Alvarez Accomplishments With Writing "In The Time of the Butterflies"

Reading “In the Time of the Butterflies” was not only an interesting novel to read but an inspiring story that tells a lot about women rights. When I first started reading this book, I did not really understand what the author Alvarez was trying to accomplish with writing this piece. Now that I have finished this book, the message Alvarez was trying to express became obvious to me.

For a long time women have been limited to certain rights but no one ever speaks up. In the novel “In the Time of the Butterflies” one of the main characters named Minerva spoke up and fought for what she believed was right. Desperate to prove people wrong, Minerva went off to law school to show people in her nation that women can be just as successful in practicing law as well.  After finishing law school but being denied a degree, Minerva felt even more ambitious about over throwing the government.  Alvarez was trying to address the problems with women rights by showing the conflicts women go through just to be heard. Alvarez used this true story based on the death of the Mirabal Sisters to express the true life conflicts with women.

With writing this piece, Alvarez addressed the roles of women back in those times and certain roles of women that still are followed today. For example, in the beginning of the book, when discussing Patria’s idea of becoming a nun, Papa the (Mirabal Sister’s father) states in this quote “More than once, he said that Patria as a nun would be a waste of a pretty girl.” This statement implied that the only expectations Papa had for his girls were to be some man’s wife one day.  Alvarez pointed out the fact that women in those days were meant to only be mothers and wives and not lawyers like Minerva hoped to be. Alvarez showed readers that women are told not to have a voice but through the character Minerva she also shows the moral of speaking up and standing for what is right. Alvarez accomplished getting across an important message to women and to all readers.