a human species. Despite the difficulty and pain, the writer must struggle to find her own voice. InSalome, however, more than in any of her other works (except In the Time of the Butterflies, where the story of the Mirabal sisters directly records their immense sacrifice and courage in opposing Trujillo's tyranny), the writing compellingly combines the personal with the political.

Alvarez aims to bridge the gap between poetry and politics. Throughout this book and her broader body of work, she examines the role of poetry and fiction in modern society. Historically, poets have significantly influenced the creation and preservation of nations, acting both as revolutionaries and as proponents of the status quo. For example, in the English tradition, figures like Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, John Dryden, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson come to mind. The convergence of poetry and politics offers a rich and productive area for research and discussion. Additionally, this novel delves into the relationship between a poet's personal emotions and the public role they are expected to play as a national figure. Hence, exploring the tension between the private and public lives of poets (and other artists) using this novel as a primary text would be valuable. Furthermore, discussing the interplay between personal morality and the broader social and political context is always insightful.

1. Investigate the history and nature of political upheavals in Latin America, focusing on the Dominican Republic and Haiti. What role has the United States played in these events? How have art and literature influenced these upheavals?

2. Research political leaders who have also been poets or creative writers. Have any U.S. politicians also been notable poets? Identify several influential American poets who have worked in business, law, medicine, or other professions. This research could foster an intriguing discussion about the place and importance of poetry in American culture.

3. Compare the issue of sexual politics in Salome with the perspective offered by seventeenth-century English writer John Dryden in "Absalom and Achitophel," where he wrote, "when man on many multiplied his kind." Does polygamy arise from feudal concerns about male paternity uncertainty? Was this practice mainly popular in the nineteenth century (e.g., Mormon polygamy and Hispanic "second" families), or has it persisted into the twentieth century? Compare and contrast the nature and outcomes of various polygamous practices with the common patterns of divorce and remarriage in the United States and other countries.

4. Examine the connection between the themes of the novel and the characterization of Salome and Camila.

5. The novel opens and closes with Camila, a teacher, reflecting on her role as an educator. Analyze the depiction and functions of education as presented in the novel.

6. Explore the issues of race, "mixed blood," and racism in this and other works by Alvarez. Compare her treatment of these themes with that of writers like Sandra Cisneros, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Rudolfo Anaya, and Gary Soto.

7. In the acknowledgments section, Alvarez mentions that her characters, although inspired by historical figures, are "re-created in the light of questions that we can only answer, as they did, with our own lives: Who are we as a people? What is a patria? How do we serve? Is love stronger than anything else in the world?" Reflect on these statements.

8. Taking into account all the evidence, such as the personal and familial relationships explored in the novel, argue whether In the Name of Salome offers a pessimistic or an optimistic perspective on life.

9. Consider the issues related to the relationship between the United States and Cuba as depicted in the novel and in daily news media. Argue whether United States foreign policy regarding Cuba should be changed or remain the same.

10. Compare and contrast Alvarez's depiction of female characters in her other novels with the portrayal and characterization of Salome and Camila.

11. Using the acknowledgments section of the book as a reference, analyze Alvarez's utilization of historical documents, such as letters, published poems, and diaries. Can you think of other writers who use historical figures, events, and documents to create fiction? Compare Alvarez's use of historical documents in Salome with William Harrison's in The Blood Latitudes and Andrew Dubus III's in House of Sand and Fog, both of which also incorporate historical events and materials into their narratives.

Julia Alvarez is a "serious" writer who explores themes and issues that link the individual, family, community, and state. In her works, the well-being of an individual often reflects the condition of these other entities in a significant and insightful manner. Her fourth novel delves even deeper into these themes than her previous three. The roles of artists and politicians, and the intersection of creative and political drives in poetry and education, are prominent in this novel. The concept of a Dominican homeland, la patria, takes center stage. Alvarez argues that the immense challenges of building a functional state, democracy, and true homeland are closely tied to the sexual behaviors of many upper-class Dominican men. She links political tyranny to machismo, which fosters secrecy and betrayal within families. This behavior often results in women leading broken or incomplete families with limited resources. However, Alvarez's fiction also portrays these women as resilient; they are capable of leading revolutions and surviving patriarchy, though not without significant cost and damage. In her view, the dream of la patria will remain unattainable as long as male revolutionaries uphold the widespread cultural norm of male sexual freedom.

For far too long, men have tried to control female sexuality by opposing women's access to education, birth control, travel, and employment. This ultimately leads to the physical and psychological abuse of women and children. Alvarez skillfully integrates these issues into the narrative, presenting them as part of the cultural backdrop and occasionally bringing them to the forefront, as they are intrinsic to the early twentieth-century setting of the novel. She highlights the extent of male control through the character of Salome's husband, Pancho, who edits, alters, recites, and controls her poetry, effectively silencing her voice. As long as her poetry addresses state politics, Pancho takes pride in it. However, when it begins to express feminist ideas of sexual passion and equality, he and other men, including Camila's brothers and Salome's internalized censor, suppress it. Alvarez subtly exposes how the religious and cultural traditions of Hispanic people in the Caribbean create and reinforce male sexual oppression of women, and how challenging it is to break free from these constraints. She revisits this theme repeatedly in her work due to the significant challenges it presents for women. Beneath the controlled prose of her fiction, poetry, and essays, burns a fiery and angry passion.

