Minerva is driving back from the capital with her parents after Enrique Mirabal, now insane, is released from prison. The rainy weather is the physical incarnation of the metaphorical storm that began for the Mirabal family when Minerva slapped Trujillo at the Discovery Day dance: "And then the rain comes down hard, slapping sheets of it." It also represents Trujillo's power; the island is saturated in wetness as well as in the influence of the dictatorship. This quotation thus demonstrates the authoritarian theme that permeates the novel.
By starting the novel at the end, readers already know how the story is going to end. As shown in Romeo and Juliet, Oedipus Rex, as well as Titanic, there is an appeal in knowing the fate of the characters. For readers and movie watchers alike, being able to see how choice, randomness, as well as perhaps fate, directly affect the outcome of the story is oftentimes more dramatic and powerful than just reading/watching to see how the story plays out. In the instance of In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, the reader knows that three of the Mirabal sisters are going to die, while Dede survives. Ironically, because of that, readers will feel more connected and sympathetic to the girls, making the story all the more powerful. …show more content…
It is ironic that the Mirabals find their revolutionary roots at a sheltered religious school, and that Minerva is allowed to go to law school, only to find that she can not get a license to practice when she is done. A master of ironic observaion, Minerva quips about Benefactor's Day that they should "go celebrate at the cemetery"
By starting the novel at the end, readers already know how the story is going to end. As shown in Romeo and Juliet, Oedipus Rex, as well as Titanic, there is an appeal in knowing the fate of the characters. For readers and movie watchers alike, being able to see how choice, randomness, as well as perhaps fate, directly affect the outcome of the story is oftentimes more dramatic and powerful than just reading/watching to see how the story plays out. In the instance of In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, the reader knows that three of the Mirabal sisters are going to die, while Dede survives. Ironically, because of that, readers will feel more connected and sympathetic to the girls, making the story all the more powerful. …show more content…
It is ironic that the Mirabals find their revolutionary roots at a sheltered religious school, and that Minerva is allowed to go to law school, only to find that she can not get a license to practice when she is done. A master of ironic observaion, Minerva quips about Benefactor's Day that they should "go celebrate at the cemetery"