When he pulls her inappropriately close, thrusting at her in a vulgar way, she slaps his face. Dedé tells the interviewer, somewhat disingenuously, that she remains happy because she focuses on the cheerful memories of the past, dwelling on those instead of on negative memories. I found the essay on the Gale Literature Criticism Online Database. Dedé seems physically trapped by her sisters’ legacies and loss, but this past is a crucial part of her life, and important for the future of the country. Jaimito has left her with his sons, but Manolo convinces them to reconcile and take a vacation together. This occurred because, during the Organization of American States Peace Committee’s inspection of the prison, they received the anonymous note Mate left them during an interview. -Graham S. Dedé’s “martyrdom” is this intense grief for her sisters, the guilt that will haunt her for years, and the life she must go on to lead without her closest friends. The sisters were witnessed being apprehended and taken away "peaceably" in a blue and white Austin, but Patria yelled, "Tell the Mirabal family in Salcedo that the calies are going to kill us!". The first wave of the liberating invasion is the target; six days later the second wave is intercepted and also defeated. However, she does not let drop the letter with her own personal account. This metaphor extends the conceit of a cage around the whole island of the Dominican Republic, taking it inward, to the personal level. Teachers and parents! The role of women has changed by 1994, and Dede realizes this change through her niece Minou, who has designed a line of play clothes for her store in the capital while she teaches courses at the university on poetry and politics. In prison, Manolo's spirits are crushed when a group of young men is caught distributing revolutionary leaflets in Santiago. I chose to review a literary criticism journal by Kelly Oliver. Captain Pena comes to Chea Mirabal's house with visiting passes, reporting that Nelson might be released with the next round of pardons. Although the murderers were sentenced to long terms, "all of them were set free during our spell of revolutions." Mamá fully changes her ideas with the times and her own experiences, and she goes from advising her daughters to marry early and not make trouble, to throwing bathwater on spies and telling Minou to go to college before getting married. The note was written by Minerva which reveled to them to horrors of the Dominican prison. Minerva and Chea Mirabal go to the capital to petition for Papa's release. On the next Tuesday, they drive to the capital to pick up Nelson. Eventually, Nelson was released and pardoned because he just turned eighteen. Even Virgilio comes to accept this narrative. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. On April 11, Maria Teresa is taken to La 40 and whipped in front of Leandro, to try to convince him to do a job for Trujillo, though it is not described what the job is. "In the Time of the Butterflies Summary". On November 25, on the way to Puerto Plata, the sisters' driver, Rufino, decides to stop and pick up a young soldier who is hitchhiking. After Dede and Mama pack a bag to bring to the hospital, however, they receive the news that the girls are dead. They drive the bodies of the girls and Rufino home from the morgue slowly, with Dede standing in the back of the pick-up with the coffins. But the interviewer’s questions transport Dede, and the reader, back in time and into the consciousnesses of the sisters. Knowing that this would end in an extremely large punishment for her and, Patria, Mate, Minerva and their husbands became more involved and major advocates of the revolution. This is another touching, quiet tribute to the influence and power of the butterflies. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Copyright © 1999 - 2020 GradeSaver LLC. After that, the story goes back to 1948.... What season do butterflies come out? In the novel, In The Time of the Burrerflies, by Julia Alvarez, the Mirabal sisters, Patria, Minerva, Dede, and Maria Teresa. There they are. The narrative they create is of three girls defeating one evil dictator, ignoring the thousands of other people involved in both the suffering and the propagation of suffering, and even the fact that the defeat of the dictator did not transform the country.