Julia Alvarez's 'Before We Were Free'

Improved Essays
Secret Police of the Dominican Republic 1960s

The secret police have been watching my house for weeks now. They just sit and wait in their black shiny cars. But what are they waiting for? I just don't know.
The secret police is an organization that kills, tortures, seeks revenge, spies, and follows every command of their leader. The secret police was lead by Johnny Abbes, who was a fan of violence and murder. He was the chief planner of all the assassinations which, were many. The SIM, including Abbes were very cruel. But, the cruelest person being involved in the SIM was Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. Trujillo for short. Trujillo was the dictator of the Dominican Republic, so ofcourse the SIM would do anything for him because he was a very cruel man himself. The SIM were really created for Trujillo’s rule. The SIM would eliminate Trujillo’s opponents and threats in any way for his pleasure, for his special treatment, and for their own fear of being killed.
The secret police did not have a certain
…show more content…
Julia’s life was similar, to the story and had some of the same characteristics as the book. Her, and her family actually moved from the Dominican Republic into the United States when Julia was ten years old. But while she was in the United States, part of her family was not. She wrote this book to testify about Trujillo, and the Secret Police. The secret police are as just as real in the book as in real life. The secret police did even more awful things in true life. The tortures and mechanisms that were used are very unbelievable. The actions in the novel, and in the flesh all match up. After the assassination of Trujillo Anita’s father, uncle and others were tied to palm trees, shot at, and thrown into the caribbean sea by the SIM. Research shows that the real men who did assassinate Trujillo were killed and punished in this certain

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Anna Funder’s literary journalist text Stasiland explores the lingering impact that the former German Democratic Republic had upon its citizens. Through investigating the struggles faced by individuals in rebuilding their lives within unified Germany, Funder acknowledges that the horrors of the GDR are still controlling those who once lived under its communist regime. Through the victims Funder interviews, she identifies that as East Germany is rebuilt, so too are its people, as they attempt to find a place within a society once characterised by suppression and oppression. Funder acknowledges the lingering impact of the GDR through depiction of her experiences in unified Germany. Through her characterisation of herself as Anna, Funder contrasts…

    • 1068 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The article “Parlez-Vous Francias?” by Patricia Smith, describes how the Quebec government made a law for changing any signs of stores or the global companies from English to French and offering services in French only. According to Smith, Canada has two official languages, which are French and English, but Quebec is the only province in which French is both the predominant language and the sole official language. Smith notes that several companies did not accept changing their signs to French because they will cost them a lot of money and will lose their customers. Smith describes why the Quebec provincial government forced the companies to change because they had felt in dangerous of losing their French language. Also Smith mentioned that…

    • 187 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Another inspiration to Alvarez’s work would be the Mirabal sisters—Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa. Three of the sisters were killed by Trujillo’s henchmen after leading an underground uprising in the Dominican—the same one that Alvarez’s father belonged to—shortly after the family moved back to the United States (Kapai). Growing up and hearing their story had always left Alvarez feeling unsettled. She would later say, “My three sisters and I had made it. Three of those four sisters had not.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism American and Resistance to Change: Art Education’s Role in the Indian Mascot Issue. In Elizabeth De La Cruz’s’ article, the author vividly describes and to capture the feelings of Charlene Teter as well as many other Native Americans. When it comes to the lack of sensitivity and politically incorrect usage of Native American Indian Mascot is used in society, but more so, in the sports realm. Many people misuse the Native American mascot in sports and do not really think that it is harmful. However, Teter’s cultural shock when attending the University of Illinois made her aware that the Indian mascot was being misrepresented.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    How Did Trujillo's End

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Trujillo came to an end Trujillo had plenty of encounters with the so called, “Butterfly.” It was a hidden mission to get people more aware of El Jefe ridiculous regimes and what he is doing undercover from the eyes of citizens. Trujillo did not do his dirty work but let others do it for him. This applies to killing someone, arresting someone, or any business he has to take care with other people with also a high power.…