Alvarez's proposed solution stems from the concept and practice of education. In 1881, Salome establishes the first higher education institution for women, the Institute de Senoritas. Both Salome and Camila dedicate significant portions of their lives to teaching. They focus on instructing the mother tongue, the ideas conveyed through it, and the connection between language and the concept of homeland, or la patria. Many of the novel's scenes are set in classrooms, whether in Salome's Dominican classrooms or Camila's classrooms at Vassar and in Cuba. The novel's final scene, one of its most poignant and powerful moments, depicts Camila, blind and nearly eighty, guiding a young boy's hands over the carving of her name on her tombstone. She recites the letters and words of her name until the boy, after repeated attempts, understands the link between sound, meaning, letters, and their shapes.

Closely tied to the themes of education and literacy is the role of the poet and the function of poetry in shaping la patria. During periods of political and personal turmoil, Camila finds solace in her mother's poetry because it provides clarity and focus. Alvarez herself enjoys starting her workday by reading poetry to "tune her ear" to the truth and beauty of language, and thereby, to the truth of her own writing.

This novel is packed with crucial social issues, particularly the racial ramifications of Spanish empire-building. Following the Conquest, European diseases brought by Columbus and his successors decimated indigenous populations. Consequently, the Spanish began importing African slaves en masse to undertake the heavy labor of building their empire. This marked the beginning of a deeply entrenched history of race and racism in the Dominican Republic, issues that persist into the region's modern history. Four centuries after Columbus, a new form of imperialism emerged—"yanqui imperialism"—practiced by the United States in Central and South America. This began most notably with the U.S. overthrowing Spanish rule through the acquisition and conquest of what is now the western United States, and continued with the Spanish-American War of 1895. This pattern of intervention has persisted into contemporary U.S. foreign policy, aiming to annex, control, or influence much of Central America. As a result, the United States has a near-continuous history of supporting dictators in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and other regions, often to the detriment of the local populations and, ultimately, to the broader interests of the United States. Alvarez weaves these social issues into the lives and actions of her characters as they navigate their domestic relationships, personal encounters, and political engagements of the era. This creates a clear and compelling depiction of the inevitable and inseparable link between broader political issues and deeply personal and emotional individual experiences. La patria cannot be successfully established as long as individuals and nations are governed by the politics of machismo and complicated by racism.

Two of Alvarez's earlier works are particularly insightful for understanding her techniques and themes in her current work. In the Time of the Butterflies and YO! especially highlight the significance of family narratives, whether passed down orally or discovered through journals, diaries, and letters. These stories convey the family's journey and how they arrived at their current place in their homeland, as a family unit, and as individuals. Both YO! and In the Name of Salome can be considered "metafiction," exploring the intricate aspects of the creative writing process. This includes the emotional challenges of crafting stories and poems, the writer's need for love and acceptance, the use of personal and others' experiences, the interplay between life (especially political life) and art, and the essential role of genius in transforming these elements into art.

In all of Alvarez's works, stories weave the fabric and truth of lives, creating a lasting tribute to those lives—a poetic notion as ancient as poetry itself. Just as In the Time of the Butterflies uses fragments of oral legend and history to honor the bravery of the Mirabal sisters and caution against dictatorships, In the Name of Salome commemorates the courage and contributions of two prominent Dominican poets and educators to la patria.

In Something to Declare (1998), Alvarez describes her writing as a "palimpsest," where behind the prominent literary influences (Scheherazade, George Eliot, Toni Morrison, Emily Dickinson, Maxine Hong Kingston, Sandra Cisneros), she sees other faces: real-life women who entered her imagination with everyday items like brooms, dusting rags, cookbooks, and garden scissors. These include Gladys and the tias, the cook at Yaddo and her assistant, and the lady with the vacuum cleaner. However, her primary inspiration comes from her extensive and vocal Dominican extended family—a lively mix of aunts (tias) and uncles (tios), grandparents, cousins, sisters, maids, and neighbors.

These individuals shared and corrected stories about one another. The maids, particularly Gladys, the pantry maid, taught her songs, folk remedies, and life secrets guarded by Gladys and her peers. Her writing's roots are in this Dominican environment, further nurtured by her English teachers in New York City, the example of William Carlos Williams (another Caribbean immigrant), and the works of Maxine Hong Kingston, Sandra Cisneros, Rudolfo Anaya, and Gary Soto, among other bilingual, bicultural writers. The sounds and rhythms of New York City English, her second language, also influenced her work.

Throughout the 1980s, Alvarez became increasingly prolific in poetry, nonfiction prose, and novels, maintaining her productivity into the 1990s. The Housekeeping Book (1984), a handmade collection of her housekeeping poems, was partially written at Yaddo, a writer's retreat where she began to find her voice as both a woman and a Latina. Her debut novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), was succeeded by In The Time of the Butterflies (1994); The Other Side/El Otro Lado, a poetry book (1995); Homecoming: New and Collected Poems (1996); Seven Trees, another poetry collection (1999); Something to Declare, a collection of essays (1998); and her third novel, YO! (1997).

In her three novels, Alvarez delves into themes that make In the Name of Salome (2000) so captivating: race and racism, the concept of homeland, the significance of poets and poetry in life and politics, and the complexities and benefits of being multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural.