In the Time of the Butterflies/McKinley: Home

PLAN, DO, REVIEW

PLAN:

• What are the requirements for this project?
• What is the final product?
• What questions do I ask about my topic?
• What types of sources will I need? How many? 
• Where will I look for sources?

DO:

• Locate sources and find information in them
• Record citation information for all sources
• Take good notes
• Create final paper/project/presentation

Review:

• Did my final product meet the expectations of the assignment?
• Did I find good, useful sources?
• Did I properly cite and/or quote sources?
• Did I ask for help when I had difficulty?
• Did I manage my time well in the library and on my own?

Write a short research paper (750-1000 words) on some topic relating to In the Time of the Butterflies. The aim is to choose something that will help you, and the rest of us, understand the novel more fully by expanding our awareness of the historical, political, social and cultural context in which the story takes place. There are suggested topics below, but you are encouraged to create your own topic as we do some preliminary research and continue to read the novel. 

Some of the suggested topics listed are broad questions that require you to look quickly at a big topic and extract key details that you find interesting in relation to the novel (see NOTE after the first question for an example). Other questions here involve taking some specific reference in the novel, seeing what you can find out about it, and thinking about what light that new knowledge casts on the story (see NOTE after the last question).

Questions relating to the history of the Dominican Republic

• When and how did the Dominican Republic come into being? NOTE: Don't write a history of the Dominican Republic! Focus on a particular thread of information that you find interesting--for example, the early colonial history, the country's economic or political history, the racial makeup of the Dominican people, the realationship of the DR with the neighboring country of Haiti, etc.
• What role has the Roman Catholic church played in the history of the Dominican Republic?
• What role has the United States played in the history of the Dominican Republic?
• What was happening in Cuba around 1960 that made Minerva and the others so excited? Write about Fidel Castro's rise to power.
• What sort of government does the Dominican Republic have now?

Questions relating to the Trujillo regime

• Who was Trujillo and how did he come to power?
• What sort of government did the Dominican Republic have prior to Trujillo's rise to power?
• What role did the SIM, Trujillo's secret police, play in his regime?
• How did the Trujillo regime end? What sort of government replaced it?
• What other events, besides the murder of the Mirabals, stand out as characteristic of the oppressiveness of the Trujillo regime? Investigate one of them.

Questions about las Mariposas

• What can you learn, from newspaper articles and other historical documents, about the death of the Mirabal sisters on November 25, 1960?
• Alvarez says that November 25 is observed in many Latin American countries as the International Day Against Violence Towards Women. Write about that day of celebration--its origins and where and how it is celebrated.

Questions stemming from specific references in the novel

• Who was Jose Marti (see p. 122)? Write a biographical profile of him.
• Who was Gabriela Mistral (see p. 128)? Write a biographical profile of her. NOTE: With questions like this one or the previous one (or a similar reference of your own choosing), go beyond the "facts" and try to articulate how the reference works in the novel. How does it "fit" into the story at that moment?

Tony McKinley