change. The sisters had a unique characteristic that they sparked a change in people. Rufino, their driver, said, “A Dio’ Dona Dedé, you think I’ll let anything happen to the butterflies? They’ll have to kill me first” (269). Rufino said he would give his life so save the sisters during their prison break of the men captured by Trujillo. Rufino was willing to put his life on the line for the Butterflies, because he knew they were a symbol for their movement due to their dedication towards a better future.

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 novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, there are many aspects that have an effect on courage. Each of the four Mirabal sisters have their own moments of courage that are unique in different ways. Throughout the novel, the Mirabal sisters’ motivations to become involved in the revolution all emerge from their influential friends family members, and their desire to protect and impress those people. Although Patria’s motivation to have courage and take part in the Revolution involves her family, the main cause of Patria’s collaboration is due to a spiral of events and her strong faith.

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.

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.

Trujillo promote injustice throughout the country. Though Maria Teresa, Patria and Minerva do not live on to see new changes in their future society, revolutionaries

The conflict, which is the dictator Rafael Trujillo and his oppressive reign, is the reason why the sisters each discover their own courage throughout the novel. Though the novel centers around the Mirabal sisters as they grow up, the source of many of their problems is Trujillo and his actions that are directly affecting their lives. These actions include withholding Minerva’s license to practice law, sending all but one of the husbands to prison, and putting Minerva and María Teresa under house arrest where spies openly stalk the family and their small children on a daily basis (Alvarez 138, 171, 212). Alvarez has said that she has always felt that she has had a “debt” to pay to the Mirabal sisters, and it is this deep connection to the historical figures that leaves a passionate and honored tone for the readers that gives off a sense of utmost importance. It is clear that her entire reason to write the novel was because of the three girls who died and the one that survived, and that Alvarez felt a burning need to share their story with not only readers already familiar with the situation, but also with readers who have never heard of them (Alvarez

Manuel Tavarez Justo had formed a rebel group called “the Fourteenth of June Movement” that were all against Trujillo’s dictatorship. They were determined to allow his government to collapse by any means necessary. Back then, the Mirabal sisters (Maria Teresa, Patria, and Minerva) had attempted to murder Trujillo in the 1960 cattle fair, but their plans have backfired and they got themselves thrown in prison. Later on, Trujillo had some issues with his political fortunes, and so he accused the Mirabal sisters assuming they were the sources of most of his problems. Therefore, he had sent his loyal henchmen to assassinate Las Mariposas while they were traveling to visit their husbands.

In the middle of the story, the Mirabal sisters join the movement to expose and overthrow Trujillo. Minerva and Maria Teresa marry two men, Leandro and Manolo,