The Butterflies Thesis

In In The Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez utilizes the power struggle between Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic in 1994 and the Mirabal sisters, who try to overthrow the government, as a means to demonstrate the power struggle the people faced during this time period of Trujillo’s reign. Trujillo is a man who thrives on power and put spies in place to make sure that none of the people were even hinting towards a revolt. When Papa makes a snide comment about Trujillo being a female ruler, in that moment, “the dark fills with spies who are paid to hear things and report them down at Security” (Alvarez 10). This was the beginning of the end of three out of the four Mirabal sisters. Trujillo posts his face on every newspaper, book cover, and anything that people commonly use in order to promote how great he is.

In the Time of the Butterflies is a book about 4 sisters, Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa. The book is about the three girls growing up and their experiences during the time of the underground movement to overthrow Trujillo. The book was written in memory of Dedé’s 3 sisters who had been ambushed and murdered, which we are aware of since the beginning of the novel. The beginning chapter of the book is describing Dedé as she waits for a woman who is going to interview her about her three sisters, she then goes into a flashback she has of her family talking at the dinner table and her father mentions someone named Trujillo, which then gives a hint at who this book might be formed around. Through the book, we read stories about times in the girls’ lives when they were going to school at Inmaculada Concepcion and being at home and falling in love, as well as there run ins with Trujillo himself.

This is not a development, in fact, this is a shelter. Her family’s room has peeling paint, cockroaches, no water, refrigerator, or stove. Miss Garcia hints that all her assignments have to do with 9/11. Déja has never heard of 9/11 and is completely dumbfounded. So, she tries to figure out who she is and what it means to be American with her best friends Ben and Sabeen.

As the girls reached the top of the hill they achieved their goal of reaching their abuelita's house in Hacienda Dorada. It is really important because all of the enemies the girls have faced and all of the challenges they worked through together were all to get to their abuelita's house and find out about their father. After the sisters completed their goal and made it back to their home they finished the transformation part of their journey. It was concluded when Odilia kicked her and her sister's father out, “My hermanitas gathered around us, clinging to Mama. “This is our house.

but she couldn’t because of her husband “Even so that night, her ears still ringing from Jaimito’s shout, Dedé had been ready to risk her life. It was her marriage that she couldn’t put on the line” (Alvarez, 177). Dede, the sister who did not actively participate in the revolution wishes she could have. It was her marriage that stopped her from joining her sisters. She believed her country needed to be free from Trujillo

Trujillo gets worried when he learns about the 14th of June Movement because he knows that the goal of the movement is to overthrow or kill him. One by one, he starts jailing members of the movement, as well as ransacking or destroying their homes. At Patria’s house, Trujillo has the SIM tear “...the house apart, hauling away the doors, windows, the priceless mahogany beams of Pedrito’s old family rancho” (Alvarez 192). The way that he messes with those involved in the movement is cruel. After having their homes ransacked, Trujillo jails only the Mirabal husbands, which makes the sisters think they are safe.

The author wants us to think that deja is an angry child who’s frustrated at her dad, her home, and her life.when in reality she is a confused child.us the reader can see a clear example when deja tells her father about 9/11 and he freaks out and threatens to make her move schools, deja fights back making the claim this is the only school she ever liked.after that she just cries because she knows she can't win by herself.this conveys the idea that she is frustrated at her father and her life all because of what she knows. But Deja doesn’t know why she has to be punished for that

Lastly, Tiny Soderball was a hired immigrant just alike Lena. Tiny was always getting in trouble with the men so all of the other citizens looked at her differently. Tiny did not settle with that and she then decided to travel to Alaska and take part in the Gold Rush. Tiny opened up her own hotel and grew a fortune. Lena, Ántonia, and Tiny go against the traditional female role, they maintain their independence and they take risks causing them to end up very successful.

Julia Alvarez's historical novel, In The Time of the Butterflies, captures the lives of the Mirabal sisters and the Dominican Republic under the appalling dictatorship of Trujillo. Unfortunately, in a dangerous scheme to overthrow Trujillo, the Mirabal sisters meet their tragic fate. Before their death, these martyrs dodged through dozens of obstacles. In the Dominican Republic, it was extremely difficult for women to be respected and taken seriously because they were seen as domesticated and inferior. This old ideology of gender roles gravely affected the Mirabal sisters and their participation in their revolution against Trujillo; however, they still managed to challenge these gender limitations throughout the book.

In the beginning of In the Time of the Butterflies, the sisters were living cooperatively under Trujillo’s rule, but throughout the novel the reader watches each sister grow and develop their own values. As people around the world heard about their story the sisters started to be called mariposas, or butterflies. The Mirabal sisters are associated with butterflies because each in their own unique way can identify with the subtle bravery of the insect; Minerva’s strength, Patria’s stability, Mate’s development, and Dedé’s instincts. The eldest sister, Patria, was always a child of God. She starts off her first chapter by telling the reader, “No one had to tell me to believe in God or

Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies is a work of historical fiction set in the Dominican Republic that focuses on the four Mirabal sisters who bond together to rebel against the corrupt leader of their country, Rafael Trujillo. The four Mirabal sisters, Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa form closer relationships with each other as they figure out a way to bring down the tyranny of Rafael Trujillo. Although they have a mutual goal, each of the Mirabal sisters has different feelings and thoughts throughout this time period. The theme of coming-of-age and identify is best exemplified through the character of María Teresa, known as Mate, through the ways she matures throughout the novel and becomes her own person who stands up for what she believes in.

A hero is a person who overcomes their fears to fight for what is right. A person who fights for change. Heroes are everywhere. Heroes can be anyone. Every hero is a unique person with feelings and families.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is mainly about four girls named Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia and how they are forced to move to the United States of America. The novel expresses how they struggle adapt and the challenges they face during this transition. The challenges they face are quite similar to the discriminations that black people experienced during those times. The family originally lived in the Dominican Republic in a big house with maids.

It provides a role in character development shown predominantly in Patrias character. It shows the extent of Trujillo’s actions against the Dominican people by showing Patrias desperateness for her son. These examples depicted in the book show how the theme of religion has an impact on In the Time of the

All of the three female characters are honest and realistic and they narrate stories about their sufferings in their lives as victims of their society, but in a comic way. Cunegonde is the most important female character in the book. She is Candide’s beloved, who retells the events of the opening chapters from her own perspective. The old woman narrates her tragic life story in chapters 11 and 12. She suffered in her youth as she was a princess, but ended up being abused and sold as a slave several times in Morocco and in other different countries.