Are The Loss Of Faith In Julia Alvarez's In The Time Of The Butterflies

Throughout humanity, the idea of suffering played a major role in human lives, in some cases by ending it. Nevertheless, according to popular religious traditions, the first humans, Adam and Eve, were placed on Earth to suffer for their sins in a life of misery. All humans are a part of this “original sin,” thus there is no such thing as innocent humans suffering in the world. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Popular religious themes are centered on the idea of continual suffering in life, like the Israelites who continued to suffer through the Holocaust. The theme of The Mexican Flyboy is also structured around the idea of suffering. In the story, Simon Vegas is obsessed with people who have suffered throughout history and “saves” those victims out of their misery. Even though Simon liberates the victims out of suffering, the historical events like burning of Jesse Washington continue to take place. The idea of saving the individuals is abstract, as it seems like the bodies suffer, while the souls are saved.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that.” -Nelson Mandela. The novel “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez explains the many ways the Mirabal sisters overcome fear and oppression. At the beginning of the book three sisters are brought into a world that is controlled by a brutal dictator, Trujillo. In the middle of the book one of the sisters starts a revolution against Trujillo while the other two slowly make their way into the revolution as well, which causes them to go to jail. At the end of the book the sisters that were in jail ended up being murdered by Trujillo’s guys. Additionally, the three sisters are able to

A “simple creature of flesh and bone”(76-77) is not seen as being capable of understanding god’s will. Unlike god a person’s views may be warped by emotion; someone may “suffer hell in [their] soul and [their] flesh.”(77) After the death of Akida Drummer the prisoners forget to pray for him as a direct result of their own suffering. Unlike a god they have been rendered unable to fulfill their promise to their friend because of their own emotional trauma. Sorrow and other emotional responses are described as a force capable of destroying one’s ability to reason. Furthermore humankind is not seen as having adequate trust in god’s will. Akiba Drummer sacrificed his life by not trusting in god’s will, as he essentially “[offers] his neck to the executioner. Despite Akiba Drummer’s regular study of religion he is unable to rationalize his suffering as a “divine test,”(77) thus he is unable to muster the strength to prevent his death. If he had trusted that god was indeed watching over him he would not have perished. In Elie Wiesel’s account night the term “sage” is used to contrast between humankind and God; additionally his ideas on the topic can be applied to a variety of issues

In Cesar Vallejo’s poem, “Los Heraldos de Negros”, in English called “The Black Heralds”, themes of God, children, love, and tragic consciousness emerge. My aim here is to examine another important source of his meaning, which is how the speaker sees God’s role in his encounters with life’s struggles. In the poem, a hateful God replaces a merciful God. The nature of this hateful God poses as a savior but instead of being helpful, or being resurrected to save humankind, he poses as a false or fake entity, which confuses and frustrates the speaker. Vallejo depicts God as hateful instead of merciful, because the speaker challenges and questions God’s methods. Vallejo continues by displaying an acute message, painful frustration at being unable to determine why life is so hard. This would interpret that not only difficulties of life can take a toll physically, but mentally as well and lead you to question why our lord and savior continues to be blind or to assist with our derailments in life.

When reading a novel, readers do not often realize that many authors use the same types of characters and symbols. Applying a literary lens to a novels can help readers better understand why a novel was written. A literary theory is, “A term for analyzing, classifying, defining, interpreting, and evaluating literature” (Davidson). When observing a piece of literature with an Archetypal lens analysts can identify these patterns. According to Literary Devices, “In literature, an archetype is a typical character, an action, or a situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature” (literarydevices). In the novel In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, the Archetypal Theory can be applied to characters and symbols in the

“attack,” a Kauai paramedic said this to Bethany, “God will never leave you or forsake you.”

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a martyr is a “person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle” and in Julia Alvarez’s novel In the Time of the Butterflies, no one encompasess this more than the book’s four protagonists—Dedé, Minerva, María Teresa, and Patria—the Mirabal sisters. Known as Las Mariposas, the Butterflies, these women suffered for the right to pursue freedom in a revolution against the Dominican Republic's oppressive dictator Rafael Trujillo. In their revolutionary efforts, these remarkable sisters have become icons in the public eye of the DR, and have been heralded as great leaders for their bravery and hope despite enduring such tortures as imprisonment and bombings.

