By exploring the dynamics between members of the Mirabal family, Alvarez emphasizes the potency that their steadfast loyalty to one another has during their shared struggle. Accordingly, Alvarez examines different forms of love—from sisterhood, to motherhood, to marriage—to showcase the resilience of familial bonds against forces of evil.

While the Mirabals are united behind the same cause, their ambition to fight lies in their shared desire to create a better world for future generations of Dominicans. For example, in reference to her husband, María Teresa mentions that “love goes deeper than the struggle, or maybe . . . love is the deeper struggle.” In this regard, she acknowledges that she would never sacrifice her family to the cause, and for her, this sacred love—with her sisters, her husband, and later, her child—is the most important thing to fight for. Likewise, Patria’s commitment to protecting her children heavily influences her emotions and decisions, especially when Nelson is imprisoned.

In particular, as the only surviving sister of the Mirabals, Dedé learns how to carry on her family legacy as she navigates her own trauma. While torn between obeying her husband and joining the underground movement with her sisters, she reflects upon the sacred bond she has with them, realizing that “her fate was bound up with the fates of her sisters,” because “if they died, she would not want to go on living without them.” After their deaths, her grief intensifies, and when she expresses this sentiment to Jaimito, he tells Dedé that her martyrdom is “to be alive without them.”

At the end of the novel, when Dedé describes feeling the presence of her lost family members, she asserts that “even as spirits they retained their personalities, Patria’s sure and measured step, Minerva’s quicksilver impatience, Mate’s playful little skip.” Through the sisters’ shared courage, faith, and compassion, Dedé learns her own strengths and endeavors to provide her nieces with these ideals. She thus keeps the spirits of her family members alive by cultivating and nourishing familial love.