Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Specifically,

¶ … Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. Specifically, it will contain a reaction to the book as it pertains to Latin American history. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, or President Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, plays an important role in the novel and in Latin American history. Trujillo's despotic rule set the stage for brutality, murder, and mayhem, and Alvarez captures all this in her novel. Trujillo's reign was a reign of terror, and it was memorable to the world because it was so long, and so depraved. Trujillo will be remembered for ethnic cleansing, hatred, and bitter violence, and this book shows him at his worst. An important part of Dominican Republic history, Trujillo was a cruel, bitter man, full of fear, hatred, and power, and the "butterflies" legacy far outlives his.

President Trujillo is a central character in this novel of the Dominican Republic because of his great influence over the society, and his ultimate decision to murder the Mirabal sisters as "traitors" to his brutal dictatorship. The "butterflies" have become a national and international symbol of freedom from oppression, and the day they were killed, November 25, is now called the International Day against Violence against Women in the Mirabals' honor. This time in history was difficult if not impossible for Dominican's and eventually, Trujillo's hatred came back to him, he was assassinated in 1961.

Author Alvarez weaves the history of the country skillfully into the novel, continually portraying Trujillo as a sneaky man, not to be trusted or liked. In Chapter Two, she writes, "According to Sinita, Trujillo became president in a sneaky way. First, he was in the army, and all the people who were above him kept disappearing until he was the head of the whole armed forces" (Alvarez 17). Thus, the reader is introduced to history as well as fiction, and this blend is easier and more pleasing to read than a straight accounting of history. Other true historical accounts paint an even darker picture of the man and his effect on his country. "In 1937, the Dominican dictator, Trujillo, gave the order for the massacre of over 25,000 Haitians on the Dominican side of the border, as part of his plan to 'lighten' the skin of his country" (Wucker 82). Trujillo took power in the Dominican Republic, and held it as president or otherwise until he was killed in 1961. Throughout that time, he massacred many of his countrymen who he thought were scheming against him, including the three Mirabal sisters, whose husbands were all involved in revolutionary groups created to overthrow Trujillo's government. Anyone was a threat to Trujillo, young or old, male or female.

As his dictatorship continues, the country learns to fear the man who rules with an iron fist. The Mirabals learn to fear him, too. Alvarez notes, "Trujillo is the law,' Papa whispered, as we all did nowadays when we pronounced the dreaded name" (Alvarez 90). While Alvarez's work is fiction, and much of it is conjecture, it captures the fear of the times, and makes it clear why Trujillo was so afraid. He knew he had made enough enemies that they would want to harm him, and he knew the worse he regime got, the more enemies he would make, and sooner or later he would be unable to control them with fear or with violence. Another historian notes, "Trujillo had prisons set up throughout the island with torture cells that became infamous for the horrors that occurred within. Opponents to his regime were dealt with swiftly and brutally, usually succumbing to death from the effects of torture or disease, if not assassinated" (Brown 31).

Trujillo is not only violent and despotic, he is a womanizer and adulterer, and he even stoops to young girls, then hustles them out of the country when they get pregnant. At a party, Minerva catches him fondling a senator's wife. "Under the tablecloth, a hand is exploring the inner folds of a woman's thigh. I work it out and realize it is Trujillo's hand fondling the senator's wife" (Alvarez 96). History shows the man was not only a violent dictator; he was a macho man who lusted after numerous women, including Minerva, who slaps him when he makes an advance toward her. This is the beginning of the end for the Mirabal sisters, because "El Jefe" will not forget an affront like that. He not only rules with an iron fist, he rules in fear and paranoia, and anyone who stands up to him like that is doomed. Later, he will not allow Minerva to practice law after she graduates from law school. This shows the ultimate power and control he held over the entire country. No one could do anything with out him knowing about it, or with out his permission. These are terrible conditions to live under, and underneath the novel in an underlying tension that never leaves the reader, just like the tension the Dominicans were forced to live with every day. The fiction of the novel reads like fiction, but the history woven through the novel gives it texture, but it also conveys the fear that filled the lives of the people under Trujillo's rule.