In the Time of the Butterflies

Dominican-American Julia Alvarez’s now classic novel illuminates a part of history previously absent from English literature. In the Time of the Butterflies (1994) takes place from 1938 to 1960 and tells the story of the courageous Mirabal sisters and their opposition to Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. The novel dramatizes the lives of women who became seen as martyrs and symbols of the resistance, but it also humanizes them. Throughout In the Time of the Butterflies, the four Mirabal sisters are, first and foremost, women: sisters, mothers, wives, and daughters. Alvarez's novel celebrates these identities as well as their identities as revolutionaries.

In the Time of the Butterflies: Background Information

In the Time of the Butterflies (1994) is a historical fiction novel by Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez. The novel tells the story of the four Mirabal sisters, known as the Mariposas or butterflies, in their resistance to the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Julia Alvarez’s novel was the first piece of English-language literature to delve into this period of Dominican history, and it became an immediate classic of Latinx literature.

In the Time of the Butterflies: Summary

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is divided into three parts and an epilogue. Each part is divided into four chapters, one for each of the Mirabal sisters.

Part One: 1938 to 1946

Part one begins with Dedé, the only surviving Mirabal sister, in her home in the Dominican Republic in 1994. She is waiting for a reporter to arrive who wants to ask Dedé some questions about her sisters. When she arrives, Dedé gives her a tour of the family home, explaining which room belonged to each family member. She then recounts the memory she refers to as “zero” (Chapter 1), the starting point of her family’s story.

The whole family was together: the sisters Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa, along with their mother and father. Unthinkingly, their father, Papá, made a joke about Trujillo, the president of the Dominican Republic, and the whole family fell silent, fearing secret spies and retribution for the dangerous comment.

The story then shifts to Minerva’s perspective from 1938 to 1944. She tells of her time attending the boarding school Inmaculada Concepción where she first began to learn of the corruption of Trujillo’s regime. She makes friends with a girl, Sinita, who claims that many of the men in her family were killed after uncovering Trujillo’s misdeeds. This is the first that Minerva learns about the reality of Trujillo’s government.

In the Time of the Butterflies takes place in the Dominican Republic between 1938 and 1960. Pixabay

María Teresa graduates and begins attending the university. She finally learns that Minerva and Manolo are part of an underground resistance movement. María Teresa also joins the movement and marries another member named Palomino, or Leandro. María Teresa and Minerva become known by the code names Mariposa and Mariposa (#2).

The Mirabal sisters become known as Las Mariposas, Spanish for butterflies. Pixabay.

In 1959, Patria takes over the story. She is pregnant with another child and cares for Minerva’s baby while she and Manolo travel for their rebel activities. Patria’s eldest son is also becoming part of the resistance, and she worries for his safety and for the stable life she has built.

She travels into the mountains to participate in a religious retreat, but the government bombs the area. Patria is unharmed, but the experience, especially witnessing the death of a young boy, affects her deeply, and she returns ready to commit herself to the resistance.

Part Three: 1960

Back in the present day of the novel, Dedé’s niece, Minou, asks why she didn’t take part in the resistance with her sisters.

In 1960, Dedé’s husband, Jaimito, has no interest in joining the resistance, and Dedé is afraid to contradict him. She wants to join her sisters, but Jaimito threatens to take her children away, and so Dedé relents.

The next week, Trujillo’s secret police begin arresting the Mirabal sisters and other members of their underground cell. There are rumors that Trujillo wants Minerva killed, and Dedé fears for her sisters’ safety.

Patria next describes her experiences with her son, husband, and sisters that were all imprisoned. She takes refuge in her faith and eventually receives permission to visit her family members in jail.

María Teresa writes in her diary describing her daily life in prison. She is often ill and is tortured by the prison guards, causing her to think she might be pregnant. When Patria begins visiting, they sneak notes in and out by braiding them into María Teresa’s hair, and the prisoners learn that there is a plot to assassinate Trujillo underway.

Throughout In the Time of the Butterflies, María Teresa records her story by writing in her diary. Pixabay

María Teresa and Minerva are imprisoned for seven months. Following their release to house arrest, Minerva takes up the story. Mamá does not allow Minerva to listen to the radio or receive much news from the outside.

