Corruption can cause “The righteous smugness of injustice's ardent fan/ [to] affirm the evil always in the heart of man” (Robert Lindley) These lines from Robert Lindley’s poem “Power Births War and Corruption” explain that all men have the capability to be evil inside their hearts. However, if power gets to someone’s head they can become corrupt. The evil in their hearts will be exposed. This kind of evil is shown in the actions of Trujillo and his SIM when they try to take advantage of and rape young women. Trujillo is a man with an immense amount of power and control. This power gets to his head and he becomes a corrupt and sister man. The men of Trujillo’s regime have also had this ability to be sinister in their hearts from the beginning, …show more content…
There is a huge amount of graphic imagery in the Discovery day dance scene. The first example of Graphic imagery in this scene is when Trujillo makes a pass at his senator’s beautiful wife, with the Senator sitting right in front of him. Minerva notices this when she drops something under the table and goes to pick it up. “under the table a hand is exploring the inner folds of a woman’s thigh. I work it out and realize it is trujillo’s hand fondling the senator’s wife.” (Alvarez 96) The Senator makes it clear that the gorgeous woman seated next to Trujillo is his when he points her out to minerva “[the senator] points to an attractive blond woman seated to trujillo’s left. ‘my wife’ he boasts, ‘half cuban’” (Alvarez 96) and even after the senator makes this point Trujillo continues to flirt with his wife without a care in the world. The wife knows that if she refuses her husband could be fired, “because no one says NO to trujillo” (popular saying during this time, some dominicans still use it), so she allows trujillo to continue. Alvarez uses this Imagery to show how Trujillo sees women as objects or his play things, and feels he has the right to touch any woman how ever he pleases just because he is in a position of power. This shows us how extremely corrupt the government is in this time. …show more content…
Later on in the scene, Trujillo tries to drug Minerva. He has done to many young women in the past and his objective is always to rape them. Alvarez uses imagery to show how the other sisters try to warn Minerva of the danger she is in. Minerva tells us “Dede catches my eye… She touches her glass and gives me the slightest nod. Don’t drink anything you are offered, the gesture reminds me. We’ve heard the stories. Young women drugged, then raped by El Jefe” (Alvarez 95) This small gesture Dede gives Minerva shows us how lucky Minerva is to have her sister watch out for her and to have Dede as another strong woman by her side during this dance where Trujillo could take advantage of her. It also shows us Trujillo’s evil, and the extent he was willing to go to in order to get his way. This proves Trujillo is a corrupt man. In addition to this, the pills handed to Minerva by Don Manuel are symbols of corruption, with those pills and the help of his SIM, Trujillo has drugged many young women and taken advantage of them. After Minerva is given this warning by her sister Trujillo’s partner, Don Manuel, asks minerva to dance. When she refuses due to a headache he jumps at the opportunity to drug her by offering her Calmantes (headache pills like “advil”) that he could easily swap out for drugs. she refuses saying she already has her own pills that patria hands to her very quickly
Minerva is able to show her courage at a dinner party thrown by Trujillo, the dictator at the time. At the party she went to reluctantly, Trujillo asks Minerva to dance. Knowing of Trujillo’s offensive past with females, she is hesitant to accept, but says
In 1938, Minerva’s father permitted her to go away to boarding school along with her two older sisters, Patria and Dedé. Alvarez’s writing on behalf of Minerva speaks volumes as to the point of view Minerva had growing up. “And that’s how I got free. I don’t mean just going to sleepaway school on a train with a trunkful of new things. I mean in my head after I got to Inmaculada and met Sinita and saw what happened to Lina and realized that I’d left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country,” (Alvarez 13). Minerva’s father, said that out of all his daughters, Minerva should have been born a boy. The other Mirabal sisters said that she was their father’s favorite daughter because Minerva acted the most like a son to him. She almost became the son he had always wanted, but never had. Due to her father’s influence, as Minerva grew up, she aspired to being a lawyer. Something which was unheard of for a woman in the ‘40s.
In both the movie, La Misma Luna, and the newspaper series, Enrique’s Journey, there is a demonstration of abuse of power. Judicial policemen, immigration officers, and bandits all take part in hurting migrants in various ways. If a migrant is lucky enough to make it across the borders, then they will most certainly have physical and emotional scars. They also have their own story of survival to tell. One of the main messages sent relating to this topic is immigration officers, judicial policemen, and bandits abuse their authority by beating, robbing, and raping vulnerable immigrants in fragile situations.
Serpico by Peter Maas is about how a man was a cop and stood by what he thought was right and wrong. It is about how in the 1960s there was a lot of corruption in the New York Police Department. It is about how a man deals with payoffs, shakedowns, drug dealers, etc. Serpico was one of those cops that couldn’t be paid off or be quiet with what has happened on the field. I have yet to read the whole book but I will discuss what I have read and the concepts that I understood.
In the early 1930’s, the Dominican Republic elected a new president by the name of Rafael Trujillo. Rafael Trujillo was a ruthless and selfish dictator even before he won the election. To win the election, he used his connections to kill supporters of the opposing candidates. Rafael Trujillo used his powers to oppress and murder masses of people (2 ”Rafael Trujillo”). Even though he was initially seen as a beneficial leader, Rafael Trujillo was proven to be an evil dictator.
