Butterflies: Family and Story

Conflict The main conflict in “Butterflies” is that the teacher and the granddaughter don't exactly understand each other and hold their different opinions on butterflies. It all began with the young girl writing a story and drawing a picture of her killing the butterflies. The teacher didn’t understand the reason behind this and tried to convert the young girl by telling her butterflies are beautiful creatures and they are harmless. There isn't a firm resolution to this conflict, but we do learn a bit more about it when the grandfather helps make the reason the girl wrote the story clearer. It all leads to the main theme, which shows the difference in perspective from two different cultures and that things aren't as always what they seem. Patricia Grace does show through the story that cultural differences can alter one's perspective, and the realization of this is never acknowledged by the narrator. This is because one, it is a short story, and two, there isn't any direct contact made by the teacher in the story. We also only figure out the reasoning behind the grandparent's view at the end of the story, which leaves room for interpretation on the behalf of the reader. A solution doesn't seem to be approaching in the near future, but it seems as if a solution isn't needed. The teacher believes that the views of the student arebn't corect, and butterflies are beautiful creatures that deserve admiration instead of cruel and violent deaths (as these may be proved to traumatizing for the poor little creatures). There isn't really a protagonist or antagonist, but in a snese the girl could be considered a protagonist and the teeacher, an antagonist. The girl is innocent and molded by the people who are around her. The teacher has definite opinions and seems somewhat obdurate. By providing some explanation for the view of both, the author makes both view understandable.