Alvarez encapsulates the impact that these real-life heroines had in cultivating change in the Dominican Republic. As women who fought to liberate the citizens from a dictator’s grip—as well as the grip of the patriarchal culture that flourished under Trujillo’s rule—the Mirabal sisters’ roles as pioneers of the revolution make them feminist icons in history.

Throughout the novel, each of the sisters confronts the cultural expectations of women in their own specific ways. Most especially, Minerva rejects these expectations and embodies feminist ideals with her commitment to being a voice of change for the underground organization. For example, when she meets Trujillo as a teenager, she emphatically declares to him that she is “not interested in admirers” until she receives her law degree. Although he ultimately deprives her of practicing law after allowing her to achieve her goal of graduating, she continues to dedicate her life to fighting for the revolutionary cause.

By intimately engaging with the journeys of the Mirabal sisters, Alvarez emphasizes how solidarity among the women—united as revolutionary forces in their shared struggle—empowers them to achieve significant cultural change. For example, during María Teresa’s time in prison, she describes the profound bond that exists among the female prisoners. In the following passage, she reflects upon how this camaraderie gives her strength to carry on, despite the initial hopelessness overwhelming her:

There is something deeper. Sometimes I really feel it in here, especially late at night, a current among us, like an invisible needle stitching us together into the glorious, free nation we are becoming.

While María Teresa, Minerva, and Patria do not survive to witness the influence their activism has in freeing the Dominican Republic from a future of horrors wrought by dictatorial regimes, Dedé—however conflictingly—manifests their legacy. At the end of the novel, when she encounters Lío at an honorary event, he stresses to her how her sisters’ influence paved the way for freedom and change. As Dedé illustrates, the actions of these revolutionary women helped transform their country into a prosperous nation, and in declaring that “the cemetery is beginning to flower,” she symbolizes how “the butterflies” invigorated future generations to mobilize behind progressive causes and defend fundamental human liberties.