Juan, with numerous failed attempts in getting his family to safety, once lost his patience with God crying, “What’s wrong with You? I thought we had a deal!” (137). As the chapter progresses, Juan suddenly experiences religious inspiration, and “instead of feeling abandoned by God, he felt close to Him” (138) showing how frustration generates a stronger connection between man and God. In addition, Doña Margarita teaches Salvador to avoid frustration by using the power of God “for this is God’s great plan, that people rise up beyond their personal hatreds” (471). Doña Margarita says that once everyone “recognize we are all the children of God,” (471) it will lead to happiness because she believed that God is the almighty figure that has the ability to enlighten the world.

Women’s struggle for power in a patriarchal society has been a monumental fight throughout the ages, and even now women around the world fight for the right to simple rights like an education, and voice within society. In Julia Alvarez's book In the Time of the Butterflies the character Minerva Mirabel portrays women’s fight for power through her own personal struggle for power in her home against her father, and in the Dominican Republic society against Trujillo, and patriarchal norms of the time.

There are fundamental questions that are posed in everyone’s life. The most asked, as well as the most daunting one is perhaps what happens when we die, and what is heaven like? Billy Collins in his poem “Question About Angels”, attempts to pose and answer such questions. As the poem is a statement on the outlook of how religion in interpreted, and how angels are perceived through the use of repetition, symbolism, and irony.

Patria, the eldest Mirabal sister, wanted to be a nun. During her school years, she attended Inmaculada Concepcion, and showed a deep interest in religion. One example from the novel is, “How could our loving, all powerful Father allow us to suffer so? I looked up, challenging Him. And the two faces had merged!” In this quote, Patria questions God and asks why'd he let her family suffer from the loss of her baby.When Patria says “the two faces merged.” she’s comparing God and Trujillo, by saying they have become the same person. Patria gains courage from this because she realizes that God might not be so great as she thought him to be. At a young age, Patria also showed signs of a motherly-figure. Patria, like any mother, loves her child no matter what. Another example from the novel is, “That moment, I understood her hatred. My family had not been

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent. The most important feature of a sermon is the application of a scripture text to the personal experience of the listener. Especially this last part is what reduced many of Edwards’s listeners to tears. In Edwards’s sermon the scripture text is “Their foot shall slide in due time”. This meant that eventually, all sinners would be punished by God, which could be at any time. Edwards speaks of a wrathfull God, a God who by Puritan standards is considered forgiving for not letting all of humanity fall into the deepest pits of hell. Edwards reminds people that mankind is nothing compared to God and that that all of humankind is guilty and deserves to be punished.

Dede has been threw a lot. After the death of her sisters Dede has to take on not only her sister's children but live up to the legacy they left behind. Therefore Dede has to sacrifice her own way of living to tell the true and unadulterated story of her sisters. Patria was a religious person so I believe she believed that Dede surviving was the divine will of the most high.

In her lifetime, Kingsolver has endured many many painful losses and has discovered many heartwarming gifts that nature had to offer. Kingsolver said, “ I fought off the knife, mourned the loss of an unborn child, bore witness to the rainforest; claimed the blue butterflies as Holy Spirit in my private pantheon; got out of the burning car; survived the divorce by putting one foot in front of another and taking good care of my child.” (1072-1073) Kingsolver erased her suicidal thoughts that her painful losses brought on, and she realized how important her survival is in nature because of the gifts that the Holy spirit had to offer her. She could have ended her life with the devastation and tears that she was drowning in, but Kingsolver discovered the happiness that life has in store for her.

Throughout Harper’s book and Kheiyn’s article, I found five main points that stood out to me in relating to helping me understand why bad things happen to good people. First, God did not create pain and suffering, man has through sin and defiance. Second, although suffering is not good, God uses it to achieve good. The third point tells us that the day will come where your misery will no longer exist and God will judge evil. The fourth states that our suffering does not even compare to what God has in store for his followers. Lastly, we must choose whether to let the pain get the best of us or turn to God for peace and