In the Time of the Butterflies

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Minerva dreams of being a lawyer. (Chapter 1)

2. She reveals that Trujillo killed many in her family. (Chapter 2)

3. She is pregnant with Trujillo’s baby. (Chapter 3)

4. Sinita points an imaginary bow and arrow at Trujillo and shoots him. (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. Decades after her sisters’ deaths, Dedé still does not feel part of the family of heroic revolutionaries. As a survivor, she is plagued by guilt over the magnitude of her sisters’ sacrifice and the international attention their heroism has generated. (Chapter 1)

2. She learns that freedom is terrifying and that the cage sometimes is more comforting. She compares the rabbit cage to her own home and understands how difficult it is to free a creature accustomed to imprisonment. (Chapter 2)

3. The term describes how at any public function in support of Trujillo, everyone pretends to support and even love the dictator. (Chapter 3)

4. She questions the existence and relevance of God because God does nothing to prevent the actions of the Trujillo government, and she considers the importance of joining the resistance to Trujillo.