Social Change In The Time Of The Butterflies

Social change often happens as a result of individuals or the society taking steps against someone or something they don’t accept. Social change is always happening around the world in many countries as they fight for their rights. An example of social change can be a group of people joining forces to remove themselves from a dictator’s rule. In In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, the Mirabal sisters join together to change the society and to liberate themselves from the tyrant, Trujillo. Throughout the novel, the sisters express their unhappiness with the society’s situation, the events leading into the revolution, and the revolution itself. Social change happens through 3 main stages, which are: unhappiness with status quo, the …show more content…
For example, before the French Revolution, the 3rd Estate had almost no voice in the government and they also paid a majority of the country’s taxes. When the country had too many debts to pay off, the king decided to hold a meeting to decide which estate would pay more taxes. The 1st and 2nd Estate voted(3rd Estate had only 1 vote) on the 3rd Estate paying the extra taxes. This meeting was known as the Estates General, and was one of the major catalysts leading to the revolution. The 3rd Estate began to see that they needed to take action against the distribution of power between the 3 Estates. Similarly, in “In Time Of The Butterflies” different catalysts led to the Mirabal sisters making new choices regarding social change. Minerva begins to see Trujillo’s real personality as she learns about Sinita’s past and what truly happened to Lina(Minerva’s friend at Inmaculada Concepcion)“The country people around the farm say that until the nail is hit, it doesn’t believe in the hammer. Everything Sinita said I filed away as a terrible mistake that wouldn’t happen again. Then the hammer came down hard… on Lina Lovaton’s head. Except she called it love and went off, happy as a newlywed”(Alvarez 20). This quote shows how Minerva was once clueless about Trujillo, and gradually began to realize that he is not the perfect leader. …show more content…
For instance, when the 3rd Estate of France realized it was time for them to start fighting against the unfair government, they created the National Assembly. The National Assembly worked together to form a new constitution after they took the Tennis Court Oath. The 3rd Estate stayed together and slowly worked their way up and got more power to start the revolution. Together they were able to win many battles and get rid of the old king who was the origin of the unfair laws. In In Time of the Butterflies, Mate begins to get closer to Minerva as they start to work together for the revolution, “I just go to my classes in order to keep my cover as a second-year architecture student. My true identity now is Mariposa(#2), waiting daily, hourly, for communications from up north.”(Alvarez, 142). This shows how Mate soon joined Minerva(Mariposa #1) in their journey to emancipate themselves and the rest of the country from Trujillo’s dictatorship. Mate has become one of Minerva’s helpers for the revolution, along with a whole group of people including Palomino, Manolo,Sonia(a university student), Pedrito, Patria, and more. Slowly these people work together to bring more people into the revolution and to get rid of Trujillo and the tyrannical government where there was no equality between the whole society. This is just like how the 3rd Estate worked together to form plans, which