The document provides historical and cultural context for Julia Alvarez's novel "In the Time of the Butterflies". It discusses that the novel takes place in the Dominican Republic between 1943-1960 during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo established a repressive regime with a secret police force that spied on citizens. The novel is based on the lives of the Mirabal sisters who opposed the regime and were assassinated. It explores themes of resistance, the burden of knowledge, and the diverse strengths of the sisters in facing the dictatorship.

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Presentation by Krista Houghton, Pierce College, WA

2. In the Time of the Butterflies,
by Julia Alverez, In Context

3. Historical Context
 Novel takes place between 1943-1960
 U.S. occupation From 1916-1924, spurs rise of
Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo to power
 Occupation results in a loss of national dignity.
 The occupation results in a country-wide
movement to return to “traditional values” of
patriarchy and repression of women.
 Trujillo and his family monopolize the Dominican
Republic’s industries.
 Membership in (Dominican Political Party)
required to do business, or purchase certain
goods.

4. Historical Context
 S.I.M. (Military Intelligence Service)
established to monitor the public and prevent
uprising.
 SIM bribe citizens to act as spies on each
other.
 Considered one of the most absolute
dictatorships in Latin America (World
Literature and its Times p. 260)
 The novel is based on the lives of the Mirabal
sisters Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa (Mate),
and Dede.

5. Cultural Context
 Most music censored by 1942
 The play, the Birth of Dionysus by Pedro Henriques
Urena, inspired a wave of Greek mythology themed
literature and theater.
 The Greek backdrop was used to veil criticisms about
the dictatorship.
 Examples
 Franklin Bergos’s El Heroe (play)
 Marcio Maggiolo’s Creonte (play)
 Hector Cabral’s Miedio en un Puando de Polvo
Obtained from the Encyclopedia of Latin American Theatre Pedro Henríquez Ureña

6. Point of View
mostly told in the third
person, alternating between
sisters in each chapter in the
sequence of Dede, Minerva,
Mate, and Patria. Mate’s
sections are told in the first
person

7. Mood
Each sister has their own mood that they carry with
them as they tell the story.
 Dede; Matter-of-fact, and distressed.
 Minerva; Determined and logical, but sometimes
unsure.
 Mate; Hopeful and whimsical.
 Patria; Devoted, and resolute.

8. Mood
Overall themes persist
through narration coloring
of each sister.
Consistent tension
throughout the book,
generated by the threat of
the regime.
Notes of sorrow and
melancholy found
throughout, even the
brighter points are usually
followed by tragedy. (e.g.
the introduction of Lena
Lovaton)
Acceptance is seen, mostly
through the flash-forward
scenes of Dede. This
balances the tragedy.

9. Protagonists
Patria; oldest Mirabal sister
Minerva; Second oldest Mirabal
sister
Dede; Third oldest Mirabal sister
Maria Teresa youngest Mirabal
sister

10. Plot
 The Patria, Minerva and Dede are sent to a catholic boarding school.
 Minerva meets Sinita and finds out that her family was murdered by Trujillo’s regime.
 Patria tries to pursue the path of a nun, but instead decides to marry Pedrito.
 Patria suffers a faith crisis but then receives a revelation that cements her belief.
 Lio, a political activist lives near the Mirabals for a time and introduces Minerva to many
communist (by the Dominican definition) ideas.
 Dede Marries Jamito, a childhood friend
 Minerva discovers that her father, Don Enrique is having an affair.
 Minerva reluctantly attends a party hosted by Trujillo. He makes sexual advances and
Minerva reactively slaps him.
 Don Enrique is imprisoned, they are able to recover him, but he dies soon after from
maltreatment.
 Minerva and Mate go to law school and Minerva meets her husband Manolo.

