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Park
City
Library's 2006 “One Book, One Community”
Monday,
June 19th – Friday, July 28th
In
the Time of the Butterflies
by
Julia Alvarez
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Discussion
Questions
Penguin
Group Reading Guide about this book and author
1. Why is it so
important for Minerva to go away to school with Patria? At
school, what influence does her friend Sinita have on her?
In what ways does Minerva, even at a young age, seem defiant
and independent?
2. How does Maria Teresa's diary help her throughout her life?
In what ways do we see her grow up through her diary? Finally,
in prison, how does the existence of a diary to write in save
her?
3. How does the fight over Lio effect the relationship between
Minerva and Dedé? Why does Dedé burn Lio's letter
to Minerva? Is she really trying to protect her sister or
is she just jealous?
4. What is the significance of the party at Trujillo's house
that the Mirabal sisters attend with their father? In what
ways will Minerva's actions haunt them?
5. How do the sisters react to the knowledge that their father
has another family and that they have four little sisters?
Why does Minerva want to help them? How do these illegitimate
sisters help The Butterflies?
6. What does it mean to Dedé to be the only Mirabal
sister left alive? Does she regret not joining the revolution?
In the last sentence she says that she has been left alive
to tell the story of her family. Does she appreciate the value
of keeping the story alive?
7. Both in the story and in real life, the Dominican people
stood behind the Mirabal sisters and saw them as great heroes
and martyrs. Why is the Dominican nation so taken with the
Mirabal sisters? What about them is so captivating? Of all
those who fought for freedom from Trujillo, why does the story
of these women endure?
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