In chapter 11 of In the Time of the Butterflies, we are given snapshots of Mate's life in prison with 23 other women. While there are many attention-grabbing and horrifying things that happen in this chapter, I would like to draw your attention to the dynamic between the women imprisoned together. Mate at first sees many of the people as inferior made very clear by her tone on page 228. "'Nonpoliticals,' all right. Prostitutes, thieves, murderers- and that's just the ones who have confided in us." In the military, there is a saying that goes "nothing brings people together like sucking together" this phrase is meant to highlight the importance of going through really tough things with the people around you (Basic training for the military but prison in this case) in order to grow together and learn to rely on your teammates. It is a constant reminder that going through bad experiences with someone will make you closer to that person than any number of happy experiences ever could. This is the exact mindset we see in this scenario. After spending time in this awful situation, Mate begins to understand that "What matters is the quality of a person. What someone is inside themselves." It is through experiencing these things together and living through hell with only the person right next to you that Mate realizes how wrong she had been about "these girls I once thought were beneath me" (230). However, this concept extends beyond simply being in a physical prison together. Trujillo's rule was a prison just as real, it simply lacked physical manifestation. It brought people from all different walks of life together, people who otherwise would have nothing in common, united by the prison they had all been forced into together.
A little bit about basic training and the unity found in the military
In what other ways can we see a comparison between prison life and Trujillo's regime?
In what ways did Mate's mindset shift while in prison? What do you think were the long term effects on the women?
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