11. Plot
 Mate becomes involved in the resistance along with Minerva and Manolo and meets her
husband Leandro
 Patria joins the resistance after her son is killed in the event that spurred the 14th of June
movement (resistance group).
 Dede attempts to passively help her sisters in the resistance, Jamito becomes furious and very
nearly takes their children and leaves her.
 Pedrito, Patria’s son Nelson, Manolo, Leandro, Minerva, and Mate are all arrested in rapid
succession.
 On January 25 all of the bishops in the country read a letter denouncing the dictatorship, Patria
attends the demonstration repeatedly.
 Mate is tortured in prison.
 The Sisters are released under house arrest though their husbands remain incarcerated.
 On their way home from a sanctioned visit to their husbands, Patria, Minerva and Mate are
killed by SIM agents

12.  Themes
 The burden of knowledge.
 Shown through Dede’s unsought role
as the witness of Las Mariposas (The
Butterflies), and of course the sacrifice
of Las Mariposas.
 Diverse forms of strength
 The sisters have wildly divergent
personalities, but the novel makes a
point to show the strengths and
weaknesses of each in such a way that
no one of them is presented as
anything less than essential.

13. Interpretation
It seems to me that In the Time of the Butterflies was written to commemorate a Dominican legend.
It is a work in memorial of a family that made it their mission to defend their home, and were martyred by
the death throws of a crumbling dictatorship.
But beneath this more direct interpretation lies another. I think that the story also serves as a window
to another world that is the Dominican republic under Trujillo. The author once admitted that she did not
intend for the novel to be a perfect retelling of the story (the Good the Brave and the Beautiful). This led
me to believe two important things about the novel. First, that it was meant to commemorate the spirit of
las Mairposas, more than it was meant to offer insights into the actual people. The novel was meant to
build upon what the sisters had become in the minds of the Dominican people. The Second conclusion
perhaps strikes a little closer to the core of what I feel the book was meant to convey. It is the story of a
family that dared to resist the regime. Through the Mirabals, we get a glimpse of what life was like for a
family, more specifically, a group of sisters to live under these conditions. Because of this the symbolism is
largely representative. The experience of one character is a signpost, marking the experience of hundreds
more.

14. Symbols
(Representations)
 Las Mariposas--the spirit of social revolution in the
Dominican Republic, especially for women.
 I think that it is also worth noting how Alvarez does not
attempt to disguise the sisters’ femininity. Mate is portrayed
as fanciful and optimistic, Patria is shown as matronly, and
devout. Instead of apologizing
 Death and imprisonment of characters by the regime--
The brutality of Trujillo during his dictatorship.
 Sinita—the many who lost their loved ones to Trujillo’s
regime.
 Don Enrique’s affair—The social decay that occurred
beneath the surface of the push for masculine domination,
and the regime that propagated it.

15. Works Consulted
Carr, Barry. "U.S. Interventions in the Dominican Republic: Cold War." World at War: Understanding Conflict
and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2019, ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2153/Search/Display/1729733. Accessed 1 June
2019.
Encyclopedia of Latin American Theater, edited by Eladio Cortes, and Mirta Barrea-Marlys, ABC-CLIO, 2003.
ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pierce-
ebooks/detail.action?docID=491322.

16. Works Consulted
Gallo, Laura P. Alonso. "'The Good, the Brave, the Beautiful': Julia Alvarez's Homage to Female History."
Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol. 274, Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center,
http://ezproxy.pierce.ctc.edu:2085/apps/doc/H1100091123/LitRC?u=puya65247&sid=LitRC&xid=939f8fa4.
Accessed 25 May 2019. Originally published in Evolving Origins, Transplanting Cultures: Literary Legacies of
the New Americans, edited by Laura P. Alonso Gallo and Antonia Domínguez Miguela, Universidad de Huelva,
2002, pp. 89-100.

17. Works Consulted
Galván, Javier A. Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century : the Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers . McFarland
& Company, Inc., Publishers, 2013.
Horn, Maja, et al. Masculinity After Trujillo : The Politics of Gender in Dominican Literature. University Press of
Florida, 2014. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=581451&scope=site.
Moss, Joyce. “In the Time of the Butterflies.” Latin American Literature and its Times, edited by Joyce Moss,
Gale Group, 1999, pp. 259-269.