En el tiempo de las mariposas by Julia Alvarez

An amazing historical fiction account of life under the Era of the most ruthless dictator the Dominiby Ms_A_Hernandez

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May 30, 2009: I am a new Spanish teacher. When I was given the task of teaching Spanish to Native Speakers I knew that it was going to be a challenge convincing them that they really didn't know it all. My way of getting through to them was through literature. Since most of them were Dominican-American, like myself, I knew that they would be shocked to read about this grim time in Dominican history. Before I tell you the specifics about the book, I must tell you how it impacted my students. After reading the book and doing countless activities and writing about it, the number one comment was "I can't believe I never knew about this" and "I wish my grandma was alive to ask her about this."

As stated in the intro. the historical backdrop of the story is the the reign of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, a dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930-1961. During his reign of terror, people were imprisioned, tortured and killed. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press were blatantly disregarded.

The book is engaging because it relays this information through four voices; the voices of the four Mirabal sisters. These heroines were a part of an underground movement to overthrow Trujillo. What makes the story so touching, heartfelt, enthralling, gripping and heroic is that Alvarez walks us through their lives, from childhood to adulthood, and by having a couple of chapters of the book being told by one sister. Each chapter is different from the next but all interrelated. Alvarez does an excellent job of giving each sister their own voice & viewpoint.

Alvarez also has wonderful literary elements sprinkled throughout "In the Time of the Butterflies." For example, she shows symbolism by describing how Minerva, the most strong willed sister, tried to free a rabbit when she was younger. She also has various instances where foreshadowing can be pinpointed. Lastly, the poetic-ness of Alvarez's prose is noteworthy as well. One particular scene is when one of the sisters is describing what it felt like to be tortured she says "senti que se me desprendia el espiritu y flotaba sobre mi cuerpo contemplando la esena que occuria abajo" (I felt my spirit unhinge itself from my body and float over my body contemplating the scene that occurred below). (book available in English too).

This book is so rich in content and literature that it was easy teaching this book. One activity the students really enjoyed was "family reunion" in which I handed out the names of the roughly 17 family members and told each of them to find their nuclear family. They had 1 min. to find each other & then held up their name. Then they had to get into character and answer questions about who they are, their "siblings" and "parents." We also saw the movie which was okay but as the students put it, "it was too short." The movie is good in the sense that it sets the tone for the historical time frame; from 1930s to early 60s. Oh, and another great idea is to listen to book on audiobook. It comes in tape and CD, which I cked. out from the library.

To conclude, my idea to read this book with the class came from my own experience with the book when I read it in 2001 in my h.s. English class; that is the depth to which this book impacted me. My students were in love with the book too.

This book is a testament of courage; not that of mythical heroes...