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In the Time of the Butterflies

by Julia Alvarez

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In the Time of the Butterflies Characters

The main characters of In the Time of the Butterflies are the four Mirabal sisters (Dedé, Minerva, María Teresa, and Patria) and Rafael Trujillo.

  • Dedé is the only surviving Mirabal sister and tells their stories.
  • Minerva is the most revolutionary of the Mirabal sisters.
  • María Teresa, nicknamed “Mate,” is the youngest Mirabal sister and speaks through her diary entries.
  • Patria is the eldest Mirabal sister.
  • Rafael Trujillo is the dictator of the Dominican Republic, who reigned from 1930 until his assassination in 1961.

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Characters

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Dedé (Bélgica Adela Mirabal Reyes)

Dedé, the second-oldest and only surviving Mirabal sister, is the first character introduced in the novel. Her narrative—mostly told in the third person, in contrast to her sisters’ chapters—spans half a century, from her childhood to the present (1994). Thirty-four years after Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa were murdered for rebelling against Trujillo’s regime, Dedé is now a successful life insurance salesperson. She struggles with her status as the “orator” of her family’s history, particularly given her sisters’ fame as patriotic martyrs for the revolution.

Throughout her narrative, Dedé describes herself as “the docile middle child . . . Miss Sonrisa, cheerful, compliant.” After she marries Jaimito, she explains that “her life had gotten bound up with a domineering man,” and she struggles between whether to obey her husband or join the underground movement. Comparing herself to her sisters, she constantly doubts her courage—yet her indecisiveness stems from her inclination to always make “the best of things,” motivated by her eagerness “for order” and “for peace.” As the novel concludes, Dedé becomes more cognizant of her courage as a survivor.

Minerva (María Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes)

The most outspoken and defiant of the Mirabal sisters, “the beautiful, intelligent, high-minded Minerva” is the first in the family to become involved in the revolution against Trujillo. The inclination to question authority informs her personality. Her rash bravery becomes increasingly dangerous with Trujillo’s rise to power—and, as Dedé mentions, because of her rising reputation as “the secret heroine of the whole nation.” Minerva comes to represent an iconic force of patriotic heroism.

Minerva’s early aspiration to become a lawyer drives her character development; consequently, when she is granted permission to attend law school by Trujillo—only to be denied the opportunity to practice law after graduating—she and her husband, Manolo, soon after become prominent figures in the movement to overthrow the regime. Later, Minerva explains that, while her “months in prison had elevated [her] to superhuman status,” she hides her internal anxieties from the other prisoners, worrying that “if they had only known how frail their iron-will heroine had become,” they would lose faith. The exhaustion of maintaining this facade and hiding her own mounting fears is clear to the reader, as well as her desire to be with her children, Manolito and Minou. However, Minerva maintains her resolve and will not allow the regime to “kill her spirit.” Her determination to speak out against injustice—even against the ever-increasing threat of death—leads to her status as a revolutionary heroine.

María Teresa (Antonia María Teresa Mirabal Reyes)

María Teresa—nicknamed “Mate”—is the youngest of the Mirabal sisters; while Patria, Dedé, and Minerva were all born one year apart, Mate is nine years younger than Minerva. She and Minerva have a particularly close relationship; unlike Minerva, however, Mate explains that “everything’s personal to [her] that’s principle to [Minerva],” and Mate can be emotionally fragile. She frequently experiences stress-induced asthma and panic attacks, especially during her time in prison.

Mate’s narrative, written in the form of journal entries, intimately follows her emotional transition from a naive nine-year-old girl to a young woman leading the revolution. As an adult, she moves in with Minerva and Manolo, meets her husband Leandro, and becomes involved with their underground movement. While she initially mistrusts men—as depicted in her dreams of her father following his death—Mate is a romantic, and after she and Leandro marry and have a daughter, Jacqui, she expresses that her love for them is more important to her than the revolution.

