Time of the Butterflies Essay Example for Free

Time of the Butterflies Essay Back in the present (1994), Dede considers how Fela, their longtime servant, thinks that she is possessed by the spirits of the dead Mirabal sisters. She had accidentally come across Felas shrine to the girls one Friday in the shed behind the house. She had ordered Fela to move the shrine, but Minou scolded her for being intolerant. Minou often stops at the shrine, which is now down the street. She asks Dede where Lio Morales now lives, since Minerva has asked her to deliver a message to him—just to say hello, and to state how much she thinks of him. When the interview woman presses on, asking Dede, When did all the problems start? Dede begins to speak about Lio Morales. She met him one hot and humid afternoon while she was organizing her fathers shop with Minerva. They are finishing up before they head to Tio Pepes to play volleyball with their friends. Dede knows that her cousin Jaimito, on whom she has started to have a crush (even though he once annoyed her), will be there. Mario, one of their distributors, arrives with Lio, and introduces him as his cousin. He knows Elsa Sanchez and Sinita Perozo from the university. When Dede mentions that they are committed to playing volleyball, Minerva invites Mario and Lio. Minerva gets their fathers permission, and the girls go to Tio Pepes with Mario and Lio.A few weeks later, Lio is still joining them for volleyball. Jaimito suggests that the girls come to play. As they take off their shoes and begin to assign positions, Dede notices that Minerva and Lio are missing. She is unsure if it is actually an accident, but she hits the ball into the hedges, startling the hiding couple. Once Lio emerges from the hedges, Jaimito starts a fight with him, and the game ends in awkwardness. Lio and Jaimito both begin to come to the Mirabals house more and more. When Maria Teresa accidentally reads aloud to Mama a newspaper article that reveals that Lio is a communist, a subversive, Mama becomes upset that she has been letting him spend time at their home. But Minerva continues to see him on double dates with Jaimito and Dede. Still, Minerva refuses to admit that she is in love with Lio. When Dede asks him how he wants to accomplish his revolutionary goals, Lio cannot give her the direct answer she wants. Dede becomes more and more nervous as Lios name continues to appear in the newspapers, and she and Minerva lie about spending time with him. Then Lio announces that hell be going into exile with some of his comrades. One night, after a gathering of the Dominican party in San Francisco, Jaimito asks Minerva if Lio has invited her to go into exile with him, and she says that he has not. Jaimito tells them that the police were looking for Lio at his house and that he was taken down to the station for questioning. He told them that Lio had given him girlie magazines to get them off his back. Minerva leaves, and Dede and Jaimito begin to kiss. Jaimito tells her there is something he wants her to see out back. They get into Papas car, and he slips a ring on her finger, proposing. But they are surprised by Lios cough from the backseat—he has been hiding there. Jaimito is furious that he would endanger the Mirabals, but Lio gives Dede a letter to deliver to Minerva. As Dede walks Jaimito to his car, she agrees to marry him. Alone, Dede decides not to tell Minerva that Lio is hiding in the backseat of Papas car. She goes into her bedroom and opens the letter Lio asked her to deliver to Minerva. In it, he invites her to go into exile with him. Dede decides that she will not expose her sister to that danger, so she burns the letter in the lamp. Analysis This chapter reveals the tense relationship between Dede and Minerva. Their personalities are at odds: Minerva is full of questions and mischief, while Dede is much more organized and chooses to smile and dismiss things without stirring up trouble. But it is Lio who brings out Dedes resentment toward her sister. Though she loves Jaimito, Dede is jealous of Lios interest in Minerva. She sees them as a glamorous couple doing exciting things, while she and Jaimito are merely expected to end up together. She exposes them hiding in the bushes together and even burns the letter from Lio that was intended for her sister. Dede tells herself it is to protect Minerva, but her action is clearly also out of jealousy that her sister might get involved in such a daring adventure with Lio. As the narrator, Dede uses exclamations often, characterizing herself as someone whose placid, smiling demeanor is interrupted by bursts of emotion. When she considers her task of being the grande dame of the bea utiful, terrible past by relating her familys history to the woman interviewer, she exclaims, But it is an impossible task, impossible! In talking about her husband, she wonders, But who could control