In The Time of the Butterflies, chapter six briefly explain why Minerva action against Trujillo led to the sister death. Minerva slapping Trujillo in the face was a sign of bravery that she was not going to let Trujillo dilated her action like he did to a bunch of other women. It was clearly shown that Trujillo wasn’t going to let this slide by, instead build various events to make her suffer, making her commit to this actions which eventually will give Trujillo a reason for murdering the sisters’.“ pg 83-101”. This evidence shows that Minerva is willing to break out from the barriers that society and Trujillo dictatorship is implementing on them, and make a change for the better. “Women hold their beaded evening bags over their head, trying to protect their foundering hairdo after Minerva slap Trujillo”(pg 100). This shows how during the era that Trujillo govern fear was upon every individual that step in the shadow of Trujillo even if you didn 't have anything to do with it. “But el jefe has other plans for me,” A mind of her own, this little cibaeña”(Trujillo), her smirks, rubbing his cheek, then turns to Don Manuel”(pg 101). This evidence shows that Trujillo had other plans to handles his
The corruptive nature of power can be observed in both novels Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945) and The Wave by Todd Strasser (1981). In the wise words of Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Phrase Finder, 2012) The simple nature of mankind is to want power and when man achieves this, he gets addicted, wants more and thus becomes corrupt. This exploitation of dominance relates to when the dictator loses his moral values and abuses power purely for his own benefit and loses sight of what the initial goals were. Even the best intentions, such as those that were only just formed in Animal Farm and The Wave, can be distorted by the basic human instinct of selfishness
Over the course of the novel, the Mirabal sisters have shown a strong desire to be in the revolution and free their country from the cruel hands of Trujillo and his regime whilst putting their families in danger. Minerva is the first to give into the revolution as she leaves her children with her sisters and mother while she goes on to try and free the country. “I, who treasured my children more than my own life, couldn’t believe my sister would leave her son for anything…..”(155).Though abandoning her child must be a hard thing to do, Minerva does this, which strongly portrays her dedication to the revolution is stronger than her dedications to her children. They allow their homes to be ‘invaded’ by the revolutionaries; allow their hom...
Minerva found out at a young age that Trujillo was not the guy to play around with. Sinita
“had to be brave for Sinita.” (19). This “hero’s attitude” is further evident in Minerva’s interactions with her sisters. One poignant example of this heroism is seen when Maria Teresa confronts minerva about why she was going to secret meetings at Don Horacio’s house, and asks her why she's doing such a dangerous thing. Minerva responds that she wants maria teresa to grow up in a free country, perfectly illustrating how minerva is willing to sacrifice herself so that the people around her can grow up in a better
He had to get back at her by going through her family instead of going directly to her. Minerva was brave enough to slap the dictator. She was stronger than him, and she was incredible. Minerva was the most heroic of her sisters. She introduced her family to the rebellion.
As shown in literature, corruption and the abuse of power is an ongoing discussion. When it comes down to the point where people are being used and abused physically and psychologically, it creates a hostile environment for both the subjects and the abuser. As represented in the two similar texts Lord Of the Flies and “I Only Came to use the Phone”, corrupted authority and abuse of power usually end up leading to the collapse of a society or a world of chaos and violence.
Minerva does not try and escape even though she “is always sad like a house on fire—always something wrong. She has many troubles, but the big one is her husband who left and keeps leaving” (Cisneros 63). Minerva is clearly unhappy, but because she is accepting of her role and she will not leave him. She does not have the power to leave her husband and if she tried she would probably be beaten or worse. Esperanza wants to help Minerva but there is nothing that she can do for her: “Next week she comes over black and blue and asks what can she do? Minerva. I don’t know which way she’ll go. There is nothing I can do” (Cisneros 63). Esperanza knows that she cannot do anything for Minerva. It will take the power of Minerva removing herself from the abusive situation to actually save herself. Minerva having no power in her marriage is a clear relationship back to the theme of women accepting their role with men as their superior.
In 1910, the first social upheaval of the 20th century was unleashed in Mexico. Known as the Mexican Revolution, its historical importance and impact inspired an abundance of internationally renowned South American authors. Mariano Azuela is one of these, whose novel, "The Underdogs" is often described as a classic of modern Hispanic literature. Having served as a doctor under Pancho Villa, a revolutionary leader of the era, Azuela's experience in the Revolution provides The Underdogs with incomparable authenticity of the political and social tendencies of the era between 1910 and 1920. The Underdogs recounts the living conditions of the Mexican peasants, the corruption of the government troops, and the revolutionary zeal behind the inspiring causes of the revolution. In vivid detail and honest truth, Azuela reveals the actuality of the extent of turmoil that plagued Mexico and its people during the revolution. However, before one can acknowledge The Underdogs as a reflection of the Mexican Revolution one must have an understanding the political state of Mexico prior to the Revolution and the presidents who reigned during it.
Authority in a society is a necessary evil which when unfettered, results in the abuse of power. Power has long been considered a corrupting and a disrupting force in function and in influence. Underlying motives and greed fuel those who seek to gain and or abuse this power. The Crucible examines this twisted force as it corrupts societies’ clergy, blinds its justices, and empowers those who seek to abuse it. Arthur Miller shows how power can be a corrupting influence and how it can blind the judgment of authoritative figures.