Sacrifice only matters when there is a goal worth achieving. When reaching a goal, they face obstacles requiring them to forfeit themselves for something of a higher value. Alvarez conveys that giving yourself up to someone or something in need is the ultimate sacrifice and is essential for major change to occur. Manolito and Patria’s house prove this. A principal sacrifice one can make is to part with their child. The story commences with a woman interviewing Dedé Mirabal in regard to her martyred sisters, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Patria, who sacrificed their lives for freedom from the oppressive dictator Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. When they are at school, Minerva learns of Trujillo’s brutality from her schoolmate Sinita,
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Patria and her husband, Pedrito, sacrifice their home for the good of the revolution. “If you were caught harboring any enemies of the regime even if you yourself were not involved in their schemes, you would be jailed, and everything you owned would become the property of the government. His land! Worked by his father and grandfather and great-grandfather before him” (Alvarez 165). At first, Pedrito doesn't want to allow the revolutionaries to meet on his property because of the new law that would take away his land, which is his life, if caught. But he makes the sacrifice, which puts his entire family history and heritage on the line, because of his love for his wife and his beliefs. Later, the military police learn of Pedrito’s involvement and come to capture him, only to search the house and find he is gone. “They tore the house apart, hauling away the doors, windows, the priceless mahogany beams of Pedrito’s old family rancho. It was like watching her life dismantled before her very eyes, Patria said, weeping-the glories she had trained on a vine…All of it violated, desecrated, destroyed. Then they set fire to what was left” (Alvarez 192). Pedrito and Patria knew what would happen if they were caught being involved with the revolution, and they proceeded. After all, what is one more sacrifice after the sisters were losing major parts of their
Patria and her husband, Pedrito, sacrifice their home for the good of the revolution. “If you were caught harboring any enemies of the regime even if you yourself were not involved in their schemes, you would be jailed, and everything you owned would become the property of the government. His land! Worked by his father and grandfather and great-grandfather before him” (Alvarez 165). At first, Pedrito doesn't want to allow the revolutionaries to meet on his property because of the new law that would take away his land, which is his life, if caught. But he makes the sacrifice, which puts his entire family history and heritage on the line, because of his love for his wife and his beliefs. Later, the military police learn of Pedrito’s involvement and come to capture him, only to search the house and find he is gone. “They tore the house apart, hauling away the doors, windows, the priceless mahogany beams of Pedrito’s old family rancho. It was like watching her life dismantled before her very eyes, Patria said, weeping-the glories she had trained on a vine…All of it violated, desecrated, destroyed. Then they set fire to what was left” (Alvarez 192). Pedrito and Patria knew what would happen if they were caught being involved with the revolution, and they proceeded. After all, what is one more sacrifice after the sisters were losing major parts of their