Butterflies By Patria

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Recommended: Impact of trujillos dictatorship on the dominican republic

Aubrey Munashe Magodlyo
Professor Stauffer
LA 201
Paper #3 Patria’s approach to life under Trujillo’s dictatorship
Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies is an account of the four Mirabal sisters’ lives in the Dominican Republic during Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship. Three of the Mirabal sisters - Minerva, Patria and Maria Teresa sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom by participating in the underground movement which opposed Trujillo’s dictatorship. Their participation in the revolution was a threat to Trujillo’s power and this resulted in the three sisters being killed. The novel tells the story from the point of view of each of the four siblings. The sisters, also referred to as, “The Butterflies,” each had a different approach to dealing with life under Trujillo’s reign. Minerva, the first person from her family to join the revolution, was motivated by principles and she contributed consistently to the revolution. Dede is the only survivor from the Mirabal sisters’ family, this is because she did not participate in the revolution. However, she takes care of the deceased children and tells the story of …show more content…

Initially, Patria had always strongly believed in God which made her ignore the prejudices which occurred during Trujillo’s reign, for example people being killed by the dictator (53). Patria had a still born baby and the pain of losing a loved one made her relate to families who had lost their relatives due to Trujillo’s injustices (53). Suffering from the pain of her loss, made her lose faith which resulted in Patria’s beliefs evolving from a God centered view towards a people centered faith. The evolution of her faith is aided by her experience during the pilgrimage, when she heard Mary tell her to turn around her religious views towards needy people. This is because all her life she had been focusing on God and not serving

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