Minerva 6th

"I, who treasured my children more than my own life, couldn't believe my sister would leave her son for anything," (155). Minerva is a bad parent in society's eyes because she doesn't put her children first.

"But she wouldn't budge! She was used to her little pen. I kept slapping her, harder each time, until she started whimpering like a scared child. I was the one hurting her, insisting she be free.

Silly bunny, I thought. You're nothing at all like me." (11).

Minerva was motivated by freedom to do what she wished. We can see her fight for this independence in whatever she does. For example, going to university.

"That moment, I understood her hatred. My family had not been personally hurt by Trujillo... But others had been suffering great losses."

pg 53

Minerva is motivated by the hurt Trujillo is causing to the people around her. She wants to be able to advocate for the people who can't. Minerva is a person who believes people should get rights, opinions, and safety in their own country.

"The others wanted to go ahead and write the damn letter. But I was against it. Thank Trujillo for punishing us!"

pg 261

At a young age, Minerva was very determined and passionate about her goals. Her future goals of becoming a lawyer are often criticized and she stands up for herself.

"Just what we need, skirts in law!" (Mama)

"It is what the country needs." (Minerva)

Pg 10

This is similar to what events influenced Minerva to be who she becomes as her motivation is also what she makes her whole life about. She is told the terrible things Trujillo has done and also witnesses her and her sister's husbands going to jail which motivates her. Minerva is different from the rest in this way and doesn't follow her husband as explained by Dede who didn't speak out because “Back in those days, we women followed our

husbands” and even knew that was "Such a silly excuse. After all, look at Minerva. 'Let’s put it this

way,' Dedé adds. 'I followed my husband. I didn’t get involved'" (pg 171-172). Thus, Minervas motivation came from within and her life experiences rather than a norm or following her husband.

"Trujillo had said that Minerva Maribal was the brain behind the whole movement."

pg 232

Minerva is kind of a leader of the revolution. This stems from her interactions with Trujillo while at school and also her meetings with him about her father. She is the most motivated to take him down and urges others and her sisters to join her. In prison, she hold classes to teach the prisoners and also keeps them motivated.

Minerva was rebellious and of breaking the status quo. She was "sneaking out" (38) of school and planning to become a lawyer (10), both things that women weren't allowed to do.

Minerva from a young age was rebellious as shen snuck out of school and had to have her sister cover for her. She also becomes motivated from a young age to fight against Trujillo based on the stuff that happened at school.

Minerva is motivated by the terrible things that Trujillo has done, trying to end his reign of murder. Her best friend, Sinita, told Minerva how Trujillo killed her family for speaking against Trujillo (18).

Minerva was most rebellious as a child, continuingly sneaking out of school and pushing her family's views.

I don't think Minerva was the best mother based on her leaving her kids to Patria to go and fight in the revolution. She put the revolution over her family.

"I'm going to be on the road a lot. And I'll be coming down here for some meetings every week."

"But Minerva, your own child-"

pg 155

Minerva was close with Maria as they had to hide things for each other and also lied to cover as Minverva was sneaking out of school. She was also ambitious and had to have Mom's help to let her leave Papa and go to school.

"Sometimes I think revolution has become something like a habit for Minerva." (pg 243). How Mate describes Minerva and how she acts during prison.

I think she is mainly motivated by seeing all the people that Trujillo has hurt. She knows what happened to Sinita and Lina and she knows that Trujillo put her father in prison.

"Minerva says a soul is like a deep longing in you that you can never fill

up, but you try. " Describes how her life was shaped as she fought the whole time to fill her soul but never lived to witness it.

Minerva added motivation to the revolution as she was seen as a central figure. Her public disobedience against Trujillo aided in her image of strength as she slapped him and told him she didn't want anything straight to his face.

"Also, we couldn't be free unless everyone else was offered the same opportunity." -Mate talking about Minerva in prison

Give a representative quote about or by Minerva.

Was Minerva a good mother? Support yourself with evidence from the text.

What did Minerva specifically add to the revolution?

What is Minerva motivated by? Please support yourself.

What events in Minerva's life influenced the woman she became?

What was Minerva like as a child?

I think Minerva was a good wife because of how supportive she was. When Manolo was in prison she was there often making light of the situation. She also continues brainstorming how to take down the regime so her husband can finally be free.

"We'll be home soon!" I always tried to raise his spirits with the thought of our little nest in Monte Cristi."

pg 266

A big monumental event that affected how Minerva grew up to the woman she became was the death of her father. This moment causes her to commit to the revolution and connect Trujillo's terrible acts to her life. The death of her father was glossed over and told from Mate's perspective. the death greatly affected the family and made the revolution that much more high risk.

"Minerva always says writing gets things off her chest and she feels better"

pg 118

I think Minerva was a good wife because she worked through the problems with her husband and in the end was able to mend the differences. They also worked together in the revolution.

Minerva was a good wife because she was ready to sacrifice her husband for the revolution. Her husband agreed to do the same, and wanted it this way.

Although Minerva leaves her children with her sister while she goes out to fight for the revolution, first of all, Dede is honest and a good mother that will keep the children safe. Minerva is a good mother because, as she told Mate, she wants her children "to grow up in a free country" where they are not ruled by an evil dictator that will send them to prison or abuse them. She sacrifices some some time when they are young in hopes of bringing them a better life all around.

While I commend Minerva for all she accomplished I think she put her family and kids at risk through her commitment. She had the boxes of weapons in her house "enough guns to start a revolution" (Pg 142) which shows her commitment but also if they were found her children would be without their parents.

"Minerva leads us in singing the national anthem"

pg 233

She was a leader in the revolution and people followed her. She added direction and ways to fight the regime like singing the national anthem in prison.

Minerva is the sister that is most outspoken about the revolution. Throughout the book, we can see that it's all she really thinks about. She is treated as the figurehead among the sisters.

I think she was a good wife to Manolo in that she did not seem to really mind him cheating on her and she visited her often while he was in prison.

Minerva was a leader in the revolution, using her house as storage for the weapons (141) and having given people commands for the revolution. She was a figurehead, a butterfly.

She was a good wife in the way that she and Manolo mirrored each other, sacrificing everything for the revolution, even her husband if it came to that (Page 147). She was not good to her husband in the societal way as she didn't love him above all else.

Minerva was not great to her children, as she prioritized the revolution above all else. She hid "enough guns to start a revolution" (142) inside her house alongside her children. She cared more for the revolution than her children's safety.

One of the larger events that shaped who Minerva was occurred early in her life when Sinita told her about the terrible things that Trujillo had done to her family. Minverva was surprised that Trujillo could be bad as she said “Bad things?” I interrupted. “Trujillo was doing bad things?” (pg 17). Sinita explained that “[her] uncles, they had a plan to do something to Trujillo, but somebody

told on them, and all three were shot, right on the spot” (Pg 17). Later on her husband was in jail and this further pushed her to rebel.

"When I met Lio, it was as if I woke up," (86). When Minerva met Lio, she began to grow more passionate to the revolution.

During her time in school when she was 12, she met Sinita and learned that her family was killed by Trujillo and also knew Lina who was abused by Trujillo.

When Minerva was in the play with Sinita and Sinita "raised her bow and arrow" (Page 28) at Trujillo. She saw how passionate her friend was to kill Trujillo as he was a terrible person to her family.

Was Minerva a good wife? Support yourself.