In The Time Of The Butterflies By Julia Alvarez

Being able to freely think for yourself is an essential requirement for a functioning society. Looking throughout history, there have been numerous leaders in power who have been corrupt. The only thing that created change was people who would stand up for what is right. This is shown in the complex book In the Time of the Butterflies, written by Julia Alvarez. This book takes place in the Dominican Republic when there is a corrupt leader willing to do whatever is necessary to remain in power. The character in the book that disrupts the existing state is Minerva and the reader can see her complex motivations and it allows the reader to better grasp the situation these four sisters went through as well as the whole country.

Minerva disrupts the existing state of her family by opening their eyes to the corruption. In the book, Minerva first discovers the corruption through her friend Sinita. Sinita tells Minerva about the murder of all the men in her family because of their involvement with the revolution. Minerva then tells the reader: “It was as if I had just heard Jesus had slapped a baby” (17). It is clear in this book that her mindset completely changes with the leader, and she has a big realization. Alvarez shows the reader that a lot of
It is hard as a reader to grasp having your husband put into jail like Minerva has happened to her and this causes her to want to overthrow the government in order to get back her husbands freedom. This is shown when Minerva tells the reader: “Adversity was a key for me. As I began to work to get men out of prison, it was the old Minerva I set free” (269). This shows how Minerva was able to remotivate herself to get back in to the revolution because she had to do something for her and her sisters husbands so they would not be killed by the regime. This shows the reader just how horrific this time was and Minerva still wanted to be apart of