I can relate to what Patria did to protect her son Nelson in chapter eight. One day when I was like eleven I wanted to hang out with my friends when my parents weren't home and I was not allowed to. My parents made me stay inside my house or I would get in trouble. Nelson wants to join the revolutionaries but to keep Nelson safe Patria wants to send him to school in the capital so he can stay out of harms way. Pedrito wants him to stay and learn to be a farmer but young men in the country side aren't safe because the SIM are rounding them up. So all mothers with children can understand why Patria sent Nelson to school, which was to keep him safe. Also Patria kind of reminds me of my mom because they are both protective and do what is necessary to take care of their children. Minerva had another baby in chapter eight and eventually asks Patria to "keep him" because she and Manolo are going to be on the road a lot. Patria lets Minerva and Manolo hold meetings on Pedrito's land. Patria goes on a trip and on the trip sees a young man die and believes it's her son. Patria also sends a letter to director of Nelson's school asking to keep Nelson on school grounds. At the end of the chapter Minerva and Pedrito really help the revolution and there house is the "mother-house" of the revolution.
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At this point you have become familiar with the multiple voices that are telling this story. Which of the voices speaks to you personally and why? (Put more simply, which is your favorite?) Feel free to reference or quote from any chapter, not just chapter 7.Personally I enjoy Minerva's voice because she says and does what she believes in and that takes a lot of guts. Like in chapter two when Minerva and her friends preform their national independence play for Trujillo and Minerva and Sinita are doing it as a hidden protest. Later in the play Sinita takes her bow and points it at Trujillo ready to shoot and then Trujillo's son stops her. Minerva speaks to me personally because like her I also will say and do what I believe in and won't follow what others do. In chapter six Minerva finds out that her father has a second family and as you can imagine she is very mad. She is also mad that her father hid Lio's letters asking Minerva to leave the country with him. So one night Minerva gets into the Jeep and goes to the other house and crashes into her father's ford and drives away. Minerva is a lot more braver than her sisters because she doesn't obey to the laws like they do she speaks her mind. She even tells her dad to his face that she doesn't respect him and back in those days you had to show your parents all the respect that they deserve. Finally Minerva is a independent person who stands up for people who wouldn't stand up for themselves and I admire that.
Minerva's father explains his behavior as "Cosas de los hombres." (Page 92) In what ways is Minerva upset by cosas de los hombres in this chapter? Hombres, in this case, refers to more men than just her father.Minerva gets very upset with cosas de los hombres and she says and acts what she thinks and I think that takes guts. She proves to be a strong women who isn't afraid of the consequences to her actions. In chapter 6 Minerva finds out that her father has a second family. One night Minerva breaks into her dad's armoire and finds letters that Lio sent her saying to leave the country with him and Minerva's dad hid them from her. She then drives to his other family's house where he is and crashes the Jeep into her dad's Ford and then drives off. When her dad comes back he wants to talk to her outside where he slaps her for disrespecting him. Later when Minerva asks her dad why he sought out another woman he answers with "Cosas de los hombres, he said. Things a man does"(Alvarez 92). When Minerva and her family go to El Jefe's party Minerva is invited to sit at El Jefe's table while her family sits at a different table. Dede signals to Minerva not to drink anything she is offered because young women are drugged and raped by El Jefe at his parties. Minerva eventually dances with El Jefe and tells him that she wants to go to the university but her dad won't let her. El Jefe talks about closing it because it's full of communists and Minerva says its a bad idea and then El Jefe says "maybe I will keep it open if that will draw you to our side"(Alvarez 100). Then he starts to bring Minerva closer and closer and then Minerva slaps him and her and her family leave the party without El Jefe's permission which is against the law. Minerva is really upset by these cosas de los hombres and it makes her mad and angry and that is why she did all these things in the chapter.
Have you ever been in a situation where your friend (romantic or platonic) causes stress between you and your family members? Referencing moments in the novel that remind you of your own experience, tell that story.I have been in a situation where my friend has caused stress between me and my family just like Dede experienced. So years ago my friend(who is also my neighbor) used to play basketball with my brother and I at my house. But then he got in trouble with the police and got arrested and when my dad found out he wasn't allowed to come over any more. It is similar to the novel because Dede and Minerva's friend gets in trouble with the police and gets kicked out of the country. Also Dede and Minerva's mother forbids Lio from coming over the house ever again. My personal experience and the situation in the book are almost exactly the same and to me that's kind of crazy. It doesn't mean that my friend is a bad guy but he made choices that he believed were right just like Lio did. In making these choices they both paid the price for what they did. It caused stress between my family because my brother and I liked to play basketball with him but my dad made the choice for us not to anymore. The same choice was made by Dede's mother because she didn't want to get her kids in trouble just like my dad wanted my brother and I to stay out of trouble.
1. Patria is at a crossroads in her life. What are the two choices she is faced with, and why do you think she makes the decision that she does?The two choices she is faced with is becoming a nun or marrying Pedrito and starting a family. Pedrito is a farmer who lived a town away from Patria. Patria married Pedrito and has two children and her third baby was already dead before it was born. I think she made that decision because as she got older she realized that there are other things that can be just as interesting as religion. Also as she got older her body and her mind went through extreme changes, that changed her mind on becoming a nun. When she went home for Easter and washed peoples feet, that is where she met Pedrito and feel in love with him. That is where the idea of becoming a nun wasn't her plan but to be with Pedrito. When she went back to school she lied about her calling and then she got a letter from Pedrito and the nuns find out and that is when she says she doesn't want to be a nun. When her baby dies Patria thinks it is because she ignored her religious calling. That is when she starts to lose faith in her religion.
In chapter 3 the format changes and instead of paragraphs all together, it was diary entries that were like 1 or 2 paragraphs long. All the diary entries described events that happened on all different days. Personally, I liked it and though it was a good way to tell stories and to really get in the mind of Maria Teresa. She told stories from her perspective based on the information she had. Most of these diary entries were days apart or even weeks and before each diary entry was the time period it was written. The time period of this chapter is later than chapter 2 was so there is a new president and characters talked about vaguely. Since Maria Teresa is the youngest of the sisters, the diary entries are written from her innocent perspective because she is getting used to living without her parents. On page 42 Maria is excitied to be home for the summer and excitied for all the things she will do and then the mood changes from happy to sad. It changed because then she started to talk about her sister giving birth to her baby who was dead. As the chapter progresses you can really see the changes in Maira as she experiences more things.
Adolescence can be very difficult. There are changes in awareness to one's individual body as well as changes in awareness to the word around us. Which is more difficult, becoming a young adult in body or becoming a young adult in mind?Becoming a young adult in the mind because you have to have mental toughness and also an understanding about how things work. In chapter 2 Minerva doesn't really understand how to talk to other people and communicate, "I held it out to her. I didn't know what to say, and probably wouldn't have helped anyway."(Alvarez 14). Minerva's mind is still developing and she doesn't have knowledge of what life is like outside of her home. It is difficult for us to learn lessons like what "complications" Minerva has later in the chapter and doesn't fully understand why yet. As she adapts to living without the help of her parents she starts to understand the things that are going on. When Sinita tells Minerva about what happened to the men in her family Minerva is shocked because she thought that the man who had them killed, Trujillo(the president) was almost as important as Jesus. I believe that is when Minerva starts to mentally change because she realizes how bad some people can be, even the ones she thought were good. Lina also showed Minerva how to show people of high status respect and was also an example of what men like Trujillo do, have multiple girlfriends while being married. Minerva's mind doesn't fully understand why Trujillo does these things when he is the leader of the country but she also figured out that beautiful women like Lina will be treated unfairly.
Why is Dede reluctant to speak with the reporter? Today we read chapter 1 of "In the Time of the Butterflies", we meet Dede who is the last mirabal sister alive. Dede doesn't like Novembers because on the 25th the television crews drive up and want to talk to her. Dede just wants to live her own life and not be bothered but every November 25 she is interrupted by the reporters and other people who want to know about her family. Dede doesn't like to have her life put on display for everyone to see and she believes that it's always labeled: The sister who survived. I feel bad for Dede because all these reporters want is to get in her face and ask a lot of questions but she just wants to live a normal life just like anyone else. She usually shows them around the house that they grew up in and most of the time they leave happy without asking any of the hard questions. I feel like Dede has done this so many times that it's understandable that she doesn't like to explain about her sisters every year. Dede finds out that the woman interviewing her hasn't read any articles or biographies. I believe that it will be a lot less stressful because she can explain to her that her family was as normal as anybody's family.
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