Jaimito, only son of his doting mother, unquestioned boss of his five sisters!The metaphors of knotted string and captivation carry through this chapter, as Dede describes herself getting caught up in the twists and turns of life. When Lio teases her for going to play volleyball in a dress, Suddenly, Dede feels foolish, caught in her frivolity as if she were a kitten knotted in yarn. As Dede reads articles in the paper about how people are getting arrested, Dedes courage unraveled like a row of stitches not finished with a good, sturdy knot. Being sown up can be for protection or for captivation. She does not think Lio has a plan, and she becomes afraid to be involved with him. The diction that Dede uses as narrator recounting the events of the past ties Minerva to death. After Maria Teresa reads to Chea Mirabel the article calling Lio a communist, Chea calls for Minerva, and From her bedroom, the book she was reading still in hand, appeared the death of them all. Though the phrase to be the death of can be used lightly to mean someone is a handful, in this case, Minerva actually is the death of them all. When Lio announces that he is going to leave to go into exile with his comrades, Minerva was deathly quiet. It is clear that Dede in some way blames Minerva for getting the family involved in politics and thus bringing about her own death and that of her sisters. There is a hint of foreshadowing, too, at the end of the chapter, when Dede considers Jaimitos marriage proposal. She is not surprised by it because she has always seen it as inevitable that she would marry Jaimito. There was no question was there? but that they would spend the rest of their lives together. Notably, the question that interrupts her thought is both in the young Dedes mind and in the memory of the older Dede in 1994, remembering how she felt and how she might have suspected that she and Jaimito would end up getting a divorce. Even when she thinks of Jaimito fondly, as he begins to propose, Dede from the present cannot help but check the enthusiasm she felt at the time: Her spoiled, funny, fun-loving man. Oh, what a peck of trouble she was in for. What do you want, Minerva Mirabal? Summer Minerva has been living at home for a few years, and rumors are starting about her being a lesbian. She also realizes that something is amiss between Mama and Papa. She is bored and jealous of Elsa and Sinita, who are studying in the capital. Out on drives, she begins to notice her fathers Ford always parked in front of the same campesino family home. Four girls run out to the road, and she sees that they have Mirabal eyes. She realizes that Enrique Mirabal is their father and that they are her half-sisters.Since Lio went away, Minerva has been having headaches and bad asthma. One afternoon she goes into her fathers armoire and goes through the pockets of his clothes. She finds four letters addressed to her from Lio, and she reads them. He refers to his proposal that she leave the country with him, which of course Minerva knows nothing about. Furious, she drives the Jeep over to the campesino house where she knows she will find her fathers Ford. He comes out and asks her what she wants, but she just speeds away. When Papa gets home that night, he leads Minerva outside into the garden, where he slaps her. But when he says she owes him respect, she tells him he has lost it.Minerva has also found an invitation to one of Trujillos private parties in her fathers coat pocket; it specifically mentions that Minerva should attend. Mama is scared for Minervas safety, so she insists that Pedrito, Patria, Dede, and Jaimito go along, too. Before the party, Papa sends the Ford to the shop, so Minerva drives him to his medical appointments in San Francisco. One day, he means to stop by the house he has bought for his ex-mistress and his other children after the appointment, and Minerva insists she be allowed to go along to meet them. She even meets Carmen, their mother, with whom Papa says he is no longer involved. Discovery Day Dance, October 12 The family arrives at the party an hour late, having gotten lost. But Trujillo is late, too, as they learn from Manuel de Moya, his secretary of state. A table is reserved for the Mirabals, but Don Manuel tells Minerva she is going to sit with Trujillo. Finally El Jefe arrives, but he does not sit with Minerva; instead, she is entertained by Manuel de Moya. It is about to rain, but the tables are pushed back for dancing. When Don Manuel asks Minerva to dance, she says she has a headache and cannot. Patria brings her calmantes before Don Manuel returns with some for her as well. Finally, Minerva agrees to dance with him.Soon, Trujillo becomes her partner. He flirts with her, and she tells him she wants to study in the capital to be a lawyer. But when he implies that he would like to conquer her, she says she is not for conquest. He tells her the