In Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies, four sisters show their rebellious against tyranny in separate ways. During the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, the Mirabel sisters make a political commitment to overthrow his regime and become icons of the revolution. The book presents the perspective of the only surviving sister, Dede, who became a national hero and was obligated to tell and retell the tragic story of her sisters. She is not involved in the revolution with her sisters, and feels weaker about it. However, she is dynamic to determine her own decisions, to show her persistence and her courage as well. .
As a child, Dede is always smiling, trying to be pleased with her family. She is intelligent, and from a young age girl, her father depends on her to "help with the books " (13). Dede volunteers to say "I'll stay and help, Papa. " and stay behind with her parents so her sisters can go to boarding school. She feels obligated to take care of her father after he drank too much, she feels obligated to help out with the store and anything else that is asked for her help. Though she is attracted to the rebel Lio, Dede is silent about her desires and loses him to her sister Minerva. In a furtive attempt to assert herself, Dede burns Lio's letter asking Minerva to get away from the country with him, but she cannot allow herself to escape from the inevitability of her expected life. She marries her childhood sweetheart friend Jaimito, and finds herself "already beginning to compromise with the man she was set to marry. " (79), even before they are wed. Dede knows that if she thinks long and hard enough about what is right and wrong, she would join her sisters in revolution, but she does not do that because her husband forbids it. .
There is too much pressure that four sisters faced when every person must choose a side. The most difficult inner conflict is seen from Dede as she is torn by what her husband believes and what Minerva believes, both are fighting for her loyalty.
