Butterflies

Why does Trujillo kill the sisters even though they’re no longer directly involved
in the revolution? Were the women victims, martyrs, heroes, or something else?

Trujillo first had the sisters imprisoned, in order to try to break their will. He wanted to make them suffer, and he knew that throwing them in jail away from their children would be the ultimate torture for these women. After the investigations into the welfare of the prisoners, Trujillo released the women from prison as a ‘gesture of good will’. The problem was that Trujillo didn’t actually have any good will towards anyway, he clearly had ulterior motives. He further tries to break the women by separating the husbands, thereby separating the sisters because they couldn’t make visits to see them in jail together. Mate and Minerva, I believe, were the bigger threats to Trujillo, and that’s why he sent their husbands to the new jail on top of the mountain. He especially wanted to get back at Minerva after she refused to be his mistress, and I believe that’s why he set up the murder on the mountain. I don’t think that Patria was a part of the original murder scheme, just a happy surprise for Trujillo when he found out that she was also in the car.

I think that these women were definitely martyrs for their cause, and for their country. It could be argued that if not for the death of the butterflies, the revolution and the assignation of Trujillo might not have been as successful. People’s outrage at the blatant murder of three beautiful women, three caring wives and mothers, at the hands of El Jefe must have been an extremely hard pill to swallow. I’m sure that it caused many people who were on the fence about getting involved choose sides, probably sides that were against Trujillo. So, while the deaths of the three sisters were tragic and unnecessary, the strong feelings that their deaths invoked in the people of the Dominican Republic probably saved the nation.

Dede's Time Line

Dede’s Time Line

Born: 1925

1938

·         Dede goes to school with her two older sisters, Minerva and Patria

1943

·         Family gathering underneath the large tree in the front yard

·         Father tells Dede’s fortune- predicts that she is going to be a millionaire that buries the whole family

·         Dede interprets this after as an omen for the beginning of the end

1948

·         Dede and Minerva meet Lio when he and his cousin visits them at their father’s store

·         Once Lio has to flee the country, he trust Dede with a note for Minerva. Dede decides not to give Minerva the note in order to ‘save’ her

·         Dede gets engaged and married to Jaimito

1950

·         The businesses that Dede starts with her husband fail, this includes a restaurant and an ice cream parlor

·         Presumably she has at least one child by this point

1954

·         Money being tight after the failed business ventures, Dede and her family move into her childhood home

·         At least two children by this point

·         Problems between the couple start arising

1960

·         Dede’s sisters ask if they can bury weapons on their property, Jaimito says no, and this starts Dede’s indecision about what was going to happen to her

·         Dede’s sister’s husbands are all arrested, Jaimito is the only one who was spared (he wasn’t involved in any revolutionary planning)

·         Jaimito takes care of the sisters after their husbands were taken

·         Dede and Jaimito petition to get the three sisters back after they were taken away by the government

1994

·         Dede lives in family home

·         Runs museum dedicated to her sisters

·         Participates in the ‘yearly interviews’

·         She’s still involved with her nieces and nephews

Character Analysis- Dede; Chapter One

Bird of Paradise

 

Dede’s character within the first chapter is a complicated one. She is full of sorrow, resentment, guilt, and confusion. The entry of Dede was one of her trimming her bird of paradise of its dead branches, and this imagery definitely has significance. Dede wants to be rid of her own dead branches, be done with the burdens that she has had since the death of her three sisters. She wants to be done with all of the interviews, let go of the grief that came with being the only surviving sister.

One big aspect of Dede’s personality is the way that she feels the need to oblige everyone around her. In the beginning of the chapter, you can tell that she feels obligated to answer the interview questions every November 25, she feels obligated to show people around the house, make finger sandwiches and snacks, and basically put up with people poking around her life every year. At the end of the chapter you find out that she also feels obligated to take care of her father after he’s drank too much, she feels obligated to help out with the store and anything else that is asked of her. In a nutshell, Dede is the helper, the ‘I will give you the shirt off of my back” kind of person.

I’m focusing on this aspect of her personality because I oftentimes find myself in the same situation. It’s a very tough spot to be in when you feel like you can’t say no to a person. Being a pushover is physically and emotionally draining, and at the same time, it hurts even more to say no to people. I can relate to Dede in the respect that it’s difficult being the go to girl for everyone, especially when no one considers that you might need help too sometimes.

I am an Emotional Creature- Blog One

After reading I am an Emotional Creature I have to admit that I was pretty let down. After reading the Vagina Monologues by Ensler, I kind of expected more from her. This book was a far cry from its predecessor, and while I can appreciate that they aren’t meant to be the same, I feel as if Ensler fell flat here.

One of my first issues with Emotional Creature is that it seemed rather contrived. You could tell that she was trying to promote self confidence, safe sex and abstinence, and being emotional, but the way that she tried to put it forth through the text came across to me as trying too hard.

Another big issue for me was how it was a monologue-poem hybrid. The flow of the different stories was off for me, and I had a hard time getting images of what was going on throughout the different passages. An example would be in the ‘Moving towards the Hoop’ story. It was really chaotic, and I think it was because she was trying to portray the girl’s inner monologue as chaotic, but the execution left something to be desired.