In the Time of the Butterflies

The narrative now switches to Mate’s prison diary. She writes about how a friendly guard named Santicló helped smuggled the notebook to her along with the other gifts from her family. Mate describes the constant fear she lives with in prison, and her attempts to fight it and hold on to her humanity. Writing things down in this way makes her feel better. Sometimes, the female prisoners march past the men’s cells, but Mate does not see Leandro anywhere.

Mate, Minerva, and the other female “politicals” are all housed with some “nonpolitical prisoners, including thieves, prostitutes and murderers. Mate describes the cell and draws a diagram of it. Minerva has been able to arrange it so that the politicals have a specific corner where she can hold discussions and meetings. The women all take turns looking out the single window.

Mate’s favorite fellow prisoner is Magdalena, who is very kind and giving, and who also has a young daughter. One night Mate breaks down at the standard call of “Viva Trujillo!” and Minerva helps to calm her down. The prisoners have breakdowns all the time, however, and Mate says that the alternative is to disappear into a prison within oneself.

Mate also describes the code language developed in the prison; the prisoners have nicknames for all the guards, as well as the contraband that is traded among them. Mate relates that she has been taken downstairs for questioning twice, but Minerva and Sina (Minerva’s old friend) have been taken many times. Ramfis Trujillo himself came to question Minerva, as she is rumored to be the “brain behind the whole movement” (232).

Almost every morning, Mate wakes up crying. Minerva insists that the politicals attend school every day, just as Castro supposedly did while in prison. The politicals gather and rehearse their rules, which are as follows: “never believe them. Never fear them. Never ask them anything” (234). Mate asks about the kind guard, Santicló, however, but Sina warns her about getting too fond of the enemy.

Dinorah is one of the nonpolitical prisoners. She is always mean and emotionless, though Minerva says that she is just a victim of the corrupt system. Minerva insists on sharing all the food they get from their family with the other prisoners, so as to avoid creating a class hierarchy. Mate hears another prisoner saying an interesting prayer, and takes note of it. The prayer says, “May I never experience all that it is possible to get used to” (235).

In an effort to rid herself of panic and despair, Mate creates a daily schedule, though she is still susceptible to hopelessness at times. She eventually learns that Leandro is not in the same prison, and worries about him. Minerva encourages Mate to keep her morale up, and insists that they reject the pardon they are offered, as accepting a pardon from the government would be an admission of guilt. Minerva says they have to set an example for others. Mate continues to experience panic attacks, and when she does, Minerva leads her through the exercise of concentrating on nice thoughts.

For a while, the prisoners all wear crucifixes that Patria sends as a sign of solidarity. However, the guards decide to take the crucifixes. When the guards try to take Minerva’s she attacks them and is placed in solitary confinement for three weeks. As she is led away, the other prisoners all chant “Viva la Mariposa!” Mate feels that “something big and powerful spread its wings” within her, and her courage is renewed by the event.

A few days later, Mate is allowed a brief visit with Mamá, Patria, and Pedrito, and she learns about Nelson’s pardon. The next day Mate talks with Magdalena about the bond between people, and all the other prisoners start to join in. Mate feels hopeful about the connection being forged between the women, and the possibility that they will one day emerge as a new free nation. The next day, however, she finds herself back in a deep depression.

Mate misses her periods for a time and worries that she might be pregnant. She knows that if she is carrying a child, the SIM will make her give the baby away to some childless official’s wife. The next diary entry is an unknown amount of days later, and Mate says that she has either “bled a baby or had a period” (240). She has also undergone some kind of torture. The next few pages of her diary are ripped out.

On Easter Sunday, Minerva is released from solitary confinement. Mate writes that she has not talked about her torture to anyone but Magdalena. She finally tells Minerva that she will write out what happened. The next pages of the diary have also been ripped out, and the diary jumps to four days later, which is Mate’s one-hundredth day in prison. She laments that there is nothing beautiful in prison. Even the faces of the beautiful women there have “lost their glow” (242).

