Rafael Trujillo

why Minerva rejects Trujillo and God: “I understood her hatred. My family had not been personally hurt by Trujillo, just as before losing my baby, Jesus has not taken anything from me. But others had been suffering...I had heard, but I had not believed...I looked up, challenging Him. And the two faces merged!” (53). Through the use of the word “taken,” Alvarez shows the hurt Patria feels, as the word carries a connotation of loss and being wronged. By comparing Jesus to Trujillo, Patria relates…

thematic thread. The recurring image of the connection between religion and politics plays a role of the church in both supporting and resisting Trujillo’s regime, the feeling of hope that emerges when Patria is faced with the recurring theme and Trujillo being seen as a god, contributing…

Shortly after the iconic slap, Minerva gambles with Trujillo himself in a game of dice, “Quickly I reach for the heavier set of the dice and begin shaking them in my fist. Trujillo studies the wobbling scales. But without my set there, he can’t tell which are his loaded pair.” (Page 115). The stakes are that if Minerva wins she gets to go to law school, and if Trujillo wins, it is implied that he gets to rape Minerva. A tie resolves the conflict, and throughout…

guns in their household, and helped in plot fighting against the government. Although, Trujillo convinced the people of the Dominican Republic that Lio’s ideas were a form of communism, which created him into an enemy of the state and caused him to flee. Following the Mirabal sisters and their father invite to a ball hosted by Trujillo, their names became known to the government as rebels. During the party, Trujillo requested that Minerva would dance with him, and while speaking to her in a…

Literary elements are the salt of literature. When used correctly, they bring out the flavor of a story, but when misused, they ruin the original creation. In This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff, and In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, literary elements are used to create delicious stories. This Boy’s Life: A Memoir chronicles the author’s childhood and adolescence in Seattle during the 1950s, which includes a broken home, lying, stealing, and cheating. In the Time of…

The Mirabals; Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa, were the butterflies of the rebellion against Trujillo. They helped start the Fourteenth of July Movement against the regime. For many Dominicans, they were their hope of restoring the country from corruption and injustice. They were a symbol for courage, as they freed themselves from the shackles of El Jefe and stood up to him. They did not settle for oppression. Just like butterflies, they spread their wings, showing off their beautiful colors,…

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…

how the four courageous sisters came together to save their country. The sisters start of by not knowing nothing political to fixing it all. There's time when they struggle and put themselves at risk but they always worked together to go against Trujillo. They all show freedom, courage, and metamorphosis in their own ways. Freedom is one of the meanings that the butterfly symbolizes. For example, all the sisters grew up to feel like they were getting more freedom away from their parents. In…

To start, on August 6,1960 "Julia Alvarez and her family moved to New York City, exiled due to the tyranny of Trujillo."Alvarez's family left the Dominican Republic."Since Alvarez's father participated in the underground plot which was cracked by the SIM,Trujillo's famous secreat police" other members were captured and started giving out the names of other members including Alvarez father and the only ways for Alvarezs family to survive was moving to the United States. Four months after the…

history books. She encouraged people to join the underground to end the regime that transpired in the Dominican Republic. In the novel, she finds out that Trujillo is an atrocious man from her friend Sinita. This event actually occurred her to bring out her inner rebellion and got to the action. When Minerva attends the Discovery Dance, she slaps Trujillo for trying to get intimate with her in the novel. However, in the actual history, people say there was no slap that happened. Guests who were…