Summary Of In The Time Of The Butterflies By Julia Alvaraz

Lizzy Rosa
LCS Book Review

Summary: In the Time of the Butterflies is an award-winning book written by Julia Alvaraz, a famous Latina writer. This is the story of the four Mirabal sisters during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. The sisters make a political commitment to overthrow the Trujillo regime. Throughout the book you can see the family being prosecuted, humiliated, tortured and imprisoned, all for going against the government in secrecy. When they are caught they are all put in danger. This story is set in both the present (1994) and the past (1943) by the perspective of Dedé, the only surviving Mirabal sister. The book starts off in “present” day 1994. Dedé is asked to speak about the tragic tale
Maria Teresa was the youngest sister and was very materialistic. She was very passionate about the revolution and matured into a very strong and revolutionary woman. Then there was Dedé, the second youngest. Dedé was always hesitant about joining the revolution because she feared for her sisters lives and worried about them getting killed. Little did she know that her prediction would later come true. Eventually she decided against joining the revolutionary group, making her the only surviving sister to pass down her other sisters tale. Next there was Minerva, the third sister, and most definitely the most headstrong. It was Minerva who suggested starting a revolt against Trujillo after completing law school, which was very uncommon for women at that time. Finally the oldest sister was Patricia. Patricia was very religious and also was a main contributor to her sisters revolutionary group. Some other main characters that would be good to know is Rafael Trujillo, also known as “El Jefe” or “The chief/boss”. He is seen as the main antagonist of this novel. He is a self-appointed dictator of the Dominican Republic and is very harsh to his people. Ultimately he is the one who
A quote from the book spoken out loud by Minerva states, "And that's how I got free. I don't mean just going to Sleepaway School on a train with a trunkful of new things. I mean in my head after I got to Inmaculada and met Sinita and saw what happened to Lina and realized that I'd just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country (Alvarez, 13).” Minerva uses the word “free” to mean the idea of being liberated; not in a way that means the citizens being truly free because of the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, but free meaning she has the freedom of thought, and no one can take that away from her. Not even the dictator, Trujillo. This gives Minerva hope, and sparks her interest to create a revolutionary organization group to fight against Trujillo, and to break this metaphorical “cage” he has set upon the DR. This second analysis relates to class by the movie we watched called Palante Siempre Palante, on November 7th 2013. A small group called the Young Lords was a group of poor people who wanted independence for Puerto Rico, and their own freedom (Sanchez). Just like Minerva and her revolutionary group to change the government situation happening in the Dominican Republic, the Young Lords too wanted a change in