Sam Soltau

Mrs. Jarrett

English

29 February 2008

Desarollo

“I don’t know if you realize how advanced I am for my age! I think it’s because I have three older sisters, and so I’ve grown up quick. I knew how to read before I even started school!” (32). Maria Teresa wrote this in the first passages of her diary. Having three older sisters, Dede, Patria, and Minerva, Mate is the baby of the family. They live fruitfully in a small town in the Dominican Republic where they are under an oppressive dictatorship of the antagonist, Trujillo. In Julia Alvarez’s historical fiction, In the Time of the Butterflies, Mate’s diary entries directly relate her growth to that of the nations through her aging diction and her point of view.

In this story, both Mate and the nation were obedient. After many trials tribulations, both learn. “At first, I thought someone had died in our family until I noticed Minerva’s eyeballing me as if to say, watch what you say girl” (38). Although very youthfully revealed, Mate notes of Minerva’s rebellion against Trujillo. At a younger age, little naïve Mate would have tattled on her sister, now she knows better. Later in her diary she writes “My soul has gotten deeper since I started writing in you. But this what I want to know that not even Minerva knows. What do I do now to fill up that hole?” (43). In this last, more mature, passage Mate writes of her own growth. This is her last entry before she has to bury her diary to hide what she has written from Trujillo.

Mate is the youngest and Alvarez portrays her point of view through diary passages. Her diary passages demonstrate her personal growth and hint about the growth of society under the oppressive dictatorship. “The drive today was horribly tense. Manolo and Minerva kept addressing all their conversation to me, though every once and awhile, they’d start discussing something in low voices. It sounded like treasure hunt clues or something. The Indian from the hill has his cave up that road” (138). This observation exhibits censorship and the decline of free society. Not only is Mate writing in a new diary but Manolo and Minerva are speaking in a secret code. “What a way to spend my twenty second birthday! (If only Palomino would come tonight with a delivery.) I have been a little mopey, I admit it. Sonia reminds me that we have to make sacrifices for the revolution” (143). This passage also uncovers the impact of Trujillo’s oppression of society on normal people through the eyes of Mate.

In conclusion, Mate develops from a young girl to a mature woman while documenting her life. Her struggles reflect the societal changes that are occurring in the Dominican Republic. Through Mate’s point of view and aging diction, she directly relates her growth to that of the nation. “There is something deeper. Sometimes I really feel it in her, especially late at night, a current going among us, like a invisible needle stitching us together into the glorious, free nation we are becoming” (239).

Work Cited

Alvarez, Julia. In The Time Of The Butterflies. New York: Penguin,1995.

2/27 post b

"Here's another stupid reason to get married: you want a wedding!" pg 49

I just saw the movie twenty seven dresses and i know this is a little random but i must say what girl doesn't want to have a wedding? If not the wedding then a party? I want to party, maybe not as hard when family is around but what person doesn't want to have a good time in general? This book is annoying me just a little bit. It is written in the point of view of a man pretending to be an old ghetto woman. When i saw the book at first i thought it would be funny, but now i'm getting peeved. Super peeved. Not that grammar mistakes bug me that much but this book is like reading a song from Hurricane chris. I have to read it over and over again for it to make sense. Oh well. It's funny but not enough. Out of the twenty four lines on each page there are probably about three funny ones and the rest repeat constantly.

My favorite chapter so far is CHEATING ON YOUR SPOUSE. why? because it's not about cheating on your spouse. It's actually about spicing up a married couple's sex life. What she recommends is that one of the spouses play a hooker on the street corner and the other comes and picks them up. Her explanation of this is hil hil .

Another good chapter Marrying Someone Like Your Parents.
pg. 52 "But if your parents were crazy as hell, please don't marry them. Nine times out of ten, you do"
I love that she recommends to marry someone unlike your parents. The reason parents move out is the get away from parents unless you find the unlucky souls who still live in their parents basement.

2/27 post A

pg. 37 "So, I say, what the hell. I was in a bad situation. I just broke up with my man. You know, after enough Hennessey, Bernie Mac will start looking like Denzel Washington."

