In The Time Of The Butterflies Character Analysis

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, written by Julia Alvarez, creates a fiction story about the true events of the Mirabal sisters and taking over the Dominican Republic’s government. In the Time of the Butterflies contains the classic war between passion and responsibility. Personal causes, love, a desire for revenge, determination to redress a wrong, or other emotions or drives conflict with moral duty. In In the Time of the Butterflies, many characters confront the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. Patria, the oldest Mirabal sister, struggles with her faith, and deciding whether to join the revolution with her sisters, or to follow her faith. Patria’s religion was an important aspect of her life since she was very young and throughout the course of the story, she attains and loses her faith in God.

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

Julia Alvarez’s novel, In the Time of the Butterflies (1994) centers around the lives of the four Mirabal Sisters who courageously brought acknowledgement to the inhumane and brutal actions of Dictator Rafael Trujillo and the treatment of women in a society where they were seen as property. In the 2001 film adaptation directed by Mariano Barroso, the film mainly centers on Minerva Mirabal, the outspoken and rebellious sister. Despite bearing some minor similarities, there are more differences between Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies and Mariano Barroso’s film – both author/director start the story of the sisters in different ways, in the novel the reader is able to see all of the perspective of the sisters instead of only Minerva’s,

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.

The struggle for equality has existed for thousands of years. The first decree of human rights was drafted by King Cyrus in 539 BCE and is still an evolving issue today (Finkel). The book In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is a historical fiction novel written to tell the tale of the Mirabal sisters and their struggle against a dictator in the Dominican Republic. As women, the sisters were objects of discrimination by the dictator’s regime. Their struggle against obstacles forced consequences upon them for speaking their minds in a censored society. Through Mate Mirabal, the youngest sister, we see a shift in characterization from a cautious adolescent to a strong woman who helps change her country. Joining the rebellion and spending time in jail changed Mate into a courageous person. In In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez uses the change in Mate’s characterization to describe the impact of oppression and people’s need to have their voice heard.

Minerva falls in love and starts a revolution with the love of her life. Minerva told her

In The Time of The Butterflies, memorializes the lives of Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal, three sisters. The women became symbols of freedom and revolution for the Dominican Republic after their assassination for being involved in a movement to overrule Trujillo. The Mirabal sisters were not only fighting against the Trujillo regime, but also against the Dominican Republic’s patriarchal culture and gender roles. In the Dominican Republic women were expected to abide by the rules and expectations their fathers or husbands set out for them. In the novel, all four sisters reject their stereotypical roles as women in the society by standing up for their beliefs and the revolution.They decided that they would not let the

I feel my blood burning, my anger mounting. I push away, a little more decidedly, again he pulls me aggressively to his body…he yanks me by the wrist, thrusting his pelvis at me in a vulgar way…” (100). This quote shows that Trujillo was sexually harassing Minerva at the party he had specifically demanded she come to. Though it is clear that Minerva does welcome Trujillo’s advances, he still continues to force himself on her. Minerva is appalled by Trujillo’s actions and slaps him before dashing, preventing him from going any further. As a result, this encounter further fueled Minerva’s rebellion against Trujillo’s dictatorship because it proved that Trujillo was using his power in order to exploit young girls sexually, something a man with that much power shouldn’t be

In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, takes place in the Dominican Republic during Trujillo’s control of the country. Dedé and Minerva are two extremely different Mirabal sisters, shown by how they respond to Trujillo taking over their country. Dedé and Minerva are only two of the sisters. There are four in total: Minerva, Dedé, Patria and María Teresa. The four sisters take turns throughout In the Time of the Butterflies telling their stories from the 1940s while living in the Dominican Republic. Manipulating her point of view and attitude, Julia Alvarez uses an impassioned style of writing to portray Minerva’s strong leadership and an explicit style of writing to portray Dedé’s willingness to compromise.

“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

One often dreams of making an impact on the world; however these dreams, more often than not, remain adventurous thoughts. For the Mirabal sisters, of the Dominican Republic, dreams quickly became a reality. Minerva, María Teresa, and Patria Mirabal helped to free the Dominican Republic of their oppressive leader, Rafael Trujillo. In Julia Alvarez’s novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, the inspiring and heroic story of the Mirabal sisters is told through the perspectives of the sisters. Alvarez creatively fictionalizes the early lives of the sisters and solemnly illustrates the sisters’ final days. Following the release of Julia Alvarez’s novel, many critics expressed both positive and negative reviews. Some suggested the Mirabal sisters were inaccurately portrayed; however, other critics cite strengths in the novel, and one critic reclassifies the novel’s genre.

“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’

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.

In the Time of the Butterflies during the 1940s, in the Dominican Republic, the ruler or dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo punished people if they didn’t do as he told them and plenty of other cruel things. He ruled for about 30 years, so the people were tortured for quite a long time. He became the dictator by eliminating everyone who had power above him. He even married his wives just to use them to get the the top and control everyone. It was just an unfair way to handle things and an unfair country overall. In her book, “In the Time of the Butterflies,” Julia Alvarez incorporates the history of the famous Mirabal sisters by telling the history of their life and how it was back then for their Dominican Republic country. Julia Alvarez