Twenty-five days later, Mate and Minerva are taken to the courthouse for a trial. They are both given five years in prison and a fine of 5,000 pesos each. Though Minerva laughs at the sentence, Mate cries. Another month passes, and Mate eventually stops counting the days of her incarceration. Minerva takes up sculpting, and manages to collect a small amount of sculpting tools that can be used as weapons. Mate wonders if revolution is now a habit for Minerva.

Mate writes that the OAS (Organization of American States) is rumored to be visiting the country to investigate Trujillo’s suspected human rights violations. The guards are all worried about the visit, while the politicals are excited. Minerva urges Mate to describe her torture experience to the OAS. Moreover, she does not want her to pity Santicló, as there have been rumors of guards being shot if accused by prisoners.

There are many rumors among the politicals, and Mate hears that Leandro has been accused of treason. The men have all been tortured, and many of them have talked, including Manolo. The women decide to focus on describing all the human rights violations to the OAS. Mate still complains about Dinorah being selfish and mean and even Minerva does not defend her anymore.

Mate has always worn her hair in a long braid. Now, she uses the braid to hide notes for the OAS. As a result, she is able to smuggle in a newspaper clipping that says that President Betancourt of Venezuela has accused Trujillo of trying to assassinate him. On the back of this accusation, it is confirmed that the OAS is coming to investigate the regime. Hearing this news, the politicals become hopeful again.

Mate next describes a “close encounter” (248) she has with Magdalena. One night, the two women are talking and Magdalena tells Mate about her life, how she lived in a trash heap with her baby until it was taken away from her. She was then thrown into prison for trying to take her child back at knifepoint. Mate cries in sympathy and Magdalena kisses her on the lips. Mate pulls back, telling Magdalena that she is not “that way.” Magdalena just laughs, and tells Mate that her body loves the people that her heart loves.

As the OAS committee is coming soon, Minerva talks strategy with Mate, who is chosen to be interviewed. Minerva tells her to focus on principles and not on people, but Mate is worried about getting the kind guards in trouble. They all know that the interview room will be bugged, so Mate will have to slip notes to the OAS. Minerva gives Mate a written statement from the Fourteenth of June Movement, but also asks Mate to give the OAS the diary entries describing her torture. Mate tells Minerva that she will do what she thinks is right.

Mate tells the interviewers that she has been treated fairly. As she walks out of the room, however, she lets the first note fall from her braid, but at the last minute, she thinks of Santicló’s kindness and does not let the second note fall. The next day the woman politicals are told they will be released, though none of the men will be. Mate is glad at this turn of events, but also cries to be leaving her newfound friends behind. The women have a farewell party before they are released.

The narrative now switches to Mate’s diary entry from months before. It describes her experience at the prison called La Cuarenta (La 40). She is unexpectedly taken to the prison one day. The prison is known for its use of torture, so Mate is understandably afraid. Johnny Abbes and two other interrogators are waiting at the prison for her. When she arrives, the men make Mate strip naked and then lie down on a table.

They then bring in a man who is most likely Leandro, though the name is blacked out in the diary, and beat him in front of Mate. When they ask Mate to help them convince Leandro to talk, she refuses. The interrogators then tie her down and shock her with an electrical torture device. When the pain gets too intense, Mate feels herself floating away. Leandro shouts out that he will talk. The guards then take Mate away, and appear ashamed at what they have taken part in. Mate does not let them help her dress, and then walks out to the car without assistance. 

(House Arrest: August and September)

The narrative switches back to Minerva’s voice, just after her release from prison. Minerva comments that, all her life, she has wanted to escape from her family’s house. Now that she is under house arrest, it seems like a blessing in disguise. Now, nothing feels better than to be with her mother and her sisters, and to have the chance to raise her children.

Initially, Minerva finds it hard to readjust to life at home as she has spent so much time in solitary confinement. She often goes to her room to be alone, and feels that she is falling apart. She is also surprised at how much braver she seemed to be while in prison.

She and Mate are only allowed to leave the house twice a week. They are allowed to visit their husbands in prison and one visit to church. Minerva finds that she is a celebrity now. Even the priest whispers “Viva la Mariposa!” to her as he gives her Communion. The strange thing is that Minerva feels weaker than ever at this point in the narrative, but she maintains a brave face as she knows that her strong, old self is important to the general public.