university is no place for women, mentioning the communists and agitators, implying they have been caught. By mistake, Minerva blurts out, Virgilio Morales? She must backtrack and pretend she does not know Lio, and Trujillo believes her. When he pulls her inappropriately close, thrusting at her in a vulgar way, she slaps his face.The rain begins immediately, and the party moves quickly inside. The Mirabals rush off, but Minerva forgets her purse. She and Patria cannot find it anywhere, and they assume that someone already brought it inside and that it will be mailed to them. But on the ride home, Minerva realizes that she has put the letters from Lio in the pocket of the lining. Rainy Spell The Mirabal family left the party before Trujillo did, which is against the law. Two guardias arrive at their house and say that Governor de la Maza wants to see Enrique Mirabal and Minerva immediately, but Mama says, If she goes, I go. At the governors palace, Papa is sent to the capital for questioning. He whispers to Minerva that she is to take money to the illegitimate family in San Francisco every two weeks until he is back. Minerva does so, but she cannot find the house in the rain. She sees Margarita, the oldest daughter, and asks her to lead her to her mothers house. Once there, Minerva gives Carmen the money and asks if she can enroll the daughters in school.Minerva and Chea return to the capital to petition for Papas release. They get a room at a hotel. At the Office of Missing Persons, Minerva meets a man who has named all his sons Pablo Antonio so that if one of them is captured, he can swear he is not the son they are looking for. But the mans case takes so long that there is not time to hear the Mirabals.The next morning they are woken at the hotel and taken to the National Police Headquarters for questioning, where Minerva is interrogated about Lio by General Federico Fiallo and Don Anselmo Paulino. She admits that she lied to El Jefe about not knowing Lio, but she says it was because she was afraid of displeasing him. She says she is no longer in communication with Lio. Manuel de Moya enters and suggests that a private conference with El Jefe would be the quickest, most effective way to end all this nonsense. He means, of course, that Minerva should sleep with Trujillo, but she insists that her father and mother come along to the meeting. Three weeks later, they see Trujillo. Papa has just been released, but he has gone mad due to his imprisonment. In Trujillos office, it is revealed that Tio Chiche, one of Trujillos friends, is related to Chea Mirabal. He is a gambler and Mama doesnt like him very much, but she jumps on this connection in order to appeal to Trujillo. Minerva notices a set of dice on Trujillos desk, and she realizes that they are loaded. She makes a bet with him: they will roll the dice, and if she wins, she can go to law school, but if he wins, he gets to sleep with her. Minerva knows to use the heavier set of dice, and of course she wins, to Trujillos annoyance. Minerva, Chea, and Enrique Mirabal drive home in the rain. Analysis As Minerva asks herself what she wants, she uses the conceit of that princess put to sleep in the fairy tale. It is Lio who woke her up when she met him: The givens, all Id been taught, fell away like so many covers when you sit up in bed. This conceit is ironic, since Minerva is anything but the stereotypical woman of a fairy tale, waiting for a man to come and wake her up so her life can begin. In actuality, Minerva speaks out for womens rights and takes matters into her own hands.Imagery of woven thread appears again in this chapter, as Minerva struggles with decisions about where her life should go: Back and forth my mind went, weaving a yes by night and unraveling it by day to a no. The dilemma is whether she loves Lio; she cannot decide. The decision is made for her when he decides to seek asylum. The imagery appears again when Mama clings to her connection of Tio Chiche (a friend of Trujillos) and Papa in his madness points out that Chiche cheats too much. I wont play with him . As a result, Mamas eyes are boring a hole in Papa. Our one lifeline in this stormy sea and Papa is cutting the rope shes been playing out.Violent diction appears once again in this chapter, as it has throughout the novel. As Enrique Mirabal leads Minerva down the driveway into the garden, The moon was a thin, bright machete cutting its way through patches of clouds. This metaphor is continued when Minerva describes its light as sharp, and it foreshadows the slap she is about to receive from her father.The theme of Trujillo being conflated with God comes out in the paper fans that the girls received at the party they went to, thrown by Trujillo. The fans had the Virgencita on one side and Trujillo on the other. The combination bothers Minerva: Sometimes it was El Jefes probing eyes, sometimes it was the