In the Time of the Butterflies

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1. 
   dymatsuoka

   In Chapter 6, Minerva learns two troubling things about her father, Enrique Mirabal.  First of all, she discovers that her father has been cheating on her mother, possibly for as long as ten years.  Enrique keeps a woman in "a small yellow house...near the northeast cacao groves" on Mirabal land.  The woman has four children, "three...raggedy girls...(and) a fourth one sometimes...in the arms of the oldest".  The girls come running out, "holding out their hands, calling for mints" every time Minerva drives by on the road.  When she stops one day and they stare at her, Minerva sees that they have "Mirabal eyes".  Minerva loses all respect for her father at that point.  When she asks him why he did it, he responds only that these are "things a man does".

   The other disturbing thing that Minerva discovers about Enrique Mirabal is that he has been hiding letters to her from an old flame, Lio.  Lio is involved in the resistance movement, and is a fugitive from the law.  Enrique tells Minerva that he hid the letters to protect her (Chapter 6). 

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/time-butterflies/

   http://www.enotes.com/time-butterflies/characters

   http://www.enotes.com/time-butterflies/summary-analysis-p...

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   Posted by dymatsuoka on Thursday October 23, 2008 at 7:41 PM
   
   

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