For her second novel, “In the Time of the Butterflies,” Julia Alvarez wanted to write about dictatorship from a female perspective. She chose the stories of the Mirabal sisters, Patria, Minerva, María Teresa and Adela, the first three of which were assassinated by the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic for oppossing the government. The daughter of Minerva Mirabal, Minou Tavárez Mirabal, was a helpful resource for Alvarez and let her explore some of the sisters’ personal items.
Video Features
Clip | How Julia Alvarez brought truth to the Mirabal sisters in her novel “In the Time of the Butterflies”
Clip | The true story behind “How the García Girls Lost Their Accents”
Clip | How Julia Alvarez was inspired by the working class
Clip | How Julia Alvarez conceived the story for her novel “Afterlife”
Clip | Julia Alvarez on the female perspective in “In the Time of the Butterflies”
Written Features
TRANSCRIPT
- Everything I had read before of the dictatorship, it was from the male point of view, but I was interested in that female experience of dictatorship.
I thought there were only three Mirabal sisters.
And then when I came to find out about them, (Julia speaks foreign language) I said, "Who's Mamá Dedé?"
"Oh, she's the fourth sister."
I said, "There were four?"
(Jaime speaks foreign language) (bird twitters) - Dedé welcomes me in.
She gives me a limonada and she starts to tell me the story.
She bestowed that story to me.
I felt that it had been given to me and I had to carry it out and tell it.
(gentle music) (heels clicking) I went to the house where they grew up.
I saw the dresses they wore on the day they were killed.
I saw the little things that had been in their pocketbook.
I opened drawers.
I lifted the glass case in which the braid that Maria Teresa had been cut off, still full of little pieces of glass.
I touched it.
I smelled the place, it was just, I was possessed.
(dramatic music)
