In the Time of the Butterflies: Rewriting Dominican History through the Demythologization of the Mirabal Sisters

This article intends to investigate the narration of historical facts under new perspectives through the novel In the Time of the Butterflies, from the Dominican-American writer Julia Alvarez. The choice of the mentioned novel is due to the fact that it enables the observation of the manners the concepts of identity, memory and representation interact to portray new representations of a determined people by the interpretation of historical facts. Throughout the article it will be analyzed the strategies Alvarez employs to narrate new versions of facts related to the period regarded as the “Trujillo era”, a totalitarian dictatorship which took place in the Dominican Republic between 1930 and 1961. It will be studied the process used by the author to promote the demythologization of the Mirabal sisters, martyrs of the struggle against the regime who, when launched to mythic status, were historically distanced from Dominicans. Post-colonial and postmodern concepts, as presented by theorists bell hooks, Priyamvada Gopal and Stuart Hall will be applied to the analysis of historical representation through the perspective of traditionally silenced groups. Linda Hutcheon’s definitions of “facts” and “events” will also be approached to observe the way the novel provides new readings of historical facts.