Key+Passages+and+Significance

In this quotation Minerva seems to be doing a small wrong, looking at her sister's diary, to help her sister. This however is a small example of Minerva doing something wrong for the greater good. She goes even further than this by betraying her oppressive government to help her fellow Dominicans who may not understand the wrongs that are being perpetrated against them. This connects to the theme of being aware of consequences and taking them into account before committing actions. Minerva was deeply influenced by her friend Sinita who first revealed to her the monstrous qualities of Trujillo. This quote connects to Antigone who also betrayed her government for the higher good. Creon issued an edict that made it an act of treason to bury one of Antigone's brothers. Seeing that this is morally wrong, Antigone goes against the edict and buries her brother anyway. Antigone is able to foresee the consequences of her actions and decide that in spite of them doing the morally right thing is worth it. This is similar to Minerva who, with respect to her sister's diary, realizes that reading it and keeping her sister and family safe is more important than her sister's privacy. She applies this idea to a larger scale by understanding that she and the rest of her country are living in a "police state." Minerva sees that it is her duty to help the others in her country who are unaware of what their leader is doing. Even though by helping the rebels she will be an "enemy of the state" she thinks that her actions are more important than the consequences.
 * "Sometimes you have to do something wrong for a higher good" (43) **

Special beauty refers to the sisters, the special beauty that not only attracted men but helped fuel a revolution for social justice. Their overall beauty, encompassing not only their aesthetic traits, but their fight and ambition. Then a car door slams, and she snips the special beauty. Just as the car door startles her, the car accident shook her world and the special beauty that made up her world was lost. There is nothing left to do but pick up the pieces and try to grieve little by little. Because Dede is the one who snips the orchid, it also reveals the guilt Dede feels for the death of her sisters. Is it her fault, or the woman who slammed the car door? Dede feels as though there must have been something she could have done to save the orchid, and her sisters. She also says one must grieve little by little, which is how she has been grieving her sisters since their death. She is still recovering years later, bit by bit.
 * "She bends to her special beauty, the butterfly orchid she smuggled back from Hawaii two years ago…The slamming of a car door startles Dede. When she calms herself she finds she has snipped her prize butterfly orchid. She picks up the fallen blossom and trims the stem wincing. Perhaps this is the only way to grieve the big things – in snippets, pinches, little sips of sadness. “ (page 5)**

I think that special beauty if referring to the plant which is metaphoric for Dede's sisters. Dede should not have had the plant yet she does. Similarly, during the reign of Trujillo, the Mirabel sisters, as women, should not have had the power or the freedom to start a revoltion. During the revolution, Dede was so distracted by pleasing her husband and obeying him (the car door slamming) that she lost her sisters. Dede's husband forbid her from seeing her family, and before long her sisters were murdered (plants are snipped). After their death, Dede was left to pick up the pieces. She was left to take care of their children and their estates. By tending to the children and everyone and everything the girls left behind, Dede was able to distract herself with little things. She was so busy that grieving came in only small gaps of time.

From the age of twelve Minerva was exposed to the truths of Trujillo’s regime and she therefore becomes awakened to the issues present in her society. Minerva learns about the corrupt government through her closest friend Sinita, because she has lost most of her family due to murders by Trujillo and his people. Minerva states, “As the road darkened, the beams of our headlights filled with hundreds of blinded moths. Where they hit the windshield, they left blurry marks, until it seemed like I was looking at the world through a curtain of tears” (29). Here, Minerva uses a metaphor “looking at the world through a curtain of tears” and this is very significant because it demonstrates the turmoil the nation is experiencing and her own personal turmoil. Minerva is torn within because she witnesses her nation falling apart and because she is a woman and has no say in the government. She therefore commits herself to becoming educated by getting a law degree and standing up for women rights. Through this Alvarez is suggesting the importance of women activists and making a change in the community by standing up to the regime and becoming educated.
 * “As the road darkened, the beams of our headlights filled with hundreds of blinded moths. Where they hit the windshield, they left blurry marks, until it seemed like I was looking at the world through a curtain of tears.” **

