Summary Of In The Time Of The Butterflies

Critical Reviews of In the Time of the Butterflies
Fifty-seven years ago on an abandoned road in the Dominican Republic, three venerated sisters and their driver were murdered. Their death actuated the eradication of the vicious dictator, Rafael Trujillo. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez illustrates this compelling story: the story of the Mirabal sisters. The author gives life to these women as a tribute to them and as an attempt to share their heroism and bravery with North American readers who were not familiar with the sisters’ impact. Critical reviews of Alvarez’s novel differ. Many critics praise the novel, some identify weaknesses in the work, and one critic categorizes the work as belonging to a new genre.
Numerous

critics of this novel contend that it is a successful literary work with an important message. Dedé Mirabal, the fourth Mirabal sister, survived Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa and raised their children, while maintaining their legacies as well.

Julia Alvarez explains that Dedé’s courage is what mainly inspired In the Time of the Butterflies and that is why the novel is dedicated to Dedé (Michniewicz 3). The tone of Margaret Michniewicz’s article suggests that she enjoyed the novel, and she adds details to her article about how significant the Mirabals’ struggle was. Michniewicz seems to be as dedicated to telling the story as Alvarez is. Another critic, Ruth Behar, concludes her article with, “I am in debt to Julia Alvarez for her creative ambition, which she largely fulfils: for showing that although revolutions turn sour, they matter. And for showing that when they turn sour for women, they must be remembered even more adamantly” (7). Behar sees the pertinence of the issue at hand and applauds Julia Alvarez for her portrayal of the Mirabal sisters. Additionally, Darren Felty says in his

article, “She...stresses the need to construct them in order to inform others and enrich people’s lives, whether it be those in the novel or in Alvarez’s on readership. And her constructions are compelling enough to inspire many to share her assertion ‘Vivan las Mariposas’...Therefore, by her own yardstick, Alvarez’s novel is a success” (par.19). Felty agrees with Alvarez’s opinion that it is imperative that this story gets told. Although Alvarez does glorify the sisters slightly, she also gives them human qualities and weaknesses, and Felty asserts that she succeeds in advocating for the sisters. These three critics are just some of the commentators who commend In the Time of the Butterflies for its powerful attention to detail and storytelling.
Despite these praises, there are also critics who attack the novel for its characterization, historical inaccuracies and underdevelopment of the interviewer’s character.

Felty brings up a few of the characters being too weak. In his analysis of María Teresa he says, “The reader does not acquire a sense of intimacy with her, perhaps because her narrative is told through diary entries that are most often addressed to the diary book itself, which creates a distancing effect. In addition, the younger Mate lacks the more engrossing conflicts that her sisters possess in their narratives” (par. 12). Felty argues that because of Mate’s age and lack of complexity she is not a very strong character, criticizing the initial representation of her. However, he does go on to say that she grows as a woman and becomes more interesting. Felty’s criticism seems mild compared to a particularly harsh critic, Echevarria, who states, “The actual history in In the Time of the Butterflies is very blurry. I find no connection between the specific dates Ms. Alvarez gives to mark periods in the Mirabals’ lives and either Dominican or Latin American history. Serious historical fiction establishes links between individual destiny and pivotal political events” (par. 12). This would be a valid point in ordinary circumstances; however, Julia Alvarez states in her postscript, “Though I had researched the facts of the regime, and events pertaining to Trujillo’s thirty-one year despotism, I sometimes

took liberties–by changing dates, by reconstructing events, and by collapsing characters or incidents” (324). Alvarez’s goal of writing the novel was to humanize the sisters, and not necessarily to be historically accurate. Echevarria disregards this and therefore misses the point of the portrayal, unfairly criticizing the novel for something that the author explained. Although Behar did have a positive reaction to the novel, she points out a fault with Alvarez’s role in the novel, “Had Alvarez developed the voice of her alias, the gringa dominica who returns to her abandoned homeland to learn about The Butterflies from the history weary Dedé, she might have been able to offer a more nuanced view of what revolutions look like the morning after. But rather than explore the limits of recovering and reclaiming the past she chooses to downplay the role of the novelist” (7). Behar argues that the character of the interviewer is not a big enough part in the novel and would have been a beneficial addition. Echevarria also mentions that the interviewer could have been more prominent, which poses the question of whether Alvarez’s choice to write the interviewer as a small role was a smart decision or not.