Presentations text content in In the Time of the Butterflies
Slide1
In the Time of the Butterflies
Historical Context and Themes
Slide2Julia Alvarez: Life
Born in the US in 1950Returned to Dominican Republic with family at 3 months oldFled DR in 1960 with parents at age 10 when her father participated in coup to overthrow Trujillo
Slide3Julia Alvarez: Writing
Atlantic Unbound Interview, 2000
“I know with the Mirabal sisters I felt a measure of responsibility to tell their story. They were the four sisters who were sacrificed to the regime, whereas my sisters and I made it safely to this country. It was also a desire to understand my parents' generation, who fell victim to the dictatorship -- la generación perdida (the lost generation), as they are known in the Dominican Republic -- so much talent, so much energy and faith, so many lives gone to waste. I needed to understand and to redeem the time for myself.”
Slide4Julia Alvarez: Writing and Cultural Differences between US & DR
Salon.com Interview, 1998
Q: A more important cultural difference between the United States and the Dominican Republic, where you were born, is the way that each culture views its writers — particularly its women writers. You’ve said that after your first novel, “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,” was published, your mother didn’t talk to you for several months. Why was that?
A:I think it was for a variety of reasons. A lot had to do with the fact
that I come from a culture in which women were not encouraged to speak up
.
Maxine Hong Kingston was very helpful to me. She begins “The Woman Warrior” by saying: “My mother told me never, ever to repeat this story.” That was such an eye-opener, because that’s the way with many of my stories. No “once upon a time” or any of those catch phrases. I come from a culture where women are not encouraged to speak
. [Instead, they are encouraged] to keep their mouths shut, to keep things in the family, to be the guardian of the stories and to be very careful who they’re released to. It’s a way of understanding that stories are powerful. You know, in the world we lived in, people “got disappeared” for saying the wrong thing.
What people said mattered. I was raised in that world, and suddenly here I am
— a woman with a voice in another language, one that we’re supposed to keep things from, you know, the gringos and the Americans. And I have a voice and I’m saying things about women and women’s experience which are not nice.
That women have mouths and needs and bodies and problems and breakdowns and all of the stuff that is not nice to admit and certainly not to the [Americans].
Slide5In the Time of the Butterflies: Historical Fiction
Historical fiction is a story that takes place during an actual period in history
There is some creative license pertaining to the truth and sometimes the author appeals to the emotional truth versus the entire factual reality
Much of
Butterflies
is grounded in fact; but some parts are bits of legend
Slide6Butterflies: What gave them that special courage?
From
Butterflies: A Postscript
“It was to understand that questions that I began this story. But as happens with any story, the characters took over, beyond polemics and facts. They became real to my imagination. I began to invent them.”
Slide7Dominican Republic
Slide8Dominican Republic: Trujillo
Born to lower middle class family in San Cristobol
1916: the US sent Marines to occupy island and protect economy
Trujillo was a cadet in Dominican Army; during US occupation he was trained by Marines
By 1925, he was army’s commander in chief
Slide9Trujillo
1930: President Horacio Vasquez resigned after a revolt against his government
Trujillo ran an unopposed election
Ran DR for next 3 decades as an Absolute Dictator
Slide10Impact of Trujillo as Ruler
Dominican people suffered from deprivation and repression
Critics suffered torture, imprisonment, loss of property
1937: Order massacre of thousands of unarmed Haitians living in the DR to racially homogenize the DR, avenge old tensions with Haiti, and establish firm control of borders
Slide11Impact of Trujillo as Ruler
1950s
The DR faced criticism from Dominicans and other countries
June 14, 1959: Castro and Dominicans exiled to Cuba led a failed invasion of the
DR
Trujillo
tried to assassinate Venezuelan President Betancourt, which fueled tensions between DR and other countries
Organization of American States (OAS) voted to sever ties with DR and impose economic sanctions on country
Slide12Underground Movement in DR
Gained momentum in late 50s and early
60s
The 14
th
of June Movement helped conspirators gain momentum; however when there was a plot to assassinate “El
Jefe
”,
"
Hundreds were rounded up by SIM agents and dragged to La
Cuarenta
to be tortured in the electric chair, and then thrown naked into the La Victoria prison... The beautiful Mirabel sisters, Maria Teresa and Minerva, were arrested along with their husbands, two of the leaders of the June 14th Movement
.”
Mirabel
sisters murdered on November 25, 1960 and is the signal of the end for Trujillo
Trujillo was assassinated six months after murder of Mirabels
Slide13Mirabel Sisters
Slide14Catholicism in DR
Patron Saint of DR : Virgin of La
Altagracia
, the Virgin of the Highest Grace
Today –estimated 7.6
baptised
Catholics in DR
1960
–
Trujillo accused five Catholic priests of conspiracy and creating bombs for the Anti-Trujillo Movement; two of them were deported
Pastoral
letter from Church criticizing Trujillo’s mass
murder
Mention of many saints in
Butterflies
Saint
Bernadette: pious youth who was told by the Virgin Mary to dig in mud until healing water appeared
Saint Dominic: known for idea that communities should be centered in the church
Slide15Gender Roles in the DR
While women in the DR have equal rights today, including the right to have property, the expectations of women in the 1960s was different.
Struggle for women to get an education (like Minerva in
Butterflies)
Men praised for “machismo”
Women expected to fulfill traditional role of caretaker and expected to look other way at infidelity of husbands, etc.
Beautiful women praised and Virgin Mary is the idealized figure for women
Today there is an increase in the number of women in the workforce and women as head of household
In the Time of the Butterflies
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