Minerva observes this moment of deep emotion in the face of her mother, one of the many women who has suffered the loss of her husband's fidelity; this simple moment gives direct insight into the hopes and losses of Mama, the strongest source of care for the Mirabal family. With the dictatorial power of Trujillo still bearing down upon the Dominican Republic and his recent interest in the Mirabal family, fear is even more prominent in the lives of the sisters and those around them. And the family's loss of their highly fallible father to another woman was not cohesive to the structure and stability of their already shaky world. As a woman, Mama would be expected to fall subject to the wishes of her husband, but it is often seen that her opinion is the one that wins out (probably due to Papa's unstable mentality and Mama's persistent care about the welfare of her daughters). Already dealing with the stresses of taking care of her family and Trujillo's ever-looming presence, Papa's infidelity is a blow to both her self-confidence and the familial structure that she has tirelessly slaved over.
 * "She smiles at him, her eyes glistening with tears. Her fingers find his hand and hold tight, as if she were pulling him up from an edge she lost him to years back." (113) **

Then Papa is taken to prison by El Jefe, kept there for a very long period of time. When he is freed from his cruel detainment, Papa's appearance is gaunt and his spirits are low, fearing that the crops (their source of sustenance) are spoiled. In an attempt to comfort him (and most likely herself as well), Mama reaches out to her husband through a memory. This memory, though simple and seemingly insubstantial, acts as two things: a pathway back to better times and a link between the now distant spouses. Mama's love for her husband is painted all over her face, and Minerva sees the return of her mother's hope that one of her greatest losses might not be irretrievable after all.

Minerva is fighting the fight of the revolution. She helps a man who is unable to advocate himself to a government official. She saves him from getting in trouble, but in turn loses a valuable day searching for her missing father. Her struggle is demonstrated by her selfless act and her words: “it is all the same fight”. She says this to her mother who is a figure of strength, guidance, and stability for Minerva. She is introducing change to a woman who represents the stability of an old generation; whis these words she is introducing the revolution to her old country.
 * "'My, m'ijita,'she says. 'You're going to fight everyone's fight aren't you?' 'It's all the same fight, Mama,' I tell her." (108) **

Minerva values justice and opposes hypocrisy. She lives out her values by acting unselfishly and shows that there is one singular cause. This “same fight” that Minerva talks about is the same spirit that ‘her’ people have for their fight for liberation. ‘Minerva’s people’ are the Dominicans who feel the effect of their tyrannical government. These characters of the revolution are all able to relate to each other’s struggles, and this is why they have the same spirit. Minerva can relate to the man she helped because his struggle is similar to her struggle. The Dominican revolutionaries are fighting for the same cause, and this is their “same fight”.

In this passage Patria renews her fallen faith. She challenges the Virgin Mother, asking why she has abandoned her faithful people in their time of great need. In previous passages in the book, Patria holds herself in a very high regard. She frequently states that she was the most religious out of her sisters, as well as the most compassionate. However, by looking at all of the weary faces crowded in the church pews, Patria realizes that it does not matter who is the most religious or compassionate of her sisters but that the sin and suffering exists all around her. Virgencita is embodied in the crowds of people pressing against her, being drawn to the church as if it were a fire on a cold day. The persistent faith of these people in God during trying times was miraculous to Patria; she who has lost all her faith when she gave birth to her still born was able to use the faith of these people to renew hers.
 * “I stared at her pale, pretty face and challenged her. Here I am, Virgencita. Where are you? And I heard her answer me with the coughs and cries and whispers of the crows: Here Patria Mercedes, I’m here, all around you. I’ve already more than appeared.” (59) **

**"...putting on his glasses after wiping them on his cassock, his vision--like mine--clean at last." (164) ** -This displays Patria's utter transformation and new support of the revolution. It is clear that the events in the mountains opened her eyes to reality and genuinely shook her as an individual. This quotation symbolizes the realizations that both Padre de Jesus and Patria came to as a result of the horror that occurred in Constanza.

