In The Time Of Butterflies Sacrifice

Out from the kitchen and into the world, women are making a better name for themselves. Although humankind tends to be male dominated, men are not the only species that inhabit the world that they live on. In Julia Alvarez's novel In the Time of the Butterflies, the women of the Dominican Republic are expected to grow up to be housewives and lacking a formal education. Women may be cherished like national treasures, but they are not expected to fulfill their truest potentials as human beings.

In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, three of four Mirabal sisters are murdered because of their opposition to the government. The surviving sister lives to tell their story. The first four chapters come from the perspective of each sister years before they joined the revolution against Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. I picked this book to read because I have always been interested in the story of these sisters and what they have contributed to Dominican history. I have only read the first four chapters, but I am already enjoying the book. What impressed me the most is how Alvarez describes how different in personality each of the sisters are. The oldest sister is Patria, who is very religious. She almost

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.

Throughout Julia Alvarez's novel "In the Time of the Butterflies," the character of Patria Mirabal is developed through the use of literary techniques such as narrative structure and characterization. Alvarez paints a compelling portrait of Patria as a devout and compassionate woman who evolves from a contented wife and mother into a revolutionary who is willing to put her life on the line to fight against the oppressive regime in the Dominican Republic. To begin with, Alvarez uses narrative structure to present Patria's character development. The novel is divided into four sections, each of which represents a different stage in Patria's life. This division enables readers to see Patria's growth and transformation in detail.

As the great Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” The book In the Time of the Butterflies is about a family of four girls who are living in the Dominican Republic under a very dangerous dictator. They rebel against him and the government to join a revolution along with many other people from the Dominican. In In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez uses the characterization of Patria to demonstrate the danger of passive religious belief.

This second journal is based on chapters five to seven of In The Time of the Butterflies. I think that these chapters are very important for the plot of the novel. Chapter five is from Dede's perspective. In this chapter, Dede and her sister Minerva meet a man named Lio, and he is a revolutionist like Minerva. They fall in love, but Minerva does not want to admit it. Later, Lio decides to move to a safer location because his protests are getting him in trouble with the government. He writes a letter for Minerva and gives it to Dede so that she could bring the letter to her sister. However, Dede reads the letter and finds out that Lio wants to ask Minerva to move with him, so Dede burns the letter to keep her sister safe with her family. I think

Before reading All Quiet on the Western Front, I had never looked into the German side of World War I. Before reading In the Time of the Butterflies I had never even heard the name Trujillo. Both of these books changed my perspective on these historical events. Being raised in America, I was taught (in regards to WWI) that the Germans were the “bad guys” and therefore I never stopped to think that their soldiers were just as young and afraid as those fighting for the Allies. I had also thought that revolutions were always organized by one group, while there are often many groups fighting for power.

The novel In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez and the play Antigone by Sophocles, both include similar characters, situations, and actions that react to the idea of a dangerous growing authority. The characters Dede from the Time of the Butterflies and Ismene from Antigone both strive to stay out of trouble with the government; however Dede’s approach is more effective as she becomes an oracle character by the end of the novel, for she lives to tell the story of the Mirabal sisters. Dede uses her relationship with her sisters, as well as her own family to survive through the dangerous reign of Trujillo. When facing a regime such as Trujillo's regime, the survivors who live to tell their story, like Dede, are crucial to understanding and analyzing important historical moments. These survivors live through real tragedies, so they are primary resources with personal opinions and experiences.

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.

In the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies education played a primary role in helping the women gain freedom from the chains of patriarchy they were bound in and helped men and women alike to gain the knowledge of the crimes that Trujillo’s regime was committing. Despite the important role that education played in the novel, becoming educated was not the only way that characters in the novel become politicized. The characters that became involved in the revolution through other means were stronger insurgents and remained dedicated to the revolution for a lengthier time period than the characters that became involved through education. Throughout the novel, formal education is established early on as a pivotal method of entering the uprising

“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

“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’

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 past, women had less power than men for thousands of years. In other words, men played an essential gender role and controlled people all around the world. Obviously, most leaders were males, and there were more male bosses than female`s in companies. This unequal social injustice has existed all around the world, especially in the Dominican Republic. In this country, men always thought the only responsibility of women was staying at home and taking care of the whole family. In addition, men did not care what women really wanted, and the only way was to force women to do what men asked. In the movie In the Time of the Butterflies, which happened in the Dominican Republic, people struggle under the brutal dictatorship of Trujillo between the 1930`s and 1960`s. In this movie, men play the important gender role that women have no right to apply for university, and they have to be obedient to men. However, women work hard to defeat their oppressed unequal fate and seek feminism, especially for the three Mirabal sisters. The Mirabal sisters are normal women who live in a farm with their parents. Unfortunately, their father is killed by Trujillo, so they become revolutionaries. They lead people to dare to start the revolution against feminist resistance. Although the Mirabal sisters understand they will sacrifice their lives, they never abandon due to their respectable ambition to gain equal rights as men.

Death is a word associated with loss, grief and sadness, but in the novel In the Time of the Butterflies we see death in a whole new perspective; martyrdom. Strong, independent, caring, honest, and having firm beliefs are all characteristics we see in a martyr especially in Patria. In the novel we explore the wonders of Julia Alvarez’s writing and get to witness Patria as a martyr and an individual who fought for the right of women against a dictator: Trujillo.