Manuel de Moya looks exasperated, and the general says that Minerva is as complicated as El Jefe is. Minerva now stops compromising and asserts herself boldly against the regime.
She mentions her desire to go to law school, and Trujillo indulgently says “a woman like you, a lawyer?” Minerva flatters him, but then says that she isn’t interested in admirers until she has her law degree.
The next day Minerva gets her degree, and the whole extended family gathers for the occasion. They are all shocked when Minerva is then denied the license to practice.
Mate is very different from Minerva, but she looks up to her more than to her other older sisters, so Mate becomes affected by Minerva’s politics sooner than the others. Minerva and Mate share a love of poetry, though Mate as usual leans more towards love poems.
In 1949, she began to have trouble with the regime and in 1952, she enrolled at the University of Santo Domingo to pursue a law degree, but when it came time to re-register to attend the second year, in 1953, the University authorities refused to accept her as a student, to please the tyrant's will, because she was ...
For years Minerva has been agitating to go to law school… 'It's about time we women had a voice in running our country'” (Alvarez 10). When Minerva says this, it demonstrates the determination and willpower she has by wanting to become a lawyer.
After three weeks under house arrest at a hotel, Minerva and Mamá have an audience with El Jefe (Trujillo). They give him a letter of apology from the Mirabal family and secure Papá's release. Minerva tells Trujillo she wishes to go to law school. Trujillo tells Minerva he wishes to sleep with her.
One day Minerva pries open her dad's armoire and starts going through his pockets. She finds four letters addressed to her from LĂo, and realizes that he had wanted her to meet him and escape with him. She keeps the letters and leaves the armoire open so her father will know he's been caught.
Scandal. Invited to one of Trujillo (Edward James Olmos)'s parties, Minerva is invited to dance with the creepy old dictator. He cops a feel. She slaps him and storms out, to the horror of everyone present and particularly her family.
At Minerva's graduation she is shocked to find that she has gotten her degree, but no license to practice law. It is Trujillo's revenge against her. Minerva asks Mate to move to Monte Cristi with her and help her set up her house. Mate can tell that something is wrong between her and Manolo, so she agrees.
Mate writes about her mourning for Papá, and about a dream she keeps having where she is getting ready to be married. She can't find her wedding dress, so she looks in Papá's coffin. The wedding dress is torn up inside, and she removes all the pieces to find Papá smiling at her underneath. She wakes up screaming.
Note that chapter 6 of Summer of the Mariposas brings up potentially sensitive topics such as abandonment and estrangement as the girls find the family of the dead man only to learn that he abandoned them years ago.
She finds four letters addressed to her from Lio, and she reads them. He refers to his proposal that she leave the country with him, which of course Minerva knows nothing about. Furious, she drives the Jeep over to the campesino house where she knows she will find her father's Ford.
She dies, however, in the attempt to rescue her. Frenchie learns that Minerva is so mothering to the children in the family when they get sick because she lost an adopted baby to a cough. Miig also shares that Minerva's baby grandson was taken from her by Recruiters, who raped her and left her to die.
What did Minerva find in Papa's pockets? She finds four letters addressed to her from Lio, and she reads them. He refers to his proposal that she leave the country with him, which of course Minerva knows nothing about.
MarĂa Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes is the most outspoken and rebellious of the sisters and the first to join the movement against Trujillo. She desires freedom from her father's rules and then from Trujillo's police state.
This topic is discussed in full in GradeSaver's study guide for the unit.
Raul Ernesto . Patria's youngest son, named after Che Guevara of the Cuban revolution.
Someone who wants to interview her. Dede begins an interview with a woman at around three o'clock. It is 1994. When Dede asks her what she wants to...
When Papa gets home that night, he leads Minerva outside into the garden, where he slaps her. But when he says she owes him respect, she tells him he has lost it. Minerva has also found an invitation to one of Trujillo 's private parties in her father's coat pocket; it specifically mentions that Minerva should attend.
Finally, Minerva agrees to dance with him. Soon, Trujillo becomes her partner. He flirts with her, and she tells him she wants to study in the capital to be a lawyer. But when he implies that he would like to "conquer" her, she says she is "not for conquest.".
She realizes that Enrique Mirabal is their father and that they are her half-sisters. Since Lio went away, Minerva has been having headaches and bad asthma. One afternoon she goes into her father's armoire and goes through the pockets of his clothes. She finds four letters addressed to her from Lio, and she reads them.
Minerva notices a set of dice on Trujillo's desk, and she realizes that they are loaded. She makes a bet with him: they will roll the dice, and if she wins, she can go to law school, but if he wins, he gets to sleep with her. Minerva knows to use the heavier set of dice, and of course she wins, to Trujillo's annoyance.
When Minerva slaps Trujillo, it is like the clap of thunder that begins the storm: "and then the rain comes down hard, slapping sheets of it.". In the midst of the storm, her family is the ship that steers her to safety: "Dede and Patria are turning in all directions like lookouts on the mast of a ship.".
Before the party, Papa sends the Ford to the shop, so Minerva drives him to his medical appointments in San Francisco. One day, he means to stop by the house he has bought for his ex-mistress and his other children after the appointment, and Minerva insists she be allowed to go along to meet them.
It is Lio who woke her up when she met him: "The givens, all I'd been taught, fell away like so many covers when you sit up in bed.". This conceit is ironic, since Minerva is anything but the stereotypical woman of a fairy tale, waiting for a man to come and wake her up so her life can begin.
Minerva’s code name is Mariposa (Butterfly). They have code names for everything – Trujillo is “the goat,” and the “picnic” is his overthrow. The young man from the night before is an engineer called Palomino. Mate tells Minerva that she wants to join.
A few weeks later Minerva comes home with her boyfriend Manolo (who has broken off his engagement). Mate has been teaching Mamá to read. She mentions that the family has lost a lot of money since Papá got in trouble with Trujillo, and says that Dedé and Jaimito have tried and failed at running two businesses.
Mamá says that she is moving to a smaller house, so Dedé and Jaimito can have the family house. Mate remains preoccupied with love and isn’t interested in politics yet. This is when Dedé moves into the house she will occupy for the rest of her life, the house that will become a monument to the butterflies.
The historical Minerva also had to write a groveling letter to Trujillo to continue in her second year of school. Active Themes. Mate asks Fela about casting spells on people, and learns to put the person’s name in your left shoe to curse them, and in the right shoe for “problems with someone you love.”.
Mate draws a diagram of the house and yard. Mate is still very materialistic and used to the family’s former wealth, so she is especially shocked by how sparsely Minerva lives now. Active Themes. A few days pass with Manolo and Minerva arguing often and Manolo disappearing for long periods.
Mate writes about her mourning for Papá, and about a dream she keeps having where she is getting ready to be married. She can’t find her wedding dress, so she looks in Papá’s coffin. The wedding dress is torn up inside, and she removes all the pieces to find Papá smiling at her underneath. She wakes up screaming.
Mate’s infrequent diary use seems to coincide with her maturation as a woman. Again she represents the coincidence of politics and femininity. The regime fears any kind of democracy, so the only kinds of votes left are for meaningless contests like this. Mate now seems more aware of the political situation.