I know this quote is a funny one but i also think that Hennessey is a symbol for time. After you've been with someone for a long time, it doesn't matter what they look like because one should only care about what they feel not what they see.

I keep seeing more and more ideas of self respect but also emerging respect for others.

2/20 post B

pg. 32 "You know, you can't walk into a club with a thong on and a string and talk about that you've got mystery. Everybody can look at you and see that you're a ho. Put something on. Cover yourself up. Get some mystery in your flirting."

In this book Medea is really real and is not afraid to speak her mind. I used to always think that a person shouldn't say anything unless it was good but then Medea makes me think, how will a person know any better? Human society copies from media. Teens see hos in music videos slutting around, not respecting themselves. Do they know any better? No because no one told them to class up. Medea would. In her ten commandments number eight is "Stand up straight" so clearly she would like to make everyone at least honorable to start.

pg. 27 "I had this little girl come up to me and say, 'Madea, I have sex with a lot of people because it makes me feel loved' I told her, I said, 'Baby, having sex with a lot of people don't make you feel loved, it makes you a ho. And I ain't never met a man who said 'I'm looking for a nice ho to settle down with.' " So Shut it down.

I don't think Madea takes any bs from people looking for her advice. As described here, clearly a young girl's cry for comfort and a nod for her ugly actions, Madea just says no, your a ho. Stop making dumb excuses. Overall theme i think is represented here because she seems to be aiming toward self respect. Don't go sleeping around, it not good for you, your image, or your health. As she says also on page 27 "I don't understand why these children will walk around in this day and not use something to protect themselves from AIDS and other stuff" In this quote she refers to young people as children i believe is a striking phrase. Add children, a word that sounds so pure and innocent, and add it in with words like condom, AIDS, and sex. This whole chapter is very revealing of how very real Madea is and how she speaks the truth. This realness definitely shows in the title, Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries On Love and Life. It's almost like the word uninhibited is a warning for how raw her language is.

2/20 post A

pg. 29 " Do you want those kinds of titles? They say 'ho, ho, ho,' and it ain't even Christmas. Are you Santa Claus? Close your legs."

This quote just means that women should respect themselves more. Medea's advice is to not go sleep with everyone you meet because there should at least be a respectable relationship first.

I believe that the emerging theme is so far that of self-respect.

Week 7 Post B

Overall i really liked this book. I normally don't like reading and or writing of any kind but the freelance of this assignment really made it partially less suck-ish if you will. Although, throughout the story, Sammy Tigertail and his journey really did not entertain me as a much as the stories of Fry, Honey Santana, Perry Skinner, and the other characters from the polar side which is Boyd Shreave, Lily Shreave, Eugenie Fonda, and then you also have the mostly random but splashes of light characters Wilson, Gillian, and Louis Piejack. I loved the end because most books will try and trick people and have a quirky ending which mostly just turns and stupid and ruins the whole book. I loved that this story ended well because there are way to many depressing ones out there. Why not read something that makes you smile? The only thing that i didn't like about this book was the really lame title. NATURE GIRL. How stupid is that? Sorry Carl Hiaasen but that was a bad choice. Some of my friends didn't even want to look at it because it sounded lame. I thought it would be too but then i read the first page and it was amazing. The title seems to focus on Honey Santana who i guess without her ambition this whole story would have been toast.

Week 7 Post A

VOCAB

pg. 266 sinuous-having many curves, or bends
pg. 267 epidural-injection of pain killer when giving birth

Figurative Language

pg. 273 "And there the Simonle went, running on the bones of his ancestors."
This is a metaphor and also imagery.

pg. 272 "He had spotted the Gibson, his fondest connection to the white world, in the cinders of the dead campfire"
This is a symbol of tigertail's rebirth.

Quote

pg. 302 "... But there's too many so-called normal people with no soul and no balls."
I think this quote is awesome because it gives credit to every indiviual for all their certain attributes.

Theme.
Revenge and Forgiveness.