Minerva finds Peña’s visits to the house especially disturbing, and she tries to hide from him until her mother comes to find her. The children have gotten used to Peña and have even begun calling him their uncle. One day, Peña gathers everyone together and tells them that Trujillo is planning to visit the province. He says it would be a good idea if the sisters wrote El Jefe a letter to thank him for their release.

When Peña leaves, the sisters argue about the letter. Minerva does not want to, but she is finally convinced by her sisters. Though Minerva signs the letter, she is upset, and demands that they at least take some kind of action. That night, she goes out to the guards and complains that the noise is too loud. As she leaves, however, they say “Viva Trujillo!” and Minerva is forced to say it too, grudgingly.

Minerva then mentions her old friend, Elsa. Elsa married a journalist who is assigned to the National Palace. The man was once put in prison for printing a picture showing some of Trujillo’s bare leg, and on another occasion for accidentally calling a “eulogy” for Trujillo an “elegy.” Elsa and her husband had originally declined to join the underground, but later changed their minds, and now Elsa visits Minerva whenever she can.

One day, Elsa tells Minerva that the OAS has imposed sanctions on Trujillo’s regime. American countries, including the U.S., have broken off relations with the Dominican Republic because of Trujillo’s actions. Elsa is excited by the news, and talks to Minerva about Trujillo’s eventual overthrow. When Elsa recalls their school play, she changes the facts so that it was Minerva who aimed the imaginary arrow at Trujillo, not Sinita. Minerva reminds Elsa of the truth, but Elsa merely brushes it off. Instead, she continues to praise Minerva for her bravery. Deep down, however, Minerva feels anything but brave.

One day, the three butterflies get dressed up and go to visit their husbands. They want to tell them the good news about OAS and the sanctions. Dedé tries to talk them out of taking the trip. She tells then that they are asking for trouble by traveling together at the same time, but her sisters do not agree and leave for the prison.

Everyone is hopeful when news about the OAS is relayed at the prison, but Manolo looks less excited than the rest. Minerva notes that some of his teeth are broken. He asks Minerva for information about the resistance, but she does not really have any news to give him. She is just as cut off as he is, but must keep up her “performance” even for Manolo by pretending that she is still involved in the struggle.

Minerva does believe that Trujillo’s regime will fall soon, as almost everyone has turned against him. Trujillo, however, seems to use the new transparency about his regime to lash out even more violently at the populace. For instance, when a group of young men distribute leaflets about an uprising he has the SIM arrest all of them. The three butterflies also have their prison visiting rights revoked suddenly.

When the three sisters are finally allowed to visit their husbands again, Manolo tells Minerva that everything is over. He says that many male prisoners have been killed lately, and that he has no real hope for his own survival. He insists on saying goodbye to Minerva there and then. On the drive home, their driver comments that “the butterflies are sad today” (269), a comment that paradoxically restores Minerva’s courage and determination. She realizes that adversity gives her strength, and so she starts working to have the men freed.

(Saving the Men: October)

A few weeks later, the four sisters are riding with their favorite driver, Rufino, to visit another “political,” a doctor named Delia. Dedé is nervous about the trip, and when they arrive, Delia is also nervous, but they all pretend that they are there to see her about female issues. Minerva talks to Delia in code, and learns that the old resistance cells are no longer functioning, and that even Sina has abandoned the struggle. The only active member that Delia can name is Dr. Pedro Viñas.

When the sisters return home, Peña is furious at them for leaving without his permission. He eventually calms down and allows Minerva to see Dr. Viñas, who is an urologist and not known as a political. Patria and Mate drop Minerva off at the house where the doctor supposedly works. Though Dr. Viñas uses sugary diminutives when talking with his maid, a habit which unnerves Minerva, when the two are alone, he turns serious.

