Mood+and+Tone


 * Why does Alvarez use the book as a memoriam to the late Mirabel Sisters, how does this set a mood for the text?**

The continuing mood is sad, but a sense of strength and persistance, which gives the reader hope for the Mirabel sisters. Each character is born with a certain innocence that is stripped from each one as they realize the government is corrupt. The memoriam could be used in order to continue the legacies of the Mirabel sisters, women who should never be forgotten.

The mood is somber. Each character is born with a certain innocence that is stripped from each one as they realize the government is corrupt. However, this melancholy mood is also balanced by the small spurts of happiness each character experiences throughout the novel. Also, when their innocence is stripped from them, their eyes are opened to what they can do to improve the situation and fight for the people of their country. The cliche "ignorance is bliss" certainly does not apply here.

Dramatic irony is key in setting the mood for the book. While I was reading it, I knew that the three out of the four Mirabel sisters were going to be murderd. The entire book, I was waiting for when they would be killed, because I knew that it was coming, I just didn't know when. This leaves the reader on the edge of their seat, anticipating and wondering how and when the sisters would be killed. This makes the book have a very dramatic, sad mood, because as more information about the sisters are revealed, the reader grows affectionate for the sisters, and at the same time, know that they will die. However, this also intruigues the reader and makes them want to find out what exactly happened that lead to the sisters' deaths. What was it that they did that was either so great or so terrible they were killed for it? What caused these seemingly ordinary young women to start on the path of fighting for the revolution? All of these questions are fueled by the Julia Alvarez starting after the sisters' deaths and with her use of dramatic irony.

The mood of the book is very personal. I believe that the point of historical fiction is to flesh out historical landmarks to make them more than dates and numbers. It makes history personal and emotionally relevant. The process lends itself to copious amounts of exaggeration and guesswork. The question is, what trumps? Does historical relevance and accuracy not apply to an author of historical fiction? Personally, I believe that even the exaggerated parts should have some basis in reality. So I think the mood of the book is personal, and intimate, and striking because the events, for the most part, really did happen. There were certain parts, like when Miranda slaps Trujillo, that may not be historically accurate. But that part is at least urban legend. Ultimately, Alvarez managed to build characters from real life people through their voices and styles, rather than by fictionalizing events to add drama.

Though the murder of the sisters was a great tragedy, their story inspires others, especially girls and young women, to develop their own ideas and be independent thinkers. The positivity that rose from despair after the death of the Mirabals is the very fact that their story has lived on, their accomplishments have not been forgotten or covered up by oppressive rulers. Alvarez begins writes with a somber mood, knowing what is to come, yet balances it with lighthearted "personal accounts" of the sisters to give readers a better picture of each of them as individuals. Though the nature of their story is depressing and tragic, readers gain feelings of empowerment, learning that even ordinary people can become revolutionaries in a sense, though not all have to be radical. By simply thinking for oneself and following ones own beliefs, readers learn that they too can be independent thinkers like the sisters and take control of their actions and actions' outcomes.

Since this is a memoriam of some remarkable women, the tone is obviously sad from the start. Still as the reader indulges into their story, the tone shifts to a more reflective, inspiring, and uplifting tone. Uplifting because though a tragic murder takes place, it was to make way for change. Their story made the revolution possible and the future of democracy in the Dominican Republic a means of reality. The story is meant to be relatable too as these girls were all ordinary but through their relentless course of actions and heroism, died martyrs of unbelievable strives. This is not suggesting that we fight to the end but instead inspires us to be passionate and evoke change a midst our world.