IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES

IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES

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In The Time of ‘The Butterflies’

In the time of the butterflies is a film directed by Mariano Barosso. Its major issue is the dictatorship under General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo who held control of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. He persecuted very many people and killed them to retain his power. The movie shows the main character who is the most outspoken of the Mirabal sisters and through her pursuit, she can first convince his father to take them to a boarding school. After she goes to a boarding school she gets to fall in love with Virgilio who gives her the name mariposa or butterfly. He is part of the Dominican resistance. After her school she wishes to join law school and study to become a lawyer, however, this is not allowed for women, and therefore it is from here that we see how women are mistreated through the film up to the death of the sisters (Karczewska, (2016). Therefore even though this film is about the dictatorial political government it is also majorly about the treatment of Latino women and how they are never regarded as an important part of the whole population. This paper, therefore, discusses the portrayal of Latino women in the film and how society operates on stereotypes that do not hold.

Trujillo is a very evil man and he operates on the principle that women should not be valued that much. It is the reason why he continues to torture Minerva because of her big desire to fight for justice. The stereotype that women should not be educated and not allowed to do law is very evident in the case of Minerva who is not allowed to study law (Ramírez-Berg, 2000). This, therefore, means that women are not supposed to question whatever is not done to them because by them being unable to study law it means they are not an important part of the society to question about justice. Minerva is very ambitious about law and this is seen when she talks to a lawyer who comes to visit them at her home and who talks of how women are not allowed to study law. He gives her a book to read (Romero, 2000). However, during their conversation, she states that she does not want to become a lawyer but rather she will become a lawyer. This is very moving and it explains her desire to go against this stereotype and be that woman and lady to save her people from the hands of Trujillo.

The stereotype is so intense and overly believed that when Minerva goes to law school everyone is watching and even though admiring they cannot believe that a lady is in law school. This was one of the moments when Minerva showed to the world that it is possible to overcome these depictions and portrayals since it is just the people who put them on the heads and faces of others while in real sense men and women are just different because of their biological functions and nothing else(Karczewska, (2016). Therefore Minerva goes to law school and it was here that she realized her dream to become better and fight for the rights of the people of the Dominican Republic. Therefore she gangs up with a friend to her lover Virgilio. Through him, he sees a future and she can join a group of lawyers and other individuals who were devoted to making sure that justice was realized. This means therefore that it is not only men who are supposed to join in such risky missions but women can also get into them. Therefore the concept and the stereotype of weak Latino women is fought against by Minerva who is a very strong lady and does all she could to make sure that justice is seen and that it prevails (Ramírez-Berg, 2000).

The other stereotype for Latino women displayed in this film is the stereotype that Latino women are mothers and have a very good nurturing ability. This stereotype, therefore, rules out the fact that Latino women are capable of anything else apart from motherhood. The dictator Trujillo is the one used to show this stereotype. He prevents Minerva from getting her law degree certificate when she is done with her studies and this was one of the things which hurt Minerva the most (Dávila, 2012). He states clearly that women like her are supposed to be mothers and not lawyers. Since she had been wedded just before they graduated he states that it is her new time to have a good time with her family and forget about the law and he states that he just gave her the permission to study law but practice it. This is a very hurting moment for Minerva as a result of this stereotype that women are never equal to men and therefore she never gets her degree certificate.

Apart from the dictator Trujillo, even her mother and father are afraid of her quests and urge her to stay at home and take care of her kids. This is partly strengthening the concept of women being mothers and not made for the conquests which require a lot of risks and other activism. Therefore this hurts Minerva and she continues to move on to make sure that this stereotype does not hold her back. This is even when she wants to leave her children behind. Even though her sister whom she wishes to leave her children to refuse she gets another sister to stay with her children and this shows how this stereotype that women are supposed to be mothers is stressed(Karczewska, (2016). The sister she wants to leave her children to states that she cannot afford the risk after all she is not supposed to be doing whatever she was doing but rather taking care of her children.

The other stereotype which is stressed and comes out strongly in the film is that Latino women are weak and therefore can be lured sexually in a very easy manner. This has been presented in different times by different people as they try to exchange sexual benefits with opportunism to the Latino women. This was the same thing the dictator general wanted to do with Minerva (Padilla, 1998). He invited the whole family to a party and this was coincidental with the letters of her lover who had gone out of the country for security reasons. Therefore during the party, the general got hold of Minerva and as he was dancing with her he grabbed her ass as she later stated in a family meeting. He made her uncomfortable by making her feel that she was supposed to give in to his will. Therefore as he continued with his desire to have her sexually she stopped and then slapped him. This was seen by some of the family members as an extreme reaction and therefore was not taken lightly.

However, Minerva stated clearly that she could not allow him to continue using her and touching her in a bad manner. This therefore through her behavior helps us to out rule the stereotype that Latino women are sexually easy to get. This especially has been stated to apply to high profile class of individuals whereby the general dictator of the Dominican Republic falls (Negrón-Muntaner, 2004). Therefore we learn that even the stereotypes which are presented must not always hold and things may turn out ugly when a person tries to apply a certain stereotype of women as it turned out with the general.

Even though Minerva was right in slapping the general back at home one of her sisters still stress that she should apologize and state that she did a wrong thing. However, her mother stands by her and states that she could not do anything else in such a situation and therefore her reaction was justifiable. This shows that Latino women are not as weak as displayed. Latino women are most of the time displayed as weak and able to apologize easily. They are also seen as those ladies who are very easy to deal with as they always do whatever is needed by their masters. However in this case Minerva defies this as she does not wish to apologize to the general. Therefore in this situation, the stereotype does not hold and she acts to defy a lot of stereotypes which make her outstanding in her manner of action (De la Garza, & Cortina, 2007).

Minerva therefore who is the main character in this is a very strong and transformative woman who does not allow her situation of being a woman to prevent her from achieving her dreams of becoming a lawyer. Even though she is faced with many challenges which is a result of the many stereotypes which exist formed for the Latino women she is strong enough to get past most of them and her legendary lives for a very long time(Karczewska, (2016). She is the source of the name butterflies and all her sisters are also referred to as butterflies as they fight for justice. Even though the sisters are killed their fruits are seen later in life when the dictator general is assassinated six months later. The children of the Mirabel sisters hold very important roles in the government of democracy after Trujillo’s dictatorship. Indeed women are smart and capable of things that the stereotypes formed against them limit them to do.

References

Dávila, A. (2012). Latinos, Inc.: The marketing and making of a people. Univ of California Press.

De la Garza, R. O., & Cortina, J. (2007). Are Latinos republicans but just don’t know it? The Latino vote in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. American Politics Research, 35(2), 202-223.

Karczewska, A. M. (2016). The Mirabal sisters and their testimonio in Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies. Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies, (03 (14)), 28-36.

Negrón-Muntaner, F. (2004). Jennifer’s butt: Valorizing the Puerto Rican racialized female body. Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture, 228-246.

Padilla, L. M. (1998). Social and Legal Repercussions of Latinos’ Colonized Mentality. U. Miami L. Rev., 53, 769.

Ramírez-Berg, C. (2000). Stereotyping and Resistance: A Crash Course on Hollywood’s Latino Imagery. The future of Latino independent media: A NALIP sourcebook, 5-13.

Romero, M. (2000). State violence, and the social and legal construction of Latino criminality: From el bandido to gang member. Denv. UL Rev., 78, 1081.