Patria (Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes)

Self-described as “otherworldly, deeply religious,” and the “easiest, friendliest, simplest” of her sisters, Patria—the oldest of the four—has a fiercely maternal nature. Moreover, Patria is an avid rule-follower and is considered the most well-behaved and pious of her sisters. She initially aspires to become a nun, which leads her to attend Inmaculada Concepción for school. However, when she falls in love with Pedrito González, she leaves the convent to marry him while she is still a teenager. After having two children, Nelson and Noris, Patria’s third child is stillborn, which has a profound effect on her relationship with God.

Acknowledging that, “like every woman of her house, [she] disappeared into what [she] loved, coming up every now and then for air,” her house becomes the “mothership” of the Fourteenth of June Movement. Accordingly, her fears mount when she unexpectedly becomes pregnant with her fourth child, Raulito, named after Che Guevara. While pregnant, Patria witnesses a boy of Nelson’s age shot to death during an attack by Trujillo’s men; this event consequently invigorates her to join the movement. Her transformation from “the same Patria Mercedes, who wouldn’t have hurt a butterfly,” to a staunch advocate for the rebellion signifies how her compassion and firm faith gave her the courage to fight for her beliefs.

Rafael Trujillo

Rafael Trujillo, referred to as “El Jefe” during his rule over the Dominican Republic from 1930 to his assassination in 1961, was a bellicose and murderous dictator whose regime is characterized as the deadliest period in the country’s history. The brutal deaths of the Mirabal sisters—who fought to liberate future generations from his rule and reestablish freedom and civil rights to citizens of the Dominican Republic—contributed to his downfall. The Mirabals’ activism helped expose the human rights violations executed by his regime to international awareness.

Mercedes Reyes Camilo

As the matriarch of the Mirabal family, many of Mercedes’s character traits are reflected in her daughters—from her faith and courage to the maternal love that each of the Mirabal sisters pass onto their own children. Through her daughters’ narratives, it is revealed that Mercedes and her husband, Enrique, have a strained relationship, and that he has four daughters with another woman. Minerva observes the effect that this heartache has on her mother, noting that “her hair had gone steel gray, and she pulled it back in a severe bun that showed off the long-suffering look on her face.” Despite these hardships, Mercedes speaks her mind and displays profound strength through her unwavering dedication to protecting her daughters.

Enrique Mirabal Fernández

Enrique, a farmer, is the father of the four Mirabal sisters and, as a result of an affair with another woman, four other daughters. He has a possessive and indulgent nature; when Minerva reminds her father that his daughters will no longer belong to him when they marry, he responds that “a daughter is a needle in the heart.” Early on, Mercedes points out to her daughters that, in order for Enrique to enforce his position as the patriarch of the family, he needs to put “his mark on everything so no one could say Enrique Mirabal didn’t wear the pants in his family.” His family is thus cognizant of his weaknesses—as well as his deteriorating health, which worsens in his later years, after he is sent to the capital to be questioned by Trujillo’s men. His daughters illustrate how his mind was never the same after that, and he died before Christmas in 1953.

Manolo Tavarez Justo

Manolo, Minerva’s husband, is a prominent figure in the underground movement, and thanks to his help, Minerva is the first of the Mirabal sisters to become involved in the revolution. Along with Minerva, María Teresa, Pedrito, Leandro, and Nelson, Manolo is arrested by Trujillo’s forces and imprisoned. After the Mirabal sisters’ murders and Trujillo’s assassination, Manolo is released. He continues to be a voice for the rebellion until he is also killed.

Pedrito González

In describing her husband, Pedrito, Patria mentions that “he was born to the soil” and ascribes his physical features to “the roundness of the hills and the rich, rolling valley of El Cibao.” When he becomes involved in the Fourteenth of June Movement, Pedrito is arrested, and after Patria’s murder and Pedrito’s release, he steps away from politics and remarries.

Jaimito Fernández

Dedé’s husband and cousin, Jaimito has a domineering nature in comparison to her sisters’ husbands. Because she feels obligated to obey Jaimito’s wishes—which involve not becoming involved in the rebellion—their marriage suffers, and they end up divorcing years after her sisters’ deaths.

Leandro “Palomino” Guzmán

Leandro, a member of the underground movement, is initially introduced by María Teresa as Palomino. The two marry and have a daughter, Jacqui. After his imprisonment and his wife’s murder, he, along with Pedrito, remarries and stays out of politics.

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