Viñas tells Minerva that the “picnic” was almost ready, but then the Americans pulled out because they were afraid that the Dominican revolutionaries were Communists. As it turns out, the Americans would prefer to have a Trujillo than a Castro in power. Now, they are working with some of Trujillo’s “old cronies” who want to overthrow him. As his old friends only want money, the Americans think that they can control them. On hearing all of this, Minerva is upset by the banality of it all. Viñas says that the best thing for Minerva to do is to remain hopeful and set a good example for the rest of the country. He says that the revolutionaries can step up once Trujillo is killed.

Minerva visits Manolo to tell him the news. Manolo, too, is worried about the Americans taking over both the revolution and the country. Minerva, however, feels that she is so desperate to get rid of Trujillo at this point that she does not mind how it happens. Manolo’s mother offers to buy the couple’s old house so that they can return there when things settle down, but the SIM seize the property.

Due to the seizure of the house, Minerva and Dedé travel to go retrieve Minerva’s possessions. Minerva is happy to have some alone time with Dedé, and to be able to show her that the roads are not full of murderers, as Dedé thinks. On the way, the two are stopped by guards and ordered out of the car. Dedé immediately says that she is Minerva Mirabal in an attempt to protect her sister.

The two sisters and Rufino are taken to a guardhouse, where an official tells them that they need an escort to travel. As it turns out, when the local townspeople heard that Minerva Mirabal was coming to town, they planned some sort of commotion. The official asks which one of the sisters is Minerva, and Dedé finally admits that she was only trying to protect her sister. Minerva looks at the official and sees that he is just a frightened man at heart. She mentions Peña’s name confidently to the official. Sure enough, his subsequent horror at having stopped them reveals to Minerva the “rotten weakness at the heart of Trujillo’s system” (278).

After this incident, the two reach Minerva’s house without trouble, and gather up her things. Going through her belongings is a heartbreaking task, and she finds a book Lío gave her, Mate’s souvenir from the Discovery Day dance, and a picture of Lina Lovatón. When Minerva leaves the house, she sees over a hundred people dressed in black in the town square. Shortly thereafter, guards show up and disperse the crowd. Minerva walks to the square to see the people, and then returns to her former home. When she gets back, she is surprised to see Dedé standing outside the house with a frying pan, ready to fight if she needs to.

When the two finally return home, they find Mate riled up because she has had her old nightmare about Papá’s death and the coffin. This time, however, she saw Leandro, Manolo and Pedrito in the coffin. That same night, their uncle stops by to tell them that he has been to a reception honoring Trujillo. At the reception, Trujillo told his supporters that he had only two problems, “the damn church and the Mirabal sisters” (281). Their Uncle says that this is a warning to the girls, and that they should not go anywhere for a while.

The next day, the three sisters make their required visit to SIM headquarters, and Peña asks to see them. He makes a lewd proposition that infuriates Minerva, but Patria defuses the situation. Peña then informs the sisters that their husbands are being transferred from the capital to a prison in the North. Though the sisters are angry, Peña says that it will be a shorter distance for them to travel. Minerva then realizes that she cannot save herself, let alone her husband.

(Talk of the people, Voice of God: November 25, 1960)

In this section, Minerva recounts the butterflies’ fourth trip to visit their husbands in the new prison. Rufino is driving, and they have to take a deserted mountain road to get there. On the way, they pick up a young soldier who is hitchhiking on the road. The soldier claims that he is traveling to see his newborn son.

As they head to the prison, Minerva laments how far the “butterflies” have fallen from their old dreams of fighting and revolution. Now, they all seem scared of the mountain road and the rocks below. Minerva talks to the young soldier, who seems quite nervous. The soldier says he has heard a rumor that the two “politicals” in the northern prison will be shipped back to the capital very soon.

A storm begins, and the sisters ask Rufino if he wants to stop, but he declines and says he will be fine. The young soldier seconds Rufino’s answer with “God and Trujillo willing” (286). This is the first time that all three sisters have ridden together to visit their husbands, as Pedrito is still at the capital prison so Patria does not usually accompany Minerva and Mate on their visits. Before they left home, both Mamá and Dedé had warned them of how dangerous it was for all three of them to travel together, but Minerva dismissed their fears.

