The Butterflies Gender Roles

In Julia Alvarez’s novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, the story is set mostly in the time period of the Trujillo dictatorship. This period from the 1930’s-60’s was a brutal regime led by Rafael Trujillo, who was known for ruling by fear. Those who were to oppose his rule would often end up missing, due to them being ordered to be killed. During this novel, the Mirabal sisters bravely stood up to Trujillo and joined the resistance, with their goal being to take him out of power, and to liberate the Dominican Republic. The Mirabal sisters defy gender roles throughout the story that were set in that time period. Applying a gender theory lens, one can see these gender roles being broken through some of these sisters’ words and actions, along

When the Mirabal sisters were growing up, their father had a whole separate family with children, and he kept it secret from his family. When asked why he had this affair, he replies with “cosa de los hombres”, or “things a man does” (92). This quote shows how infidelity was accepted during that time, and how the women couldn’t do anything about it. It was just naturally accepted. Men cheated, and that was socially okay. Another instances was how Minerva’s husband, Manolo, was already engaged to another woman when he met Minerva. When Minerva finally tells Mate about the man she’s been seeing and how the man is already engaged, Mate calls him a “Two-timer” (123). Immediately afterwards, Minerva defends his behavior, and Mate changes her mind about him. She thinks “I guess she’s right” (123), as if to suddenly realize that infidelity is okay, as long as her sister is benefitting from it. Cheating was so common with men around this time, it was socially acceptable, so when Mate hears about Minerva’s new boyfriend being engaged, it doesn’t take much for her to accept it. Even Minerave doesn’t care whatsoever that her new boyfriend is engaged. She isn’t worried about him cheating on her in the future, because the behavior is so