In the Time of the Butterflies

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, and quizzes.

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. What is Minerva’s dream as a child?

2. What is Sinita’s secret?

3. Why does Lina leave school?

4. What happens at the end of the pageant honoring Trujillo?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text.

1. Why is Dedé’s photo not on the wall of family photos?

2. What does Minerva realize when she tries to free the caged rabbit?

3. What does “loyalty performance” mean?

4. How does Mate’s perception of Trujillo change after meeting Hilda?

Paired Resources

“Rafael Trujillo”

• Introductory information on Trujillo and his 40-year regime in the Dominican Republic
• How do the stories of Sinita and Lina define conditions in the Trujillo’s dictatorship?

“Dominican Republic: The Church Bends”

• This Time magazine article from 1961 describes the relationship between Trujillo and the Catholic Church. The article connects to the novel’s theme of Religion.
• Why did the people of the Dominican Republic hang photos of Trujillo next to pictures of Christ?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. What event causes Patria to lose her faith in God?

2. What does Mamá reveal to Patria when they go on the pilgrimage?

3. Why does Mamá change her opinion about Minerva’s friend Lio?

4. Whom does Minerva tell her father she would like to meet?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Patria decide not to pursue her religious calling?

2. How does Papá explain his affair to Minerva?

3. Why does Minerva slap Trujillo?

Paired Resource

“Revitalizing Feminism in the Dominican Republic”

• An article by the North American Congress on Latin America focuses on the Mirabal sisters and feminism during Trujillo’s regime.
• What do the attitudes of both Trujillo at the party and Papá about his affair reveal about the status of Women during the Trujillo era?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. What is Minerva’s reaction to Mate’s love poetry?

2. Why does Mate pity Trujillo’s daughter when she sees her dressed in fur and jewels?

3. What event do Minerva, Manolo, Leandro, and Patria celebrate the night Patria becomes pregnant?

4. What is in the boxes Dedé hides in her garden?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Minerva not receive her law license?

2. How does Mate’s commitment to the revolution differ from Minerva’s?

3. Why does Patria join the revolution?

Paired Resources

“What Is a Cult of Personality?”

• The sisters come to understand what is meant by a cult of personality and how ruthless political figures impact the psychological health of their followers, as described in this article.
• How does Trujillo create an aura of godlike power about his government? How does the failed invasion impact that national sensibility?

“Dominican Republic: Bearing Witness to a Modern Genocide”

• This article offers an overview of how Trujillo orchestrated the Haitian Massacre. (Content Warning: The article mentions details of the genocide that may not be appropriate for all classes.)
• How does the article explain Trujillo’s potential motives for the genocide? How might those potential motives connect with Trujillo’s actions in the novel?

Chapters 10-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. What is the subject of the priest’s sermon that inspires Patria?

2. What role does young Noris play in the pardoning of Nelson?

3. During the elaborate reception honoring him, what two problems does Trujillo acknowledge?

4. According to testimony at the trial after the fall of Trujillo, how do the Mirabel sister die?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is the OAS intervention important?

2. Why does Minerva decide to maintain her commitment to the revolution?

3. What does Dedé realize when the voices of her sisters grow silent in her head?

Paired Resource

“How the Mirabal Sisters Helped Topple a Dictator”

• The History Channel website provides an overview of the role that women, specifically the Mirabal sisters, played in the overthrow of Trujillo.
• Why is the resistance of the Mirabal sisters heroic? Refer to Trujillo’s attitude toward women as well as the Dominican Republic’s cultural perception of the role of Women.

Recommended Next Reads

The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa

• This novel by the Peruvian Nobel Prize winner takes a similar perspective on Trujillo by juxtaposing different eras before and after Trujillo’s ouster.
• Shared themes include Freedom and Imprisonment, Dictatorship, and Courage vs. Cowardice.
• The Feast of the Goat on SuperSummary

Dominicana by Angie Cruz

• Set in 1965, the novel is the story of young woman in the Dominican Republic who marries a much older, abusive man and then moves to the US, only to be pulled back into her country’s political and social turmoil in the post-Trujillo era.
• Shared themes include Women, Dictatorship, and Religion.
• Dominicana on SuperSummary