The sisters decide to take a brief detour to get sewing supplies, as they have managed to start a sewing business from their home. They each buy a new purse as well. The salesman recognizes them, and warns them about going over the mountain pass that day. He puts his business card in Minerva’s purse as well.

They drive on, but when they see Peña’s car, they fear an ambush. Patria starts to pray, but Minerva tells Rufino to keep driving. To keep themselves calm, the sisters methodically transfer the contents of their old purses to their new ones. It is then that Minerva sees the salesman’s business card, on which a note is written, warning her to avoid the mountain pass. She realizes that they are about to be ambushed, and that the young hitchhiking soldier is actually a plant.

They keep driving, however, and when they don’t encounter an ambush or other incident, Minerva begins to feel more optimistic. The sisters spend the time telling jokes and riddles with one another, and the group finally reaches Puerto Plata, the town where the prison is located. They visit their husbands, and Minerva notes that Manolo looks better, but he has not heard anything about being moved back to the capital. He urges Minerva not to make the return trip that night, but she reassures him that they will be fine. They finally say their goodbyes, and the men are taken away.

On the way back, the sisters stop at a gas station and Minerva tries to call Mamá, but the phone line is busy. They delay and keep trying; Minerva and Rufino have a beer. Minerva tries one last time to call, but the line is still busy. Patria is worried about continuing with their journey, especially as the road looks unusually deserted, but Minerva insists that they continue. When Patria sees a Public Works truck driving ahead of them, she is reassured by the thought that they will not be alone on the road. Minerva feels almost as if they are girls again, “a little afraid, a little excited by our fears” (297), and so they make their way up to the first mountain.

In the epilogue, Dedé describes how, when her sisters died, random people would come to her house to relate their memories of that last day. Through their testimonies, Dedé has been able to piece together what happened to her sisters on the mountain road that night. It seems that Rufino followed the truck for a while, but eventually passed it. The truck later caught up to the car again, which had been stopped, and the driver saw the sisters being led away by guards. Patria managed to break free for a moment and was able to yell to the truck driver to tell her family what was happening to them. He had kept driving, afraid of the soldiers.

A year after Trujillo’s death, trials were held for the murderers of the Mirabal sisters. The defendants confessed that each man killed one sister, and one of them killed Rufino. They did so by beating and choking each one to death, and then put the bodies back into the Jeep and pushed it off the cliff to make it look like an accident.

Though the murderers received twenty to thirty years in prison, they were all later released during the “spell of revolutions” (303) that followed Trujillo’s overthrow. Dedé made sure to raise her sisters’ children without mentioning the names of the murderers because she did not want the children to grow up hating the men.

After her sisters’ deaths, Dedé made a point of avoiding the news, even when it was good. Trujillo was finally assassinated by seven of his former friends a year after the Mirabal sisters’ deaths. Manolo, Pedrito and Leandro were freed at the same time. In the present (1994), Dedé hears Minou, who is now a professor, getting ready for bed.

Dedé recalls the day that she first heard the bad news, when Mamá called her over to the house. At first she thought it was a fire, but when she did not see her sisters, Dedé panicked and screamed. At first the family received a telegram that seemed hopeful. It told them to come to the hospital. Then the family received a second telegram confirming the sisters’ deaths. Though Dedé cannot remember the details of what transpired, others said she was half crazed with grief, and pushed past the guards at the morgue. Dedé managed to cut off Mate’s braid, and kept it.

When Jaimito and Dedé drove the coffins home, people came from their houses to watch. Though everyone had been told that the Mariposas died in a car accident, they knew they had really been murdered. The people who came out of their houses threw flowers onto the coffins as Dedé and Jaimito drove past. When they drove past the SIM office, Dedé screamed out, “Assassins!” Jaimito asked her if she wanted to die as well, and Dedé said that she did, that she wanted to be with her sisters. Jaimito told Dedé that her martyrdom was “to be alive without them” (308) instead.

In the present, Dedé asks Minou about her own child, Camila. She then remembers talking to her sisters’ husbands. Manolo explained that they were transferred back to the capital on the same day as the murders. They were then all gathered together by Johnny Abbes and some other torturers, and were informed of their wives’ deaths.

