In The Time Of The Butterflies Book Analysis (Essay Sample)

In The Time Of The Butterflies is a great book that explores the lives of four Dominican women toppling a dictatorship. The author Julia Alverez has great themes in this book that has allowed it to age well since its initial publication in 1994. She explores the nature of women's empowerment, social classes, and family. The sisters’ shared family struggles and their individual hardships depict a microcosm of what being a woman is like in the 1960s Dominican Republic.

The 1960s in the Dominican was much different than what it is now, women had far fewer rights than men, and socially there was a gap between the two sexes. Living in a patriarchal society introduced many more struggles, women were shunned for giving political opinions, and being an independent woman was unheard of. The world that these women were living in was dominated by men, the ruthless dictatorship and the four sisters are a microcosm of the 1960s, ‘And that’s how I got free … and realized that I’d just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country”(Alverez 11). I believe that Alverez expresses women's empowerment far past the Dominican, she is trying to relay a message and give a voice to the voiceless. People are scared of Trujillo and his regime as well as what could happen to them if they are reported for speaking out against him. Some Women feel trapped in their lives, being limited to what they can and cannot do. Minerva describes this when she says sometimes, watching the rabbits in their pens, I’d think, I’m no different from you, poor things( Alvarez 11). Trujillo has affected the lives of people far beyond anything he could physically do.

The sisters all but one join the resistance and Alverez gives detailed descriptions of why they joined, some stem from personal and others from shared family issues. People start to show signs of defiance against Trujillo knowing that his ways are wrong '' It is about time women had a voice in running our country”( Alvarez 10). Being put in the position to elaborate more on women's rights is what made this story of the Mirabal sisters so unique. These women stood up for what they believed was right even though they had no business interfering. Julia Alverez spoke about sexual harassment, this is something that has been around since the beginning of man and most likely stay with us for much longer, it is the sad reality that women are physically overpowered. Minerva was harassed by Trujillo, During a party in chapter six “ And then literally, he draws me to him, so close I can feel the hardness at his groin pressing against my dress”( Alvarez 100). This was the catalyst to her joining the Resistance after being hesitant throughout the book, the author gave microcosm descriptions for each character joining the resistance. Minerva experienced sexual harassment, Patria saw the world in a different light after seeing people die and Maria Terese joined because of influence.

 In my opinion, reading this book tells two stories, the actual depiction of what happened with the Mirabal sisters and how they fought against a Trujillo and the author's subtle hints of what is happening in the real world. As the Sisters have individual problems that separate them and give each sister a variety of characteristics there is also the theme of Family. The Mirabal sisters live with their mother and father at the beginning of the book as a middle-class family fitting into their place in society. Papa has a family store, the family has been doing better with money and sisters are being sent to a new school. Up until that point in the book the perception of men is unaltered, they have a good dad and Trujillo is the president that is supposed to bring prosperity to the Dominican. Minerva finds out that her father has been living a double life, being married to another and having children simultaneously being with her family. All the sisters come to find out and this is the catalyst that opens their eyes to what men could truly be. The sisters struggled from this point forward, Maria Teresa having trouble finding a man, Minerva's Unfaithful Marriage, Patrias loss of faith, and ​​Dedé’s over-controlling marriage.

The world could be a scary place and unfair for some people but this book shows that change is possible, if you take a stand for the right things then life will get better. The sisters’ shared family struggles and their individual hardships depict a microcosm of what being a woman is like in the 1960s Dominican Republic. Overall In Time Of The Butterflies is a great story that supports women's empowerment and the change of the hierarchy in society.

Bibliography

Alvarez, Julia, and Maxine Hong Kingston. In the Time of the Butterflies. Penguin Books, 2021.