In The Time Of The Butterflies Chapter 8 Summary

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From the novel In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, Alvarez uses organization and tone to distinguish the different inner conflicts felt by Maria Teresa and Patria. In chapter three, Mate’s chapter, Alvarez uses the format of journal entries that were written by Mate. Each of these journal entries allows the reader to connect on a more personal level with Mate, since they are given an inside look through her eyes. “I have been trying to reflect, but I can’t come up with anything. I love my new shoes from my First Communion” (30). These journal entries, written by Mate, elucidate her lack of understanding in religion and life as a younger child. The reader is shown how Mate was less focused on convent school and was more focused
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When she tried to understand the importance of religion, it still had yet to make sense to her. “What does it mean that I now really have a soul?” (31). Mate knew that she supposedly had a soul, like Minerva had told her, but she did not yet understand what it meant. In her journal entries, she wrote about her confusion and the tedium of being at Immaculada Concepsiόn, giving more insight of her inner conflicts at a younger age. In Chapter eight, one of Patria’s chapters, Alvarez uses a type of organization more closely related to that of an autobiography. Along with this style she uses a very formal and mature tone to represent Patria and her groundings in faith. “Build your house upon a rock, He said, do my will. And though the rain fall and the floods come and the winds blow, the good wife’s house will stand. I did as He said” (148). Patria quoting the Bible helps the reader to understand how much she relies on faith and understands having a soul. Patria uses religion as her explanation for daily life and why things happen as they do. When it came to involvement in the revolution, Patria approached it in a religious manor. “Like I said, it must have been the Lord’s tongue in my mouth because back then, I was running scared. Not for myself but for those I loved”