In the Time of the Butterflies: Supreme Blog

One of the questions being considered during this unit is: How are the women depicted in contemporary fiction and media? During your reading of the novel, comment on the ways in which women are being portrayed. Consider relationships, experiences, situations, etc. 

As I read the second part of the book I noticed that the four women seem to change greatly. They all begin to take a bigger role in the underground movement against Trujillo while also getting married and starting their own families. They seem to become more modern (mainly by becoming politically involved) but also continue to care for their families. They seem to leave behind the old fashioned ways as they work with their husbands in their businesses (Dede and her family’s ice cream shop). THey also work in the underground movement against Trujillo’s regime by planing the revolt and storing weapons. They are bombarded with the old fashioned stereotypes that existed (mostly by men), but respond by showing that they are not at all examples of those stereotypes. They realize the double standard that most men have of women- that men are allowed to be sexually involved with other women while women are not (as the sisters discover with their father)- and show their disapproval. As they continue to go against Trujillo more the sisters begin to gain the people’s trust and respect. As the four sisters grow older, they continue to disprove the existing stereotypes and set an example to both the women and men of the Dominican Republic.

One of the questions being considered during this unit is: How are women depicted in contemporary fiction and media? During your reading of the novel, comment on the ways in which women are being portrayed. Consider relationships, experiences, situations, etc.

In this book, the author portrays the four women in four very different ways. The different ways that the women are portrayed help to create the stereotype of women in the Dominican Republic during the time of Trujillo’s reign and the stereotypes they were going against. Minerva is the most outspoken and liberal of the sisters. She represents the struggle against the sexist stereotype of the time of staying home, being uneducated, and being a housewife and mother. She attends a Catholic high school and makes it her priority to attend the University to become a lawyer. Her top priority is not to just become a housewife, although she would like it. She expresses these views to others (including Trujillo himself) and is not afraid to speak out against the regime, like many others- including men. She also is involved greatly in the underground group against the regime. She demonstrates the struggle that the women of the time go through to go against the typical, housewife-mother-uneducated stereotype. The rest of the three sisters also seem to go against the stereotype of women being uneducated, as all of them at least get their high school diploma. Dede and Patria are the more typical and traditional housewife who married after high school almost right away. They have children and begin to run a household very quickly. However, Dede helps run the various businesses that she and her husband, Jaimito, have. Patria, on the other hand seems to just stay at home and care for her and her husband’s, Pedrito, children. Maria-Teresa, the youngest of the four, attends the university and begins to be involved in the underground group against the regime. She also seems to dwell on who she will marry very much. Minerva seems to have a large influence on the relationships that Maria Teresa has and her political views. The author, Julia Alvarez, portrays these women in very different ways in order to further portray the women of this time in the Dominican Republic. These sisters grow up in a home that encourages education and encourages their dreams strongly. They live in a traditional environment, but yet they are revolutionary in their thoughts and ideas. Throughout the progression of the book they continue to develop these new and revolutionary ideas while still having one foot in the traditional world.