Summer 2012 Reading Assignment: Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies
This summer, we’re asking you to read the novel In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and to complete a written
assignment. You will answer questions and discuss your answers with your classmates in online discussions of the novel.
We will use the ideas in your answers to begin our discussions of the book the first week of class. As you read the novel,
be sure to read critically. Write notes in the margins and in a notebook to help you answer the questions and better
understand the novel. Find out about the author, Julia Alvarez. You might start with these two reliable Internet sources:
www.juliaalvarez.com/about
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/time_of_the_butterflies.html
Here’s your assignment. Access your section’s Core 112 Moodle site, where you’ll find three discussion boards:
Community, Action, and Values. Respond, in one thoughtful, robust paragraph (150-200 words) to three of the
questions—one question for each of the three discussion boards. Then, to enliven the discussions and get to know your
classmates, you should also respond, in 3-5 sentences, to the answers of at least four of your classmates. You’ll find the
discussion questions below. You’re free to choose the questions you find most intriguing and provocative.
You should begin posting your answers to the three questions on Friday, August 10, when the Moodle page will first be
available to you. You should complete your answers, as well as the four responses to your classmates, by Friday, August
17, the first day of Orientation.
I. Community Questions.
1. What community values, or negation thereof, does Trujillo’s police state embody? What kind of political values
do the Maribal sisters (the mariposas) profess?
2. Examine one of the community values of the Mirabal sisters’ village of Oyo de Agua and relate it to a similar
value in your community. How does each community make the value a vital one? Explain your answer.
3. Look at how the Mirabal family constitutes its own community. Name at least three values of the family. Which
sister or parent embodies each value? What happens when a family member resists a value or breaks a bond
within the family? Consider, too, how their Papa has two families in your answers.
II. Action Questions.
1. What events cause each sister to act politically? What is it about their characters that complicate their political
activism? Explain your answer, in relation to two of the sisters.
2. Some critics have named this novel as an example of resistance literature, or the story of a group resisting an
oppressive ruling party or state. Specifically, how does Dedé’s later life as the custodian of her sisters’ history
become a form of opposition to Trujillo’s tyranny?
3. How did you react to the four mariposas’ suffering and pain? Did your reactions influence you to do more reading
about the subject or to take any sort of political or social action? Explain why or why not.
III. Values Questions.
1. How do the four sisters differ in character and values? How does Alvarez dramatize these differences?
2. The novel contains four points-of-view, one for each sister, instead of the voice of a single narrator. How do these
multiple points of view help you better understand the mariposas’ political actions, as well as the ethical themes
of the novel? You need to answer for each sister. Pay attention, especially, to differing points of view on the same
topic, such as Minerva’s political philosophy.
3. Consider the kinds of violence (both political and social) propagated against women. Citing three specific kinds of
violence, how then do the sisters fight this sort of oppression? Is their example a rallying cry for other women or
people in the community? Explain why or why not.
4. What ethical role does storytelling have in the novel? Does storytelling demonstrate any real power or social
value? Include both Maria Theresa’s little notebooks and Dedé’s story as the survivor in your answers.
Specific instructions for using Moodle will be sent to your Queens email address at the end of July. Remember, the
purpose of this summer reading is to get you thinking about some of the overall themes—community, action, and
values—of the course. Your answers and responses in the Moodle discussions also provide your professor with a snapshot
of your writing style.