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    BACKGROUND For 30 odd years prior to this event the small island country of the Dominican Republic had been ruled by a dictator and military strongman named Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. He ruled the country mercilessly and his rule is considered one of the bloodiest in Latin American…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1930, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina gained control of the Dominican Republic through questionable means, becoming head of police and then president, his regime was well recognized for its oppressive tactics and effective means of keeping the population controlled, by the time he was deposed and assassinated in 1961, he had been responsible for the deaths of as many as 50,000 Dominicans (U.S DoS), meaning that 1 in 66 was executed. As his time as president continued, more opposition grew, and eventually he lost the majority favor. Local citizens rose up and rebelled. An apprehensive church first remained neutral in the event, even favoring Trujillo, but as his monstrosities came to light, it became more and more difficult to remain passive,…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Paramilitary Patrol Units

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The distinction between the military and law enforcement agencies has become increasingly more blurred in the last 50 years. With political movements, such as the War on Drugs, the use of military tactics in policing has become more prominent in American society. Paramilitary Patrol Units, or PPUs, have become increasingly more established in policing, and often are viewed as the elite police entity in our country. These units have become normalized in localities, and it has become evident that the use of PPUs has influenced American policing as an entirety. This paper will provide insight on the increased use of paramilitary units in the United States, the characteristics of PPUs, the tactics in which they operate, and their shift toward normalization.…

    • 1455 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trujillo Analysis

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “The next day both he and the teacher were gone” (97). This line shows us a consequence even on people who thought about something that was against him. It reinforces my idea that Trujillo is a shadow of the book in one way because, from that line, it seems like Trujillo was shadowing everyone in the country using his supernatural power. We could assume that if Trujillo was behind everyone in the Dominican Republic, he was also present in chapter four in Oscar’s life.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Perseverance is the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez is about eleven-year-old Anita, who is faced with coming of age during a chaotic time where both friends and family are faced with difficult, life threatening decisions. Everyone is living under a cruel dictator named Rafael Trujillo in the 1960s in the Dominican Republic. Anita’s family has to endure hardships as they try to overthrow the dictator, which her father and uncle are in a plot trying to assassinate him. Anita’s family made sacrifices that showed perseverance because the family was monitored by the SIM and the family also changed overnight.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The life and development of a young girl. The freedom and rights of people taken away through an unjust use of power. The fight to win it back. These are all crucial components of the novel “Before we Were Free” by Julia Alvarez. The story shows the growth of the young girl, Anita as she slowly comes out of her chrysalis to become a butterfly who struggles to gain back her freedom and to grow the strength to soar high out in the open sky of her home country, the Dominican Republic.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It shows how every time Mexicans are attacked or unlawfully searched, they grow this anger. It creates gang violence and an even larger division between Anglos and Mexicans. In his memoir, Rodriguez expresses how he believes officers create this anger in order to continue the cycle of violence that was occurring. This was shown with the death of Santos and Indio, how Luis believes the police killed them, while others believe it was Sangra. This shows how anger creates gangs, but the never ending violence prevents them from fading…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In George Orwell’s 1984, women do not have a prominent role and they are portrayed in a unfeminine manner. Orwell demonstrates women as a weaker and inferior sex through the actions of Julia, Mrs. Parsons, Winston’s mother, Katharine, and the singing Prole woman. Most of the novel, Orwell focuses on Winston and the other men in 1984. However, when we do read about the women they are usually doing domestic or household chores.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Julia Alvarez, the author of “Before We Were Free”, has personally experienced what the characters in her book have encountered. Alvarez, having had to grow up in the Dominican Republic, was closely involved in the underground works to relinquish the dictator, Trujillo. The story is a reputable representation of the Hispanic culture. Because Alvarez has firsthand knowledge of the conflict in the Dominican Republic, she has merit to compose a book that brings life to the culture. In order to fully understand the culture she describes, you need to know and appreciate the author’s background.…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The setting, time and place, can have a significant effect on the characters of a novel. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novel that takes place in a small Colombian coastal town in 1950s. The story examines the murder of the protagonist Santiago Nasar, and the events leading up to it. Colombian culture has a heavy impact on the behaviours, character traits as well as the values of the characters in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. If the text had been written at the present time and if the setting had been a modern city in another place, the murder would not have occurred, and actions of certain characters of the novel would not make sense for certain reasons.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays