Study Questions

For Discussion of Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies

General

1. What is the novel about?

2. After reading it, why do you think you were asked to read this book?

3. What about the novel was meaningful to you?

Geography

1. Where is the Dominican Republic located?

2. What geographical information about the landscape and the ways in which people make a living from the land is important in the story?

History/Culture

1. What history and cultural traditions do you learn about the Dominican Republic from reading the book?

2. What cultural traditions in the Dominican Republic are presented as part of the Mirabal family life and how do those traditions influence the family's life and actions?

Religion

1. What role does religion play in the book?

2. How does each sister respond to the religious expectations of her family, school, and community?

3. What connection does Alvarez show between the Catholic church and the Trujillo government?

Politics

1. Why are the women opposed to Trujillo?

2. What motivates each sister to join, or not join, the revolution against Trujillo?

3. Do the conditions portrayed in the novel justify the revolutionary movement in which three of the sisters participate?

Gender

1. What various roles did the men play in the book?

2. What was the expected role of women in the Dominican Republic in the 1950s and how did the Mirabal sisters fit and not fit that role?

Literary

1. Why does Alvarez use the different voices of the sisters? How does this approach add to the novel?

2. How does Alvarez build suspense in the story? What foreshadowing strategies does she use to prepare us for the climatic events?

3. What is the effect of the 1994 frame story in which the reporter has come to interview Dede? Does this contemporary frame add or detract from the central story? How? In what way(s)?

4. Would this story make a good movie? Why or why not?

Personal

1. What is a martyr? What does it take to be a martyr?

2. Are there any causes or beliefs for which you would become a martyr? What would motivate you to accept or reject martyrdom for that cause or belief?

3. Which of the Mirabl sisters did you most sympathize with and why? Which sister did you least sympathize with and why?

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