VERDAD Y FICCIÓN EN EN EL TIEMPO DE LAS MARIPOSAS (1994) DE JULIA ÁLVAREZ Y VIVAS EN SU JARDÍN (2009) DE DEDÉ MIRABAL

This thesis investigates the case of the legendary Mirabal sisters, or the so called “Mariposas” [the “Butterflies”]: three young Dominican women who sacrificed their lives to end the tyranny of General Rafael L. Trujillo. The purpose of this thesis is to compare the portrayal of the Mirabal sisters in two different books, In the Time of the Butterflies (1994) by Dominican-American writer Julia Álvarez and Vivas en su jardín [Alive in their Garden] (2009) by Dedé Mirabal, the only sister to survive. Mirabal implements an important biographical component in her testimony while Álvarez utilizes the genre of historical fiction to describe the events leading to the sisters’ assassination in 1960. This thesis explores the concepts of “truth” and “fiction” in Mirabal’s memoir and Álvarez’s historical novel, arguing that the range of objectivity and subjectivity in these two genres are interchangeable in the representation of this tragic episode in the history of the Dominican Republic.