In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

yes we have more rights and do more for the country, but discrimination towards us is still there, just in a different form. Being a woman shouldn't be a burden, it should be a priviledge, but in some cases it feels like a burden. We're still stereotyped to be weak, emotional fools, by these movies that are out now (not all, but some). Even though in last 50 years we've come a long way, it'll still be some time until a heroine woman saves a man, and everyone acknowledges it.

No patria realizs that that is not the direction that her life is going to go as for God has sent her a message as a man is standing over her.
i think that all the girls look up to minerva for her strengh and the fact that she is the deadliest to the government, even out of the guys. she is pretty much the capitan or the leader of the invasion,

(katie)yeah i think that she kinda knew but didn't becaus eshe never really got involved with minerva and her other sister's plans and plots to go against the government.(sam)I agree with Katie that she kinda knew that she was going to be only one because she didn't really get in the middle of all the chaos of trying to bring down the government and all.

i beleive that life for a woman in the dominican republic would be much heavier to carry then one would be in the u.s. first of all the d.r. is run by men with men for the men. what men say goes. women are housewives and nothing more. in the u.s., especially now, women are encouraged to make a career, a name for themselves. not only do they have more freedom to develope into who they want to be, but men have also started taking more responsibilities; responsibilities that previously were held by women. equality is a big issue in this country. it isn't perfect, but nothing is. point is, definately better the the d.r.

well that's clever of you, i agree but don't you think that the government was bad to the Maribal family and do you not think that it is odd at the end of the book when the butterflies are mentioned as a bad thing because the people are weak and are not doing anything about the people that are getting killed. do you not think it should be titled In The Time Of The Marmots? because Marmots are small and weak

patria, i say this because she sticks with her beliefs.

Why is the book written in journal form instead of chronological order or from the view point of just one person? Would this have changed the tone or voice of the novel? Would it have affected the main point of the novel?

(katie) what happened to her in la victoria when she thought that she was pregnant? i don't really understand what happened. Was leandro there? was she really pregnant? What did the guy say he was going to do when he saw the gaurds electricuting her?

Yes I liked the book. As much as it was all a tradegy it still came up on top. The Diary form mat helped me understand each girl

well i don't think DeDe knew that she would be the only one to survive but she was just so calm and she behaved all the time so i think that in a way she had a feeling deep inside...

yes josh, i agree with your theory, time of the marmots is an excellent choice of title for the book. you are a clever boy josh, cute too, keep it up, stay clean, stay in school,

that is true about the mom sleeping in the other room because her husband was sleeping with someone else. also, everything else was true with minerva, but her father shouldn't of hit her for the way she acted.

Our government and thier government are tottally different. Although our government can be close minded and one sided, we still have a democracy. Their government controls all aspects of the country. Yes I do believe they have way too much control and abuse the power they have. And I would be very frightened if our government was allowed to dictate as their government does.

One of the biggest themes in the book is priorities, and how the environment changed the sister's priorities. At first, the sisters are pretty ok with the government and don't complain. Minerva's encounter with Sinita changes everything for her when she learned that Trujillo is dishonest and kills people. Patria is sad when she sees a young boy die in battle. Their priorities change, and they put the revolution before their lives. Minerva wants freedom, and Patria wants to save kids. It looks like Maria Teresa joins the fight for the adventure.

I think that the book was written in the style of a journal to give the book a more personal perspective for the readers. If the book was written in chronological order it would have make the book less interesting and a lot more boring.

maria teresa got involved with what her sister was doing behind the governments back. she moved into an apartment with sonia to collect packages and plans to over throw the government.she got really worried because the owner of the building came down for a suprise vist and maria thought she say plans lying on the table. sonia said don't worry about it because a different kind of contraband in mind. maria is still worried

Trujillo suspected the sisters of having a hand in trying to overthrow the government because they were strong women who were not afraid to voice there opinions about the government to people they trusted. they took control over their educations, and when they went to Trujillos parties they never let him control them and ignored his sexual comments. Also when the girls at the school performed the play for trujillo, the one little girl raised the arrow to trujillos head, and from then on trujillo knew that the sisters associated with people who hated the government.

hey there Huebstable. Anyways, i think the amazing thing about this book is how in fact it is written in the girls point of view. It is actually in chronalgical order, just each chapter is being told by another girl, but they go in order, and then every now and then coming back to Dede in the "present." I don't think this novel would have quite the same effect if it had been written by some boring narriator's point of veiw. When the story is written by the girls, you feel this personal connection with them, as if they are taking you into their lives, and hold your intrest within the book. It definatly would not have the same effect, and would be one HUGE bore to read.

using men in this story would have made it another book about how men are rebeling.....again.... using women made this book alot more interesting and it keeps you wanting to know how they are going to do what they do next.

In this book, women have more of a tendency to marry earlier, with more emphasis on the family. The sisters didn't even have to attend school. I have heard that Catholics disapprove of divorce, so maybe that's why Mama and Minerva stay by their husbands even though the husbands are cheating. It could just be a cultural difference though. Women in the story aren't respected as people. Men admire them, make lewd comments about them, and use them. Trujillo was mean to women, which influenced the Mirabals to take action. Trujillo took their classmate as his girlfriend, abandoned her, and almost took Minerva too.

We know Dede had a secret crush on him, and we know Minerva says that she didnt. But does she not love him, or is she just denying it? I think she really does love him, but doesn't realize she did untill he leaves. He was so upset when she hadn't heard from him, but we later learn that her dad his hiding his letters. But time goes by, and she meets someone else. I was very upset that he is not in the story anymore bcause I feel she really does love him, and true love should not be kept from eachother. Maybe Im just being silly, but I really think she loved him. Tell me what you guys think.

Because it was based on a true story.

i agree with you about it being harder on woman back then. they had to deal with alot and the males didn't have to go through what they did. the men had different things to worry about. boys don't keep diary entries and if they would of talked about war or other stuff like that. females talk about stuff thats going wrong with the country.

Sinita looks like a nickname for Sina, so I think this is the same person. If I remember right, she joined the revolution and ended up in prison with the Mirabals.

I think that the biggest reason the other to sitters got involved was because they loved each other so much that they would do any thing for each other. and I also think they went to school to gether worked to gether so they just had to be to gether.

dan.. that was deep

i think dede knew her sisters would be in more danger than herself because she did distance herself from her sisters political ventures and she did not include herself in all their outings to the prisons. she was more aware of the reality of death than her sisters. i know she felt like they put themselves in to much danger and thats why she did not participate in the politics as much. she may have know that she could have been seen as guilty by association in the governments eyes. so no i dont think she knew she was definetly going to survive but i do think she knew she had a better chance of surviving than her sisters did.

It looks like Lio was just a friend to Minerva. If she had more feelings for him, she was very good at hiding it and being in denial. Dede had a crush on Lio. It would have been interesting if Dede had married him and joined his part of the revolution.

Marmots would make a good symbol for the Mirabal sisters, for the reasons you said above.
The Mirabals may have been called butterflies because it's a feminine symbol. And maybe because butterflies are hard to catch.
Why do you think they're called the butterflies?