

They have since become symbols of that fight, with Alvarez’s novel serving as document. Twenty-five years later, Alvarez’s novel remains a timely and touching ode to that earlier generation of Dominicans who wouldn’t stand for the injustices - especially against young women - that were so rampant around them. They were ghosts to her, she shared, who beckoned her to tell their story. But where the Mirabals fell victim to the Trujillo regime, Alvarez and her sisters made it safely to the United States. As in her own family, there were four girls. As she told Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X, who led the PEN Out Loud conversation between the two that night, the Mirabal sisters always haunted her. GradeSaver, 15 November 2009 Web.One couldn’t help but hear in that line Alvarez’s own drive towards celebrating her novel’s 25th year in print. "In the Time of the Butterflies Study Guide". Next Section In the Time of the Butterflies Summary Buy Study Guide How To Cite in MLA Format Joyce, Meghan. The interview questions transport Dede (and thus the reader) back in time and into the consciousness of each sister.

The time frame of the "present" is a span of just one afternoon, during which Dede gives an interview. Her chapters are divided into two parts: the present (1994) and the past, when her sisters were alive, beginning with 1943. Her narration is in the third person whereas the narration of the other sisters is in the first person. It is divided into three sections of four chapters each. In the Time of the Butterflies is a fictionalized account of the revolutionary activity and personal lives of the Mirabal sisters and their families and compatriots in the Dominican Republic under the Trujillo regime. The book was made into a film in 2001, directed by Mariano Barroso and starring Salma Hayek as Minerva. In 1995, it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction, and it was chosen as one of the Best Books for Young Adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association and the American Library Association. It was selected as a Notable Book for 1994 by the American Library Association, and it was also a 1994 Book of the Month Club choice. In the Time of the Butterflies was published in 1994.
