How do the sisters react to the knowledge that their father has another family and that they have four little sisters? Why does Minerva want to help them? How do these illegitimate sisters help The Butterflies?Ħ.

What is the significance of the party at Trujillo's house that the Mirabal sisters attend with their father? In what ways will Minerva's actions haunt them?ĥ. How does the fight over Lio effect the relationship between Minerva and Dedé? Why does Dedé burn Lio's letter to Minerva? Is she really trying to protect her sister or is she just jealous?Ĥ. How does Maria Teresa's diary help her throughout her life? In what ways do we see her grow up through her diary? Finally, in prison, how does the existence of a diary to write in save her?ģ. Why is it so important for Minerva to go away to school with Patria? At school, what influence does her friend Sinita have on her? In what ways does Minerva, even at a young age, seem defiant and independent?Ģ. Perhaps more importantly, she stresses the need to see heroes not as superhuman, but as people who fight their own fears in order to fight injustice.1. Through her characters, she stresses the need to remember the past, even times of great pain, while also striving for happiness in the present and the future. She even includes Dede Mirabal, the only sister to survive, as a voice of the present reflecting on the past. She fictionalizes the Mirabal sisters and depicts their lives through the voices she creates for them. She does not write a history or a biography, however. Alvarez's connections to this story run deep, since her own parents were involved in the underground movement and fled to America before being arrested. In 1994, Julia Alvarez brought the Mirabals' story to an American audience through her novel In the Time of the Butterflies. Since that time, they have become symbols of courage, dignity, and strength in their country. These were the code names of Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Patria Mirabal, three sisters who were key members in an underground movement to overthrow Trujillo On November 25, 1960, the dictator's men ambushed their car and the sisters were beaten to death. Two different words come to mind when thinking of this history: Las Mariposas, or The Butterflies. But many would also have people remember another history of the Dominican Republic, a history of brave resistance and immense sacrifice. His dictatorship was defined by greed, a rigid control over the Dominican people, and unspeakable brutality. He ruled the island nation from 1930 to 1961. When people think of the Dominican Republic in the twentieth century, two words most often come to mind: Rafael Trujillo.

In the time of the butterflies book