Romance or Revolution: Marriage in In the Time of Butterflies

        I will be focusing on the ways marriage is portrayed in In the Time of Butterflies. The associations with marriage are sometimes negative, especially in the perspective of the Mirabal sisters. It is connotated with unfaithfulness, separation, and a sort of death of a woman's independence.
        Trujillo is married, yet has multiple "national treasures" whom he collects. Going along with that, Enrique Mirabal has a secret family in the midst of his married life. When Minerva asks her father why he would cheat on her mother, he says "things a man does" (Alvarez 92). There is a suggestion that he has no other explanation for his infidelity other than being a man. It is revealed that the Mirabal parents sleep in separate beds. There is this juxtaposition of being one in their commitment to a union, yet separate emotionally or physically. I think it speaks to the climate of the regime; citizens feel an obligation to Trujillo because of his power in their state, yet are emotionally fed up in ways that conjure revolutionary feelings.

        At the start of Maria's classes, the girls are all shown wearing "white dresses like [they] were his brides" (Alvarez 131). These women seem to be taking a step toward independence when they pursue their own education, yet are still claimed as brides of Trujillo. As long as they are "his brides", they can never truly be independent or live in a free state. One cannot both be married with a family and revolt against Trujillo; it is an ultimatum. In chapter ten we learn that Patria's husband could be free if he divorced "his Mirabal wife" (Alvarez 204). So quite literally, marriage is keeping Pedrito from freedom. We get another glimpse of this mindset as Minerva grapples with the question: "what's more important, romance or revolution?" There is also the image of death connected to marriage. When Maria is frantically searching for her wedding dress in a nightmare, she finds its limbs in her father's coffin (Alvarez 119). Alvarez infers that marriage during the regime leads to unfaithfulness, separation, or death.

How do the characters' attitudes toward marriage speak to femininity and masculinity?
Where do we see the Mirabal sisters choosing between romance and revolution?