In the Time of the Butterflies, The Year my Parents Went on Vacation, and Cautiva are three powerful stories that take place during the twentieth century in the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and Argentina. The stories all revolve around the political turmoil that was brought on by evil dictatorships, and raises a number of questions as to the moral dilemmas people were faced with. For example, In the Time of the Butterflies three sisters chose to go up against the dictatorship when knowing full well that they were risking their lives. In The Year my Parents Went on Vacation, Shlomo was faced with the decision of keeping the young boy Mauro, and risked his life in an attempt to track down Mauro’s parents. With Cautiva, the judge is faced with …show more content…
The author, Alvarez, uses the Mirabal sisters to portray different paths to resistance against political oppression, and illustrates why these sisters decided to go up against the dictatorship. Minerva is the first sister to learn the truth about the evil dictator, Rafael Trujillo. She is the second youngest, and is the most intellectual, as well as the most outspoken of the four sisters. After hearing that her school friend Sinita’s brother was killed by Trujillo, she decides to join the underground resistance. I think Minerva realized at that point what this dictatorship was all about, and decided that it must be stopped at all costs. Because this evil dictatorship stripped people of any rights, especially woman, which Minerva experienced first hand. She was prohibited for years from attending law school, and then when she got her degree, she was denied a license to practice. Additionally, her father employed similar violations against woman, being able to withhold education from his daughters, while at the same time secretly having a second family of daughters living in poverty. Accordingly, if nothing was done, then her children, along with everyone else, will have to live through the same oppressive dictatorship, which is no way to live. With that reasoning, I believe that gave her the courage to go out and fight for the future …show more content…
The story is about a 12-year-old boy named Mauro, who gets hurriedly dropped off to his grandfather Motel, by his parents who are left-wing political activist on the run out of fear of being captured by the brutal military regime. The parents tell Mauro that there going on vacation, and will be back for the World cup. Sadly, Mauro is left at the doorstep only to find that his grandfather had died. His father and grandfather were Jewish, and the neighborhood that he got dropped into was mainly Jewish inhabitants, whose language was mainly Yiddish. After waiting at the door for sometime, his grandfathers neighbor and friend Shlomo, comes home to find the waiting boy. Shlomo and the rest of the Jewish community are now face with a moral dilemma. Should the community take in a boy, raised as a “goy,” but the grandson of a recently departed member of their community? And if so, should Shlomo himself be the one to take on this duty? Being the compassionate caring community that they were, most of them agreed that the boy should be taken in, however; the Chief Rabbi tells Shlomo that God brought the boy to your doorstep, and therefore, Shlomo should take the boy, which I agree with. Not just because of God, but because it’s a 12-year-old boy we’re talking about. It would be our duty as human beings to take care of someone in such circumstances, in addition to the fact that Judaism demands that
Minerva is very rebellious, she doesn't like to listen when told to do something and she doesn't
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
Out of all the Mirabal sisters, being courageous was Minerva’s specialty to show how she feels without being verbal with her emotions, and to get her point across. Right from the beginning of the book Minerva chose to create actions that were not only courageous, but reckless. After Minerva found out about her other sisters she crashed her father’s Jeep into his Ford at his other lover’s house. As always, she wanted to make a scene, “My voice was as commanding as his. ‘You’ve lost my respect,’” (Alvarez 89). Her father was extremely disappointed with her, but she wanted him to know that what he was doing was extremely wrong. Crashing her father’s cars was definitely brave, and especially since she did it in front of her other family without any second thoughts. Towards the middle of the book, Minerva informed Mate about some things she did not know, “Manolo and Minerva have explained everything. A national underground is forming,” and this is when Minerva explained more about how they created a national underground to try to get everybody freedom no matter what happened (Alvarez 142). This national underground was a h...
not a hero in any big way, Minerva Mirabal was a typical woman who fought for what
When Minerva was young she didn’t see Trujillo as a tyrant. To her and everyone who was oblivious of what was going on; he was a strong dedicated leader. It wasn’t until she was put into Inmaculada Concepcion where a girl tells her about the “bad things”
Women are not only assumed to only take care of their family, but to not have the education that they do rightfully deserve. Women can contribute to the world as plentiful and gloriously as men can, but the chances are not given to them. For example, when Minerva tells Trujillo that she dreams of attending the University to study law, he replies "'The University is no place for a woman these days'" (99). Trujillo implies that by going to school to heighten her education, it would be ...
Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies is an account of the four Mirabal sisters’ lives in the Dominican Republic during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship. Three of the Mirabal sisters - Minerva, Patria and Maria Teresa sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom by participating in the underground movement which opposed Trujillo’s dictatorship. Their participation in the revolution was a threat to Trujillo’s power and this resulted in the three sisters being killed. The novel tells the story from the point of view of each of the four siblings. The sisters, also referred to as, “The Butterflies,” each had a different approach to dealing with life under Trujillo’s reign. Minerva, the first person from her family to join the revolution, was motivated by principles and she contributed consistently to the revolution. Dede is the only survivor from the Mirabal sisters’ family, this is because she did not participate in the revolution. However, she takes care of the deceased children and tells the story of
People who have a position in the government can start off doing good things for the people and country, but will become power hungry and want to be in control of every little thing. This hunger for power can be seen in the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, which demonstrates how the daily lives of the citizens in the Dominican Republic are affected under the rule of their oppressive ruler, Trujillo. Alvarez focuses on 4 sisters, the Mirabal family, who strive for equality and democratic rights. The 4 sisters have all been been oppressed by Trujillo´s ridiculous laws. Enforcing unnecessary laws on society makes sure that Trujillo stays in complete control, which compels the people to strive for more freedom and rights,
In the story, there are many examples of women who suffer from a lack of an education. One of the Mirabal sisters, Patria, has a dream of becoming a nun, but Papa does not support her. “It started with Patria wanting to be a nun. Mamá was all for having religion in the family, but Papá did not approve in the least. More than once, he said that Patria as a nun would be a waste of a pretty girl. He only said that once in front of Mamá, but he repeated it often enough to me.” (Ch. 2 pg. 11) Papa believes that a woman cannot be more than a pretty face, that they should not pursue their interests and have an equal position in society. This describes that women were not allowed to become more than they could be. When Minerva tells her family that she aspires to become a lawyer, her mother does not take her seriously: Ay, Dios mío, spare me." Mamá sighs, but playfulness has come back into her voice. "Just what we need, skirts in the law!"(Ch. 1 Pg. 10) This shows that even Mama believes that women should not have a say in certain matters because she has a notion that women were not cut out for things like politics. Sometimes, even the women agree that they should not have equal representation as men. Mama seems to imply that it may be better for woman to preserve one’s innocence and integrity by avoiding politics. Minerva again argues that women deserve equality in their society. This is because at that time, the thought of a woman studying law was unusual. No one believed that a woman would be capable of studying law, which proved that women were not considered equal. Even though women were not given equal opportunities as men, the sisters fought for equality, and
Four years of my life drained away at this place called Troy High School. After this year I will be walking away from Troy, worn and torn from the hours of anticipation for grades to be posted, the next weekend to arrive, the answer to whether that special someone will say yes to the next dance, or the unbearable wait for that painstaking bell to ring. Troy is a place of education, a very good one at that, with its Blue Ribbon Award and national recognition, you’d think I would be walking away with knowledge that will serve me well for decades to come, but no. I could have learned the same things I learned at Troy anywhere, it is the insight I picked up that will take me far. “What insight?” you ask. Its priceless wisdom really, it’s a shame too many people overlook it or take it for granted. You see there are some basic classes every Troy student takes, that in the long run prove to be very useful beyond their educational platforms. Take the Troy Tech classes, they offer more than just facts about 1s and 0s and codes of programming. Looking deeper into what is learned in these classes one can pick up the Zen like teachings. Bases, the fact that a ‘10’ can be any number, depending on its base, touches upon the idea how in the real world people seem to be the utmost characters of greatness but the more you get to know them, and their base, they can turn to be someone better or more often then not, something worse than what you first anticipated. In the course of programming we learn that there are several ways to solving a problem, just some are shorter than others and some easier to find the bugs, it depends on the commands you use. Such as how in life when using the right commands, or truths, will get you far, while some just tak...
“Jaimito think its suicide. He told me that he will leave me if I get mixed up in those things”. Here is where Dede confesses the truth about her participation with the Mariposas. Although later on she claims to be leaving Jaimito. Dede knew that she needed to join her sisters this was the only way she was going to show her loyalty to the “Mariposas”. Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa husbands were all involved with the “Mariposas” movement. Could this be the reason why they were so committed and involved with the “Mariposas” movement? The support that all their husbands gave them through the journey guided them to influent the change, and to them it was very important. We all ask ourselves could this be another reason why Dede felt so strong about getting people to hear he story, to find the interest in it. Dede made her family home into a museum, this way people can see how they lived when it all began. There is also a monument that tourist or native Dominican that would like to know the story of the Mirabal Sisters. Why is this so important? Its known that a lot of Dominican or people all around the world do not know the story of the Mirabal sisters and what they died for; the truth behind the lies and the unrealistic story telling. Dede’s accomplishment was to let everyone now what happened to her sisters to her father and how Trujillo dictated
This is evident in two key moments in the story, both of which involve Minerva’s sisters. In the first, the manifestation of her inspiring Maria Teresa comes when Maria Teresa stands up to her. Behind the virgin mary, maria teresa is infuriated that Minerva won't tell her what they’re talking about so she confronts her about their conversation. This is very similar to the attitude that Minerva would have had in this situation, further illustrating Minerva’s inspiration of Maria Teresa. A second demonstration of Minerva’s inspiring courage in others, once again, comes through Maria Teresa joining of the revolution. While some will say that Maria Teresa’s real reason for joining the revolution came in the form of the man delivering guns, it’s clearly evident that without her sister's involvement in the rebellion, she would not have joined. This shows Minerva true inspirational impact. Even without being the principal reason for her sister’s decision to join the rebellion, the fact that she was a major part of the rebellion, a leader of the rebellion even, was enough for Maria
Maria Teresa’s cautiousness and sensitivity remain consistent during the revolution, while her consideration for others changes. Maria Teresa is exceedingly careful throughout her life starting with her relationships with men, and carrying her into her revolutionary skills. Her emotional fragileness is responsible for her many breakdowns, both major and minor, during her life. When Maria Teresa becomes imprisoned, she loses sight of her consideration and focuses on getting herself home. Although her life was cut short due to a tyrannical leader, Maria Teresa Mirabal made her mark on history as a strong, beautiful butterfly.
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.
My favorite summer vacation was when my Father took me to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. What made it even more memorable was the fact that it was my very first time on an airplane. I cannot recall another time in my life when I experienced so much joy. That trip to Universal Studios was the first time my Father and I actually did something together, just the two of us and was something brought me close to my Father. In this essay I will tell you about my plane ride over there, what I did right when I got there, and about my time at Universal Studios.