Virgins pretty face I couldnt stand to look at.The events of the party are mirrored by the weathers progression to a rain storm. When they arrive at the party, there is a strong breeze, announcing rain. When Minerva mentions Lios name, suspicion clouds the gaze of Trujillos face, and when she refuses to dance with Manuel de Moya initially, a cloud of annoyance crosses his face. When Minerva slaps Trujillo, it is like the clap of thunder that begins the storm: and then the rain comes down hard, slapping sheets of it. In the midst of the storm, her family is the ship that steers her to safety: Dede and Patria are turning in all directions like lookouts on the mast of a ship. Completing the conceit, Minerva steals a little decorative ship as a souvenir for Maria Teresa, who was too young to attend the party. As they escape in the rain, it looks as though the ship is being steered safely through the storm. But there are two problems. Once Minerva realizes she has left the letters from Lio in the forgotten purse, all hope is lost. She feels something hard against her leg and reaches down to discover the little caravel sunk in the folds of my damp dress. And the family has committed a crime by leaving the party before Trujillo. If Trujillo is the captain of a doomed autocratic ship, protocol states that the captain is to leave last; but at this point the regime is still strong and can arbitrarily declare that the nation’s captain must be allowed to leave first. The resistance still has a long way to go. Chapter 7 Maria Teresa writes this chapter in her new journal, another gift from Minerva. Enrique Mirabal has passed away, and Maria Teresa is outraged that Carmen and her four daughters attended the funeral. Maria Teresa is struggling with her fathers death. She had a troubling dream in which she found her wedding dress inside her fathers coffin. She has the same dream again in February, but this time Manolo, Minervas husband-to-be, is in the coffin. In October, while she is a student at the university, she again has the dream, but now it is Armando Grullon, one of Minervas friends, in the coffin.She has also developed crushes on both her cousins, Raul and Berto, and she asksFela to help her determine which of the brothers she will marry. She kisses Berto on the lips on January 1 but is confronted about it by Raul on January 8. These events cause her to become fed up with both of them. Meanwhile, Tio Chiche has suggested that Mama write a letter toTrujillo affirming their loyalty to his regim e. Maria Teresa is helping her write it, just as she helped Minerva with her speech at the Salcedo Civic Hall in which she praised Trujillo (earning permission to go to law school). But Fela has helped her put a curse on the letter. Minerva has fallen in love with a man at law school named Manolo, but he is engaged to someone else. She comes to visit in January, demonstrably in a revolutionary mindset, reciting Fidel Castros words that she has heard on illegal radio stations. On Valentines Day, she visits again, this time bringing Manolo along. Maria Teresa has cooked dinner and is completely taken with Manolo. By March, however, she becomes suspicious since he met Minerva while he was engaged to someone else.Maria Teresa has arranged to live with Dede and Jaimito and their sons, Jaime Enriqueand Jaime Rafael, in San Francisco during the week, and come home to Mamas house on the weekends. Unfortunately, their ice cream business is failing, and soon they decide to move back to Mamas house and help run Papas store. On July 3, Maria Teresa graduates. Tia Flor bakes a cake for the party. Tia Flor also confronts her and says that she needs to choose between her two sons, Raul and Berto. Maria Teresa responds that she wants neither one. Meanwhile, the familys yardboy, Prieto, has betrayed them by reporting to Security everything they have done. They cannot fire him, however, since it would look suspicious.In September, Maria Teresa goes to join Minerva at the university in the capital, and they are roommates. While Minerva encourages Maria Teresa to stick with law, the younger sister eventually decides to switch to Philosophy and Letters. She meets one of Minervas and Manolos friends, Armando Grullon, who tries to kiss her.Now it is 1955, and Minerva is getting married in the rain. She moves in with Manolo, and by December 11 she is pregnant. By April 1956, Maria Teresa has started using her diary as an all-purpose supply book. She is attempting to write a speech to give as Miss University, and Minerva is advising her how much and when to mention Trujillo. Minerva has given birth to Minou and is helping her younger sister write the speech.Now it is July 1957, and Maria Teresa writes that Minerva is moving to Monte Cristi with Manolo after graduation. Trujillo, however, plays a terrible trick on Minerva by not actually granting her a license to practice