In the Time of the Butterflies

by

Julia Alvarez

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Time of the Butterflies makes teaching easy.

Papá Character Analysis

Enrique Mirabal Fernandez is the father of the sisters, a wealthy farmer and merchant. He cheats on his wife and has three illegitimate daughters. Papá tries to avoid making trouble with Trujillo, but is briefly imprisoned. Minerva realizes that while Papá puts on a show of being strong, he is actually the most needy of the Mirabals. He dies in 1953.

Papá Quotes in In the Time of the Butterflies

The In the Time of the Butterflies quotes below are all either spoken by Papá or refer to Papá. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Dictatorship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

“It’s about time we women had a voice in running our country.”
“You and Trujillo,” Papá says a little loudly, and in this clear peaceful night they all fall silent. Suddenly, the dark fills with spies who are paid to hear things and report them down at Security. Don Enrique claims Trujillo needs help in running this country. Don Enrique’s daughter says it’s about time women took over the government. Words repeated, distorted, words recreated by those who might bear them a grudge, words stitched to words until they are the winding sheet the family will be buried in when their bodies are found dumped in a ditch, their tongues cut off for speaking too much.

Related Characters: Dedé (speaker), Papá (speaker), Rafael Trujillo
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Time of the Butterflies LitChart as a printable PDF.
In the Time of the Butterflies PDF

Papá Quotes in In the Time of the Butterflies

The In the Time of the Butterflies quotes below are all either spoken by Papá or refer to Papá. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Dictatorship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

“It’s about time we women had a voice in running our country.”
“You and Trujillo,” Papá says a little loudly, and in this clear peaceful night they all fall silent. Suddenly, the dark fills with spies who are paid to hear things and report them down at Security. Don Enrique claims Trujillo needs help in running this country. Don Enrique’s daughter says it’s about time women took over the government. Words repeated, distorted, words recreated by those who might bear them a grudge, words stitched to words until they are the winding sheet the family will be buried in when their bodies are found dumped in a ditch, their tongues cut off for speaking too much.

Related Characters: Dedé (speaker), Papá (speaker), Rafael Trujillo
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis: