Chapter Summary Of Trujillo's 'Voice Of God'
"A chill goes through her, for she feels it in her bones, the future is now beginning. By the time it is over, it will be the past, and she doesn't want to be the only one left to tell their story."
Chapter 1, page 10
Dede feels this chill as her family moves inside from under the anacahuita tree, where they have been relaxing, after her father mistakenly mentions Trujillo's name in an unfavorable way. For Dede in 1994, this is "the moment she has fixed in her memory as zero," when the events that led to the deaths of her sisters began. Already there are spies who can report the family to Security for her father's negative comment. This quotation also foreshadows the known outcome of the family's history: earlier in the chapter, it has …show more content…
been established that Dede is, in fact, "the only one left to tell their story."
"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 just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country."
Chapter 2, page 13
Minerva uses "free" to mean enlightened; at Inmaculada Concepcion, she realizes that the Trujillo she has believed in does not exist, and the seeds of a revolutionary are sown within her. This use of "free" fits with the idea of a liberating, "liberal" education. The cage metaphor recalls the theme of entrapment; because of the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, none of its citizens is truly free except in the way Minerva describes here. Thoughts, at least, are free. Also, her home had been a cage of rules, while the country is a cage of violence and authoritarian rule.
"We've traveled almost the full length of the island and can report that every corner of it is wet, every river overflows its banks, every rain barrel is filled to the brim, every wall washed clean of writing no one knows how to read anyway."
Chapter 6, page 117
Minerva is driving back from the capital with her parents after Enrique Mirabal, now insane, is released from prison. The rainy weather is the physical incarnation of the metaphorical storm that began for the Mirabal family when Minerva slapped Trujillo at the Discovery Day dance: "And then the rain comes down hard, slapping sheets of it." It also represents Trujillo's power; the island is saturated in wetness as well as in the influence of the dictatorship. This quotation thus demonstrates the authoritarian theme that permeates the novel.
"Voz del pueblo, voz del cielo."
Chapter 9, page 199
This means, "Talk of the people, voice of God," and it is an old proverb.
Dede says it to Minerva as she tries to convince her that the rumors that Trujillo wants her dead are not silly. She takes it to mean that popular opinion is always right, and in this case, it is. Minerva refuses to listen to her sister, calling the talk "silly rumors," but this is a mistake and she is killed. Mama also uses this proverb to warn Minerva about traveling to visit Puerto Plata. This phrase also is the title of the last section of the last chapter of the novel, told from Minerva's point of view. It is as if this section serves as proof that rumors are usually true, that the people have a certain wisdom, and that one should take warnings …show more content…
seriously.
"She took both my hands in hers as if we were getting ready to jump together into a deep spot in the lagoon of Ojo de Agua. 'Breathe slowly and deeply,' she intoned, 'slowly and deeply.'
"I pictured myself on a hot day falling, slowly and deeply, into those cold layers of water. I held on tight to my sister's hands, no longer afraid of anything but that she might let go."
Chapter 3, page 39
After Minerva tells Maria Teresa about the secret meetings she has been attending at Don Horacio's house, they have this experience together. It is the moment that Maria Teresa becomes part of the revolutionary movement, if only symbolically. By lying for her sister about their (not so) ill Tio Mon, she demonstrated her loyalty, but now she understands what she was lying about, and she is demonstrating her allegiance.
"What did I want? I didn't know anymore. Three years stuck in Ojo de Agua, and I was like that princess put to sleep in the fairy tale. I read and complained and argued with Dede, but all that time I was snoring away.
"When I met Lio, it was as if I woke up. The givens, all I'd been taught, fell away like so many covers when you sit up in bed."
Chapter 6, page 86
It is interesting here that Alvarez has Minerva use the metaphor of a princess in a fairy tale, since Minerva, of all the sisters, represents a reversal in the traditional role of women. Lio, the revolutionary, inspires her and changes the course of her life. Waking up is representative of realizing how she can become involved in the revolution and bring about change in her own life, by having something to dedicate herself to instead of "snoring away," as well as representing how she can bring about change for the Dominican Republic.
"And on the third day He rose again ..."
Chapter 10
Patria repeats this phrase as a mantra throughout Chapter 10. It is a reference to Jesus' rising from the dead on Easter, and it reflects the struggle Patria has felt throughout the novel to reconcile her heavenly self with her responsibilities on earth. She draws a connection between herself and Jesus; she is going through her own trials, waiting for her son, Nelson, to be released from prison. The theme of Trujillo trucking on Jesus' reputation is interlaced with her own connection to Jesus, for she prays to Trujillo every time she passes his portrait. She prays to him, "Take me instead, I'll be your sacrificial lamb."
The theme of entrapment is apparent in Dede's reaction to the telegram Mama shows her on the morning after the girls' death. When they receive the telegram and think that the girls might be alive, "my heart in my rib cage was a bird that suddenly began to sing. Hope!" This metaphor shows a cage around the whole island of the Dominican Republic, taking it inward, to the personal level. Dede has been trapped by her own fear (she keeps her heart safe inside the cage of her own soul), and the telegram gives her a bit of short-lived hope; the caged bird sings.
Dede receives the seashell Manolo sends to Minou but decides not to give it to Minou right away, keeping her father's death a secret from her. This decision is reminiscent of her decision to burn Lio's letter to Minerva, Minou's mother, instead of delivering the invitation to come away with him. At this point in her life, Dede is still making other people's decisions for them, deciding to protect people from the recklessness of those who love them.
After Dede and Mama pack a bag to bring to the hospital, however, they receive the news that the girls are dead. They drive the bodies of the girls and Rufino home from the morgue slowly, with Dede standing in the back of the pick-up with the coffins. As they pass the SIM post, Dede yells, "Assassins!" at it. Jaimito has to gun the motor so she is not heard and killed as well. When she says that she would rather be dead with her sisters, he tells her, "This is your martyrdom, Dede, to be alive without them."
The sisters often struggle with their perceived role as traditional women who do not take part in politics and public life. In the first chapter, Minerva’s frustration is apparent when Mama comments, “Just what we need, skirts in the law!” Minerva argues, however, “It is just what this country needs ... It’s about time we women had a voice in running our country.”
In Chapter 4, Patria worries about Minerva getting worked up about the government.
She says to her little sister, “It’s a dirty business, you’re right. That’s why we women shouldn’t get involved.” The argument here is that it may be better to preserve one’s innocence and integrity by avoiding politics. Minerva again argues, however, on the basis of an equality principle: “women had to come out of the dark ages.”
Speaking to the female interviewer, Dede addresses a theme: “‘Back in those days, we women followed our husbands.’ Such a silly excuse. After all, look at Minerva. ‘Let’s put it this way,’ Dede adds. ‘I followed my husband. I didn’t get involved.’” She is aware that she is using tradition as an excuse for not having supported her sisters, something for which she still feels guilty.
Much of the action of In the Time of the Butterflies occurs during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. The novel portrays many instances of how the authoritarian state permeates life for the Mirabel sisters and the other characters. For instance, they must watch what they say since there are spies hiding outside their house. Even those citizens who are not suspected rebels are afraid to speak openly, since they cannot trust their own
neighbors.
In the first chapter, before the Mirabel family comes under any suspicion, their relaxing evening outdoors is ruined when Papa accidentally says Trujillo’s name in a less than flattering way. All of a sudden, “the dark fills with spies who are paid to hear things and report them down at Security.”
The authoritarian regime of Trujillo is linked to other dictatorships by Maria Teresa in Chapter 7, when she describes the march that she and the other women must participate in before the start of classes: “It looked like the newsreels of Hitler and the Italian one with the name that sounds like fettuccine,” namely, Mussolini. In Chapter 12, the theme of authoritarianism is clear when Minerva and Dede are brought into the police station in Monte Cristi. Minerva mentions that Captain Pena has given them permission to travel there, but a veiled threat is perceived in the officer who is questioning them: “The paroxysm of blinking made me pity the poor man. His own terror was a window that opened onto the rotten weakness at the heart of Trujillo’s system.” Though Minerva recognizes that the fear instilled in all the officers of the authoritarian regime is ultimately a “weakness,” for now it is what holds the regime in power.
Characters
María Argentina Minerva Mirabal, the third Mirabal sister, and the one most wrapped up in the revolution. She and her revolutionary husband, Manolo Tavarez, have two children: Minou and Manolito.
Patria, the oldest of the Mirabal sisters, she is the most religious. At first she planned to enter a convent but then chose to marry Pedrito Gonzales at the age of 16. Her full name is Patria Mercedes Mirabal.
Bélgica Adela "Dedé" Mirabal-Reyes, the second oldest of the Mirabal sisters, and the only one to survive the Trujillo regime. She is married to Jaimito during the action of the story, but the reader learns that they divorced in 1984. They have three sons: Enrique, Rafael, and David.
Antonia María Teresa Mirabal, or "Mate," the youngest Mirabal sister. Her sections of In the Time of the Butterflies are narrated in diary form. She is married to Leandro Guzman.
Chapter 1, page 10
Dede feels this chill as her family moves inside from under the anacahuita tree, where they have been relaxing, after her father mistakenly mentions Trujillo's name in an unfavorable way. For Dede in 1994, this is "the moment she has fixed in her memory as zero," when the events that led to the deaths of her sisters began. Already there are spies who can report the family to Security for her father's negative comment. This quotation also foreshadows the known outcome of the family's history: earlier in the chapter, it has …show more content…
been established that Dede is, in fact, "the only one left to tell their story."
"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 just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country."
Chapter 2, page 13
Minerva uses "free" to mean enlightened; at Inmaculada Concepcion, she realizes that the Trujillo she has believed in does not exist, and the seeds of a revolutionary are sown within her. This use of "free" fits with the idea of a liberating, "liberal" education. The cage metaphor recalls the theme of entrapment; because of the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, none of its citizens is truly free except in the way Minerva describes here. Thoughts, at least, are free. Also, her home had been a cage of rules, while the country is a cage of violence and authoritarian rule.
"We've traveled almost the full length of the island and can report that every corner of it is wet, every river overflows its banks, every rain barrel is filled to the brim, every wall washed clean of writing no one knows how to read anyway."
Chapter 6, page 117
Minerva is driving back from the capital with her parents after Enrique Mirabal, now insane, is released from prison. The rainy weather is the physical incarnation of the metaphorical storm that began for the Mirabal family when Minerva slapped Trujillo at the Discovery Day dance: "And then the rain comes down hard, slapping sheets of it." It also represents Trujillo's power; the island is saturated in wetness as well as in the influence of the dictatorship. This quotation thus demonstrates the authoritarian theme that permeates the novel.
"Voz del pueblo, voz del cielo."
Chapter 9, page 199
This means, "Talk of the people, voice of God," and it is an old proverb.
Dede says it to Minerva as she tries to convince her that the rumors that Trujillo wants her dead are not silly. She takes it to mean that popular opinion is always right, and in this case, it is. Minerva refuses to listen to her sister, calling the talk "silly rumors," but this is a mistake and she is killed. Mama also uses this proverb to warn Minerva about traveling to visit Puerto Plata. This phrase also is the title of the last section of the last chapter of the novel, told from Minerva's point of view. It is as if this section serves as proof that rumors are usually true, that the people have a certain wisdom, and that one should take warnings …show more content…
seriously.
"She took both my hands in hers as if we were getting ready to jump together into a deep spot in the lagoon of Ojo de Agua. 'Breathe slowly and deeply,' she intoned, 'slowly and deeply.'
"I pictured myself on a hot day falling, slowly and deeply, into those cold layers of water. I held on tight to my sister's hands, no longer afraid of anything but that she might let go."
Chapter 3, page 39
After Minerva tells Maria Teresa about the secret meetings she has been attending at Don Horacio's house, they have this experience together. It is the moment that Maria Teresa becomes part of the revolutionary movement, if only symbolically. By lying for her sister about their (not so) ill Tio Mon, she demonstrated her loyalty, but now she understands what she was lying about, and she is demonstrating her allegiance.
"What did I want? I didn't know anymore. Three years stuck in Ojo de Agua, and I was like that princess put to sleep in the fairy tale. I read and complained and argued with Dede, but all that time I was snoring away.
"When I met Lio, it was as if I woke up. The givens, all I'd been taught, fell away like so many covers when you sit up in bed."
Chapter 6, page 86
It is interesting here that Alvarez has Minerva use the metaphor of a princess in a fairy tale, since Minerva, of all the sisters, represents a reversal in the traditional role of women. Lio, the revolutionary, inspires her and changes the course of her life. Waking up is representative of realizing how she can become involved in the revolution and bring about change in her own life, by having something to dedicate herself to instead of "snoring away," as well as representing how she can bring about change for the Dominican Republic.
"And on the third day He rose again ..."
Chapter 10
Patria repeats this phrase as a mantra throughout Chapter 10. It is a reference to Jesus' rising from the dead on Easter, and it reflects the struggle Patria has felt throughout the novel to reconcile her heavenly self with her responsibilities on earth. She draws a connection between herself and Jesus; she is going through her own trials, waiting for her son, Nelson, to be released from prison. The theme of Trujillo trucking on Jesus' reputation is interlaced with her own connection to Jesus, for she prays to Trujillo every time she passes his portrait. She prays to him, "Take me instead, I'll be your sacrificial lamb."
The theme of entrapment is apparent in Dede's reaction to the telegram Mama shows her on the morning after the girls' death. When they receive the telegram and think that the girls might be alive, "my heart in my rib cage was a bird that suddenly began to sing. Hope!" This metaphor shows a cage around the whole island of the Dominican Republic, taking it inward, to the personal level. Dede has been trapped by her own fear (she keeps her heart safe inside the cage of her own soul), and the telegram gives her a bit of short-lived hope; the caged bird sings.
Dede receives the seashell Manolo sends to Minou but decides not to give it to Minou right away, keeping her father's death a secret from her. This decision is reminiscent of her decision to burn Lio's letter to Minerva, Minou's mother, instead of delivering the invitation to come away with him. At this point in her life, Dede is still making other people's decisions for them, deciding to protect people from the recklessness of those who love them.
After Dede and Mama pack a bag to bring to the hospital, however, they receive the news that the girls are dead. They drive the bodies of the girls and Rufino home from the morgue slowly, with Dede standing in the back of the pick-up with the coffins. As they pass the SIM post, Dede yells, "Assassins!" at it. Jaimito has to gun the motor so she is not heard and killed as well. When she says that she would rather be dead with her sisters, he tells her, "This is your martyrdom, Dede, to be alive without them."
The sisters often struggle with their perceived role as traditional women who do not take part in politics and public life. In the first chapter, Minerva’s frustration is apparent when Mama comments, “Just what we need, skirts in the law!” Minerva argues, however, “It is just what this country needs ... It’s about time we women had a voice in running our country.”
In Chapter 4, Patria worries about Minerva getting worked up about the government.
She says to her little sister, “It’s a dirty business, you’re right. That’s why we women shouldn’t get involved.” The argument here is that it may be better to preserve one’s innocence and integrity by avoiding politics. Minerva again argues, however, on the basis of an equality principle: “women had to come out of the dark ages.”
Speaking to the female interviewer, Dede addresses a theme: “‘Back in those days, we women followed our husbands.’ Such a silly excuse. After all, look at Minerva. ‘Let’s put it this way,’ Dede adds. ‘I followed my husband. I didn’t get involved.’” She is aware that she is using tradition as an excuse for not having supported her sisters, something for which she still feels guilty.
Much of the action of In the Time of the Butterflies occurs during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. The novel portrays many instances of how the authoritarian state permeates life for the Mirabel sisters and the other characters. For instance, they must watch what they say since there are spies hiding outside their house. Even those citizens who are not suspected rebels are afraid to speak openly, since they cannot trust their own
neighbors.
In the first chapter, before the Mirabel family comes under any suspicion, their relaxing evening outdoors is ruined when Papa accidentally says Trujillo’s name in a less than flattering way. All of a sudden, “the dark fills with spies who are paid to hear things and report them down at Security.”
The authoritarian regime of Trujillo is linked to other dictatorships by Maria Teresa in Chapter 7, when she describes the march that she and the other women must participate in before the start of classes: “It looked like the newsreels of Hitler and the Italian one with the name that sounds like fettuccine,” namely, Mussolini. In Chapter 12, the theme of authoritarianism is clear when Minerva and Dede are brought into the police station in Monte Cristi. Minerva mentions that Captain Pena has given them permission to travel there, but a veiled threat is perceived in the officer who is questioning them: “The paroxysm of blinking made me pity the poor man. His own terror was a window that opened onto the rotten weakness at the heart of Trujillo’s system.” Though Minerva recognizes that the fear instilled in all the officers of the authoritarian regime is ultimately a “weakness,” for now it is what holds the regime in power.
Characters
María Argentina Minerva Mirabal, the third Mirabal sister, and the one most wrapped up in the revolution. She and her revolutionary husband, Manolo Tavarez, have two children: Minou and Manolito.
Patria, the oldest of the Mirabal sisters, she is the most religious. At first she planned to enter a convent but then chose to marry Pedrito Gonzales at the age of 16. Her full name is Patria Mercedes Mirabal.
Bélgica Adela "Dedé" Mirabal-Reyes, the second oldest of the Mirabal sisters, and the only one to survive the Trujillo regime. She is married to Jaimito during the action of the story, but the reader learns that they divorced in 1984. They have three sons: Enrique, Rafael, and David.
Antonia María Teresa Mirabal, or "Mate," the youngest Mirabal sister. Her sections of In the Time of the Butterflies are narrated in diary form. She is married to Leandro Guzman.