law; her diploma is useless. Maria Teresa helps Minerva set up her new home in Monte Cristi, and it comes out that Manolo is cheating on Minerva with another woman. By August, though, the couple is on the mend, and Minerva credits Maria Teresa with bringing them back together.In her entry of September 28, 1957, Maria Teresa reports that she accidentally intercepted a delivery of guns from Leandro (codename Palomino) to the house. Manolo and Minerva explain about the national underground thats forming, and Maria Teresa joins them. Maria Teresa begins to fall in love with Leandro. Maria Teresa becomes a hub of a revolutionary cell, living with Sonia and storing deliveries in the munitions room. While Sonia is away in La Romana, Leandro comes over and says that he is going to stay with Maria Teresa to protect her. Maria Teresa ends up marrying Leandro on Valentines Day, 1958. Analysis Because of the diary style of Maria Teresas narration, often the reader must figure out what is being referred to because of the lack of specifics. For example, in the December 15 entry, Maria Teresa writes, I cant believe she came to the funeral mass with her girls without saying who she is. It is as if she is in such an upset state of mind that she doesnt bother to explain herself (after all, it is a diary and Maria Teresa knows who she is talking about). The reader infers that she must be referring to Carmen.In one sense, Maria Teresas story is told via Minerva, since both diaries were gifts from her older sister. Yet, in this chapter the reader learns about many important events in Minervas life through Maria Teresas diary entries. For instance, we learn in Maria Teresas report about the speech at Salcedo Civic Hall that Minerva has gained permission to attend law school. We also learn about Minervas marriage to Manolo, the birth of Minou, and Trujillos denial of her license to p ractice law upon graduation from law school. It is important to remember that we are learning about the events primarily from one point of view. The personal, family matters are related in the diary, while the political matters are often underground enough not to make it into the diary, generally because Maria Teresa does not know much of what is going on. By late 1957, however, the personal and political spheres are merging more quickly for her again.As a narrator, Maria Teresa uses the technique of rhetorical questions, but they are influenced by the brooding nature of her diary entries. On December 31, 1953, as she looks out at the stars, she asks, What does it all mean, anyway? When Leandro spends the night on December 1, 1957, she writes, Guess whose name was in my right shoe all day? referring to the love spell Fela taught her years ago.Another characteristic of Maria Teresas narrative voice is the use of exclamations. After she kisses Berto, she exclaims, Oh horror! Oh shamelessness! Oh disgust! In July, when she eats two pieces of the cake Tia Flor cooked for her graduation party, she writes, My hips, my hips! This technique characterizes her as an emotional, dramatic woman. Even in a serious situation, such as when Minerva sobs before telling Maria Teresa that Manolo is cheating on her, Maria Teresa writes, My brave Minerva!Death seems to lurk throughout the chapter. Of course, Enrique Mirabal has actually died, and Maria Teresas recurring dream revolves around a coffin. But she also uses language that calls death to mind. The chapter opens with her statement, I feel like dying myself! When she comes back to her diary on July 3, she writes, Diary, I know you have probably thought me dead all these months. Chapter 8 Patrias children, Nelson and Noris, have grown up, and they all live in Pedritos great-grandfathers house. Eighteen years after getting married, she has spent New Years Eve at Mamas new house in Conuco, and she has fallen asleep at her own house. But she is woken up by Minerva, Manolo, Leandro, and Nelson, who report that Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara have ousted Batista in Cuba. That night, Raul Ernesto, Patrias next son, is conceived.Patria is afraid for her sisters and for her son Nelson, who is always tagging along behind his Tio Manolo and his new Tio Leandro, men of the world who had gone to the university and who impressed him more than his country father. She sends him to Santo Tomas de Aquino, a seminary in the capital, with the help ofPadre de Jesus Lopez. When Nelson begins to talk about joining the liberators, Patria goes to Padre de Jesus Lopez for help, but he tells her he, too, is lost, and cannot show her the way.Minerva and Maria Teresa both have had babies, M anolito and Jacqueline, respectively. Minerva asks Patria to take care of Manolito, explaining that she is going to be on the road a lot. But she and Manolo visit from Monte Cristi every week; they meet on Patrias and Pedritos land with many other revolutionaries. But