How fast can ones society change a person? Society, power, and discipline. These are all aspects which are very commonly abused by people who have power. They push their laws upon people because they believe in their way and not the peoples are the better way to run a successful country. When society, power, and discipline are abused many people get affected by it.
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Innocence is corrupted, families are broken apart, and rebellion occurs throughout the country; as shown in the novel In the time of the butterflies, the author Julia Alvarez shows how the Dominican republic’s, dictator Trujillo controls society, this control causes change in the Maribal sisters. Patria and Minerva being two out of four sisters are made into rebels trying to over throw the corrupted power Trujillo has on their country. Consequently when a society’s freedom is taken away there will be changes in many people. When a dictator abuses his power innocence can be corrupted in one’s mind, as a result creating a change in that child.
The corruption of the Maribal sister’s mind started at their school. At the age of twelve patria introduces her desire to go to school, her father agrees to this with a little persuasion. While patria attended the school she knew why she was there, she wanted to serve God. This is clear to the reader due to the very first words she spoke “the pearl of great price” (Alvraez 44), symbolizing her faith which “sung inside her heart” (Alvarez 44). For a long period time while at school she truly believed that it was her destiny to serve God. However this all changed while she was doing service for her church.
At her church she met a man named Pedrito Gonzalez who she believed was sent to her by the lord to not only tell but show her what her true calling was. She left school and married Pedrito. Multiple times her faith is tested with horrendous events that occur to her and her husband. Knowing her sister is Involved in the resistance against Trujillo she is resistant to joining the Rebellion due to her fear that her family will be put in danger in addition to Pedritos fears of losing his father’s land which has been passed down from generation to generation but eventually she agrees to help them hide whatever supplies they get.
Soon after, she goes on a trip with her church in order to reconnect with God. While on her trip Trujillo’s troops came in and shot people many innocent people. During this event patria is pregnant and only cares about protecting her unborn child. When the shooting finally die down there was one boy turned facing them and patria said that “the boy looked no older than Noris” (Alvarez 162) she then thinks “oh my god he’s one of mine! ” (Alvarez 162) the boy then gets shot and dies.
While they are walking back down the mountain patria realizes how the boy was innocent and how much damage Trujillo has caused to not only everyone else but herself as well even though she had no major part in going against Trujillo. When she realizes this she understands that she should go against Trujillo full on because no matter how much she tries to be good in society there is the chance not only her family will get harmed but everyone else’s as well, which she wants to stop.
In the novel patria goes through a transformation; She goes from someone who want nothing more but to serve God, to a loving mother who wants to no more than to protect her family to her final transformation, being a person who has no respect for her country’s leader and is doing everything she can in order to get him out of the power he has over the country due to her broken line than was crossed the day she witnessed the boy murdered.
This event, being a murder or an unjustified action with in a society can corrupt what one used to think and/or how they once thought about the way they want to play a role in society can change causing them to Contribute to the over throw of that leader knowing if they don’t it can cause a lot of harm towards their family. The second out of four sisters who was greatly involved in the over throw or Trujillo was Minerva. Within the novel you can see how one girl and her horrid/sad story on her life changed how Minerva saw her dictator and the way he was running her country.
When patria proposes the idea of getting an education Minerva tags along. During the first few weeks of being at school she notices a girl who as always quiet and more distant from the rest of all the other children. She decides to become her friend. That girls name is sinita whose family was brutally murdered by Trujillo’s assassins. When Minerva hears this story she’s says “my tummy ach had started up again. Or maybe it was always there”. (Alvarez 18) this shows how Minerva’s stomach che symbolizing her views on Trujillo once being viewing him as someone who was honorable to someone she hated. From hearing Sonata’s story to the day she died Minerva hated Trujillo for many different reasons being she felt as if she was locked in a cage where she was being controlled and all she wanted to do was escape. She was one of the main reasons Trujillo was over thrown, she helped organize all of the shipping for the warfare, she motivated many people to not give up on the justice her country deserved.
Minerva went through two stages in which one she was strong and the other she just wanted to give up… the one she ended with was the one where she wanted to give although she went along with her sisters to go help with the final step to over throwing Trujillo she just went along with what the others said, when normally she was the one who would motivate them. In many revolutions there is a time when the leader is the strongest, however there is also a time where that leader wants to give up in his/her mission.
Although Minerva went through this she still went through with what she wanted to do, fight for the justice of others just as many others did and still do in today’s world. Over all a corrupt society changes what people believe in, how they act, and what they care about. When events like the bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred many innocent people died which caused a change in the view of the way the United States viewed other countries and what they were capable of doing.
Like the Pearl Harbor in the Dominican republic’s society many innocent people were killed changing the views the citizens had on what the dictator was capable of one of those causes being change in a person. Patrias views on her country and what her sisters were doing was changed and became completely different. Minerva being introduced to the truth of how her society was including her dictator, Trujillo, was capable of. The dictators power over society when taken advantage of can completely effect everyone.