The husbands of Minerva, Patria, and María Teresa are still imprisoned, and the women receive permission to make weekly visits. They are warned against making these visits; rumors circulate that Trujillo wants the Mariposas dead, and it is unsafe for the women to travel alone, especially on the mountain roads that lead to the prison.

The sisters consider the possibility of being ambushed, but they make the journey to visit their husbands anyway.

In the Time of the Butterflies: Epilogue

The epilogue is narrated by Dedé. She describes how her sisters and their driver were murdered on the mountain pass, put back in their Jeep, and then pushed over a cliff. Since their death, Dedé has dedicated her life to preserving their memory. She lives in the family home and raises her sisters’ children, along with Mamá.

She sells life insurance and has won a trip for selling more than any other employee. She plans to go to Canada to visit a man she met in Spain the previous year.

In the Time of the Butterflies: Key Characters

• Patria is the eldest of the Mirabal sisters. She is highly religious and considers becoming a nun before she falls in love. She and her husband have three children, and she joins the revolutionary cause after she witnesses an attack by the government while on a religious retreat in the mountains.

• Dedé is the second Mirabal sister. She is more timid and not as courageous as her sisters, and she never joins the revolutionary movement. She claims that this was because of her husband’s opposition—yet also admits that she knows this is an excuse. After her sisters are murdered, she continues to live in the family home. She raises her sisters’ children and commits herself to preserving their memory.

• Minerva is the third Mirabal sister. From an early age, she is the most headstrong and outspoken of the sisters. As a child, she dreams of going to law school and is always ready to discuss politics. She is the first sister to become part of the revolutionary movement and is the first to be known by the code name Mariposa, or butterfly.

• María Teresa is the youngest Mirabal sister. She is nicknamed Mate by her family, and her identity as the baby follows her throughout the novel, even as she grows into a woman. María Teresa becomes a part of the revolutionary movement after learning about Minerva’s involvement and falling in love with another of the revolutionaries.

• Rafael Trujillo, also known as El Jefe or the Benefactor, is the dictator of the Dominican Republic. He appears several times in the novel and interacts particularly with Minerva.

• Mamá is a simple woman. She cannot read or write, but she is a brave and loving mother. She is committed to protecting her family as they become more and more involved in the resistance.

• Papá is a kind and loving father. However, he also holds traditional expectations for his daughters. Furthermore, he has been unfaithful to his wife and has a secret family of four additional daughters living in a nearby house.

In the Time of the Butterflies: Key Themes and Quotes

Some important themes in In the Time of the Butterflies include courage, freedom and captivity, and women and femininity.

Courage

Courage and bravery are important themes throughout In the Time of the Butterflies, as the Mirabal sisters stand up to one of history’s most violent dictators. However, their courage is never a given; the women are not fearless; they go on in spite of their fear. Minerva is generally the bravest and the most outspoken out of the sisters. She is the first to join the revolutionary cause, closely followed by María Teresa. Patria, though initially reluctant, finds courage in her religious conviction.

Dedé is the sister that struggles the most to find her courage. While she wants to support her sisters and their cause, her husband is opposed, and she cannot find the bravery to challenge him.

Freedom and captivity

The Mirabal sisters are involved in the struggle to free the Dominican Republic from the oppressive dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. However, the contrast between freedom and captivity permeates other aspects of the novel. The girls also fight for their freedom as women after spending their childhood under their father’s control. Later, the sisters must contend with society’s limited expectations for women.

The Mirabal sisters, as well as their husbands and other members of their families, are also physically imprisoned at various points throughout the novel.

Other characters throughout the novel also literally and symbolically seek freedom. The Mirabal sisters' father, for example, hides a secret family, perhaps because he feels imprisoned or confined by his original family.

Women and femininity

In the Time of the Butterflies is a novel about brave revolutionaries, yet the Mirabal sisters are first and foremost portrayed as women: mothers, daughters, and sisters. The novel is also very much a coming-of-age story. María Teresa is only ten years old when she begins writing in her journal, and all the rites of passage that one would expect to find in a house full of sisters—menstruation, crushes, and first kisses—are prominent in the novel.

The sisters ultimately fulfill society’s expectation of marriage and children, but they do it on their own terms, allowing their femininity and identity as women to exist alongside their identity as revolutionaries.