this gives Nelson the chance to get involved when he is home from school. He reports back to her that the revolutionaries are expecting an invasion by the liberators from Cuba.Though she is pregnant with Raul Ernesto, Patria decides to go on a retreat with Padre de Jesus and the Salcedo group to Constanza. They are the Christian Cultural Group, led by four priests including Padre de Jesus and Brother Daniel. Trujillo has heard rumors of the pending invasion and has declared a state of emergency, but the retreat goes to Constanza anyway. They stay in a retreat house that resembles a nunnery, and Patria feels peaceful.On June 14, while they listen to Brother Daniel speak about the Assumption, the mountainside is bombed. The first wave of the liberating invasion is the target, and as Patria watches, one of them (who is about Noriss age) is gunned down. The Christian Cultural Group comes back down the mountain, and Patrias family meets her on the road coming into town. In the newspaper, they read that 49 men and boys died in the attack. They read six days later that the second wave of the invasion force was intercepted and also defeated.At the next meeting of the Christian Cultural Group, the mood has changed considerably: Padre de Jesus speaks like a revolutionary, and they change their name to Accion Clero-Cultural, or ACC. Their mission is to organize a powerful national underground. Patria volunteers Pedrito, Nelson, Minerva, Manolo, Maria Teresa, and Leandro for the organization. However, Pedrito becomes upset that the revolutionaries are meeting in their backyard, since a new law has been passed that will allow the government to confiscate the land of anyone found to be harboring any enemies of the regime. Patria is able to sway him when she reveals that their son Nelson is involved, too.The Fourteenth of June Movement is founded then, in Patria and Pedritos home. There are about forty people, with Manolo as president. They make bombs, called nipples, and hide weapons. Patria sends Noris to Chea Mirabals house, and they use her bedroom as an ammunitions room. Analysis As narrator, Patria uses similes and personification that connect her to both heaven and earth. When Padre de Jesus tells her he cannot help her because he, too, is lost, she says, I was shaking like when a breeze blows through the sacristy and the votive candles flicker. She is in the place of the prayerful candles, being shaken by nature. When she is overwhelmed by the beauty of Constanza, she personifies the land and nature more generally as if it is tied to God: Purple Mountains reaching towards angelfeather clouds; a falcon soaring in a calm blue sky; God combing His sunshine fingers through green pastures straight out of the Psalms.Pedrito also ties Patria to the Earth. This is evident in the language she uses to express not being worried about him like she worries about her sisters: Pedrito didnt worry me. I knew he would always have one hand in the soil and the other somewhere on me.Patria uses a style of narration that involves direct address and exclamations, characterizing herself as deliberate but also at times as emotional as her younger sister Maria Teresa. For example, when Nelson sees an excited look on her face after he tells her about the invasion, she says, But you know why that look was there? Ill tell you. Similarly, when she explains why Noris does not want to go along with her to the retreat, she says, I certainly couldnt talk her into a retreat with old ladies and a bunch of bad-breath priests. (Lord forgive her!).When Noris meets her after the mountainside is bombed, Patria notices a change in her, as if her soul had at last matured and began its cycles. This metaphor comparing the soul maturing to a menstrual cycle hearkens back to Chapter 2, in which Minerva begins her complications both physically and emotionally as she realizes the country is in danger, and the po wer and evil of Trujillo. It also is reminiscent of Maria Teresa, who in her diary entries as a young girl yearned to discover her soul.Patria also struggles to reconcile her commitment to God with her desire to protect her family and defend her country. Symbolically, she and Maria Teresa make a list of the weapons theyve assembled in the pretty script wed been taught by the nuns for writing out Bible passages. Even when the retreat house is bombed, she describes it spiritually: His Kingdom was coming down upon the very roof of that retreat house. As they ride back down the mountain after the retreat, she says, I tried looking up at our Father, but I couldnt see His Face for the dark smoke hiding the tops of those mountains.This chapter also keeps the reader informed about the larger history. We learn about the role of Cuba and its revolutionaries. We also learn about the events of June 14 and the origins, filtered through the narrator, of the Movimiento 14 de Junio.