After the fall of Trujillo’s regime, the government built a monument to the Mirabal sisters. One day, the new president even visited the monument. He had talked to Dedé and had promised to make the nation proud; to get rid of all those who had taken part in her sisters’ deaths. Dedé notes that he appeared to be looking at the sisters’ portraits as he talked, as if asking them for approval. This meeting with the president gave Dedé hope that her sisters had not died in vain.

As it turned out, however, there had then been another coup, and Dedé had stopped receiving visitors. She had also started avoiding the news again. Manolo had been a revolutionary hero, but after the coup he was driven into hiding in the mountains, and eventually killed. Back in the present, Minou asks Dedé why she still, to this day, gives her time and attention to all the visitors who are curious about the sisters.

Even Dedé wonders how she became the “oracle,” the one who tells the stories of the Mirabal sisters. Dedé has dinner with her friend Olga every now and then, and Olga warns Dedé that she is living in the past, trapped in the same old house, surrounded by her sisters’ things. Dedé always responds that she does not feel trapped in the past, and that she has just kept the past’s memory alive in the present. She marvels at her role as an oracle; she decided to become one once all the revolutions were over, when the Dominican people needed a story to believe in. It was at that point, that Dedé started tending to the legacy of the butterflies.

In the present, Dedé looks out at the garden and hears Minou talking to her husband on the phone. She notes that Minou sounds just like Minerva did. Dedé then remembers her own experience of breast cancer of years before. She begins to make a list of losses, just like she used to make an inventory of Papá’s store. She remembers that Manolo was killed three years after Minerva. Pedrito was restless, and soon married a young girl, while Leandro left politics and became an architect, building a number of buildings in the capital.

Mamá lived for twenty years after her daughters’ deaths. Dedé and Jaimito stayed together while she was alive, but separated after her death. It was Dedé and Mamá who raised the sisters’ children. Dedé remembers when Minou first met her current husband, Doroteo, and how Mamá had advised her to stay in school and to wait to marry. Dedé had marveled at how much her mother’s advice had changed from when Minerva was young.

Dedé recounts that Mamá died peacefully, and her death seemed almost surreal to Dedé because it was not accompanied by violence or anger. Dedé now realizes that she will be the next one in the family to die. She tries to think of the “losses” as free people who are each going their own way.

She recalls meeting Lío once at a reception honoring the butterflies. Dedé does not like these events, especially how everyone seems to blame everyone else for past evils, or else try and forgive others so that they themselves will be forgiven. To Dedé, they all seem like “one big rotten family of cowards” (317). At the event, Lío greets Dedé, who is shocked and hardly recognizes him. Lío has a young wife and he catches up with Dedé regarding their lives. Lío tries to remind Dedé of “what the girls have done” (318), of the current state they now have, where there are free elections and even rising tourism, where “the cemetery is beginning to flower” (318).

As Dedé drives home from the reception, she thinks about the current state of the Dominican Republic. It is true that the country is better than it was under Trujillo, but it still seems disappointing, given the butterflies’ sacrifice.

Back on the night of the interview (1994), Dedé helps Minou get to bed, and they discuss Minou’s child. Dedé feels that Minou’s happiness is a sign of her own success. She has tries to teach Minou not to grow up bitter and vengeful, but it seems sad to her also that Minou can be happy despite her parents’ murders. Before bed, Minou asks about Fela’s assertion that the girls are at rest, and Dedé says that perhaps they can let them go now.

Dedé is a wonderful life insurance salesman, and has won a prize trip this year. As she lies in bed, she thinks that maybe she will ask to go to Canada this time. On the last trip, she met a man in Barcelona who was from Canada, and he described the beautiful autumn leaves there. He said “it is the sweetness in them that makes them burn” (320). Dedé thinks about her sisters, and how this could describe them as well.

There are times at night when Dedé imagines that she can hear her sisters’ footsteps. Tonight, however, all is silent. Dedé closes her eyes and can see the faces of her sisters and parents, and then realizes that she is the one who is missing in her mental image of her family, the one who “survived to tell the story” (321).