Please respond to anything that particularly interested you in the first half of In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Here are some prompts to get you started thinking:
- What do you think makes some of the characters resist authority while others bow to it? What different kinds of things politicize certain characters, make them more aware of injustice? Please cite some examples from specific characters in the book.
- What do you think it means that this book is historical fiction? In such a work, how true to the “real” facts of what happened do you believe an author needs to be? What kinds of things in the novel do you think may have been invented by Alvarez? Does this fictionalizing of real history bother you at all?
- What about the “butterflies” of the novel’s title? Why were the Mirabal sisters called the butterflies? What do you think are the mythic or symbolic elements of this title?
- Why do you think Alvarez chose to structure the book with the writer figure, the “gringa Dominican” (perhaps a stand-in for Alvarez herself?) visiting Dedé long after the events of the novel have taken place? We could simply have begun with the story of the Mirabal family itself. Why include the outside frame? What do you think Alvarez gains with this choice?
- Why do you think the Mirabal parents’ relationship is important in the novel? How did you feel about Papa’s hidden, secret family? Did you have sympathy for him or not? How do you think Mama contends with the troubled relationship?
- Talk about religion and the Mirabal sisters’ relationship to it.
In Chapter 6, we as readers focus on Minerva. The line, “What do you want, Minerva Mirabal?” introduces the chapter and poses an important question that further sets the tone and theme of the rest of this novel. Soon, we find out about Papa’s other family when Minerva restlessly drives backroads in an attempt to take her mind off of her seemingly stationary life. This finding is quite jarring, yet her initial reaction is calm and unbothered. She sees herself in these young girls and feels a sense of satisfaction that her father still was never able to have a son, despite the fact he has this secret family. My initial reaction to her father’s secret family was anger and disappointment. It saddened me because Minerva mentions time and time again her overall dislikement of men, and here her father now falls into this category. She is in a constant state of searching and this situation only heightens her search for her sense of self. And then, she finds these letters addressed to her that she never got to know about, leading her to further speculate what her life could have been. She says, “I forgot my earlier ambivalence, and I blamed Papa for everything: his young woman, his hurting Mamá, his cooping me up while he went gallivanting around” (Alvarez 112). Her realization of this only made me sympathize more with her and her mother and less with her father. This is a pivotal moment in the novel as we see this feminine rage ignited in Minerva as she confronts her father by crashing into his car without saying a word. My sympathy is lessened even further as he continues to hit her with the notion of “respect.”
Alvarez chose to structure the book with the writer figure, the “gringa Dominican,” visiting Dedé, the surviving sister, long after the events of the novel have taken place for several reasons. By framing the story with an outsider’s perspective, Alvarez provides readers with context and reflection on the historical events. This outside perspective enables readers, especially those unfamiliar with Dominican history, to gain a deeper understanding of the political and social context in which the Mirabal sisters lived and fought.
Additionally, the choice to include the outside frame adds layers of complexity to the narrative. By focusing on Dedé’s life after the deaths of her sisters, Alvarez explores the long-lasting effects of trauma, loss, and survivor’s guilt. Dedé’s perspective allows readers to see the aftermath of the sisters’ bravery and the impact of their actions on the surviving family members. This choice humanizes the characters and emphasizes the personal sacrifices made by the Mirabal sisters and their loved ones.
Alvarez’s choice to structure the book with the writer figure visiting Dedé long after the events of the novel have taken place enhances the narrative by providing context, exploring the lasting impact of the sisters’ actions, and emphasizing the importance of storytelling and memory. Through this framing device, Alvarez creates an explicit, yet multifaceted portrayal of the Mirabal sisters’ legacy, making “In the Time of the Butterflies” a compelling and thought-provoking read.