![]() Today, Alvarez is an award-winning author, most known for her first novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Growing up, there were a lot of pieces of Julia Alvarez that felt like they didn't fit together the way they were supposed to. Next up, a conversation with the writer and poet Julia Alvarez. In our last installment, we talked to author Ross Gay about the importance of celebrating joy. This summer on Code Switch, we're talking to some of our favorite authors about books that taught us about the different dimensions of freedom. This is the spirit that the author has attempted to convey.The Woman I Kept To Myself, by Julia Alvarez To the author, the butterfly represents a free spirit that is delicate and not yet afraid, that is vulnerable but still would fly out, that knows how to weather a storm and when to do its work. The Butterfly in the novel has the symbolism of grace, beauty, and a certain frailness but it still has a spirit of freedom. It is from this meeting that Minerva becomes a convert and assumes the name of “Mariposa” – “The Butterfly” and becomes a leader of the movement. Now Minerva was initially drawn to Lio Morales and after she joins a law school, she falls in love with Manolo Tavárez a revolutionary, and has two daughters. She is not the one to take indignities and during a dance, she slaps the dictator who made sexual advances. It was Minerva who finds that her father has another wife and has four other daughters but rather than turn them away, Minerva takes them into her care and educates them. Her friend’s parents were murdered because they fought the system and this changes Minerva’s attitude and she begins her fight for justice against the tyranny of Trujillo. ![]() Her awakening call came very early when she was in school and heard the story of her friend Sinita Perozo. Minerva is the second youngest and was a fighter right from a young age when she decided to become a lawyer. The death of a teenaged boy during the attack of the Trujillo army converts her to the cause of the freedom movement. The awakening call for the freedom movement came later on when her son Nelson takes up revolutionary activities and she joins the movement. She regains her faith when she listens to the voice of the holy mother during a meeting of the people. They have two children and their third is stillborn and this affects her so much that she almost loses her faith. She becomes more involved when she meets Pedrito González and washes his feet as a sign of devotion and is attracted to him and marries him. ![]() Her devotion to the Church and her fervent prayers attract the attention of the nuns who ask her to become a nun and enter the sisterhood. Patria is the eldest of the four sisters, is strong, independent, and deeply religious. This paper does a comparative study of two sisters Patria and Minerva, explores how they awakened to the cause and the symbolism of the Butterfly. While their struggle had a common theme, there were certain differences in how they became aware of the great human tragedy that befell their country and their people. The author explores how the four Mirabel sisters, Minerva, Mate, Patria, and Dede, got awakening calls and attempted to fight the system and which ultimately cost them their lives. But fate willed it otherwise and when faced with human suffering, torture, and tragedy, they preferred to come out of their shells and rebel against the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo. ![]()
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