**"I don't know why it is that when the clock strikes, you feel all the more the absence of someone." (139) ** Alvarez is suggesting that the reminder of time and its limits and mysterious ability to have a sometimes silent presence in our lives stirs up thoughts of those who not only are no longer existant in the timely universe we inhabit, but who also tend to be forgotten in figures in our daily lives. This is both painful and worrisome, as Maria Theresa describes in the above quote.

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I didn't keep count how many had died. I kept my hand on my stomach, concentrating on what was alive." (163) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Minerva is always very positive, but she recognizes that there are still things wrong and there is a problem

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Work out the Christian math of how you give a hundredfold. But thinking about her own divorce, Dede admits the math doesn't always work out. If you multiply by zero, you still get zero, and a thousand heartaches." (9) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">If you give nothing than you get nothing, and end up sad about it, I'm not exactly positive what this means though, is Dede saying that she gave nothing in her marriage, or that her husband gave nothing, which led to their divorce

This is an extremely symbolic quote of Dede's because it foreshadows what is to come. She thinks of her sisters and herself as a "package" almost and cannot imagine living without them, yet she ultimately does. Alvarez is hinting to the future and the extreme tragedy which occurs that separates Dede from her sisters.
 * "If they died, she would not want to go on living without them." (193)**

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"I was muc <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">h stronger than Papa...He was the weakest one of all...He needed our love" (89) ** This passage showcases one of the major themes in the novel: the power of women. Throughout the novel, the sisters always seem to be the stronger, more ambitious characters. Whereas, the men are often portrayed as unable to handle certain situations.

__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Notable Passages** __

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">"Tears came to my eyes. something big and powerful spread its wings inside me . Courage, I told myself. And this time, I felt it."(238)

"I followed my husband. I didn't get involved."(172)

"He would know that she, too, was one of the brave ones." (182)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"She doesn't want to be the only one left to tell their story" (10)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"small cage to a bigger one, the size of our whole country" (13)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"hidden protest" (26)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"soul is like a deep longing in you that you can never fill up, but you try" (31)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"My soul has gotten deeper since I started writing you [the journal]...What do I do now to fill up that hole?" (43)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"She wants them to know the living breathing women their mothers were. They get enough of the heroines from everyone else." (64)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"She had never known an enemy to the state before. She had assumed such people would be self-serving and wicked, low class-criminals. But Lio was a fine young man with lofty ideals and a compassionate heart. Enemy of the state? Why then, Minerva was an enemy of the state...she would no doubt be an enemy as well...she didn't understand until that moment that they were really living...in police state. (75)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"Its not courage. Its common sense" (77)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I look down at the lopsided scales...I imagine them evenly balanced, his will on one side, mine on the other." (115)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"After all, they were embarking on their most passionate project to date, one they must not fail at like the others. Saving the sisters" (194)

Alvarez is describing the breaking down of familial relationships. As discussed in class, family life is extremely important to Dominicans, and therefore, by not being faithful, the girls' father is denying the central role of his family in his life. Family shapes a person, gives them something, someone to identify with - by giving all of this up, Papa is rejecting having such a close association with his children and wife and his own character (personality and values). It is interesting how such a unified group of women (the sisters) came from a broken family, raised by a man without a strong identity. Alvarez suggests that in order for a person to fully know themselves and have something (a home/family) to relate to, they must be able to identify with a family or family-like group. In addition, Alvarez expresses that though a person might come from an uncertain and fragmented past, there is still hope for them to find themselves.
 * "One time, I stopped at the side of the road and stared at their Mirabal eyes. "Who is your father?" I asked point blank." (pg. 85**)

In this exerpt, Minvera is addressing Manuel de Moya after her arrest. In this line, Minerva's courage and bravery are exemplified. She expresses her strong belief in the basic human rights of each individual. She shows defiance to the regime because she is expressing that only she can control herself. The governement cannot control her actions. Minerva resembles Antigone here. Both Minerva and Antigone, express that they will defy their governments in oder to do what is right and honorable. Minerva does not want to meet with Trujillo, and Antigone did not want to give her brother and improper burial. Both Antigone and Minvera die for their beliefs showing their strong stances on their individual positions of belief.
 * "I'd sooner jump out that window than be forced to do something against my honor." (111)**