The novel In The Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is known as a bildungsroman, or a coming of age story. In these types of novels, the main character(s), usually young, experience something in their lives that have a lasting effect on the way they grow up and develop morally, psychologically, and intellectually. In the novel, Alvarez tells the story of the four Mirabal sisters, three of whom join a revolution against Trujillo, a dreadful dictator in Alvarez's birthplace of the Dominican Republic. Minerva, Patria, and Mate, the sisters who join the revolution, experience a lot throughout their short lives that made them they women they were. Many of us, including myself have experienced something in our lives that similar to the Mirabal sisters changed us forever.
             When we first begin reading the novel, we meet Dedé the surviving sister that helps to tell her sisters' stories. She describes how they all were as children. The sisters grew up with their mother and father in a modest house in Oja de Agua. They were pretty well off and had it good. When Patria, the eldest daughter, was around the age of twelve years she told her parents of her desire to go to school. So, after much persuasion, she along with Minerva and later on Maria Teresa went off to study at Inmaculada Concepción. This is when they first saw the real power of Trujillo.
             Minerva tells the story of a friend she had in school named Lina Lovatón. She was a beautiful young girl. One day, Trujillo visited their school and placed his eyes on Lina. Lina ended up leaving school with Trujillo never to return. He took her as one of his "women" and placed her in a house away from her family and friends pregnant with his child. Minerva also told stories of her friend Sinita. Trujillo had killed her father, all her uncles, and just recently her brother. Everyone that went up against Trujillo en
             ...