Abstract
This paper discusses the work of photographer, Manuel Alvarez Bravo. The paper discusses how Bravo wanted his work to show what Mexican society was really like and to give the country a sense of identity. It particularly shows how Bravo's artwork battled against the typical stereotypes about Mexicans. The paper analyzes some of his specific photographs.

From the Paper
"The Mexican Revolution that Bravo was so opposed to brought much violence to the country along with the social and cultural changes that occurred. The Mexican president at this time wished to allow the United States more influence over Mexican life and culture. He wanted the United States to have more control over the Mexican day-to-day life and the majority of Mexicans, such as Bravo, opposed this movement and worked towards creating a national identity for Mexico. This would have also given foreign investors more control over the Mexican economy, as they would be permitted to invest and bring in multinational corporations which would negatively affect Mexican businesses. Laws were created in order to protect foreign investors' rights and this angered many Mexicans to the point where they became violent."

Tags:identity, art, surrealist, image

From the Paper
" Julia Alvarez, in her novel In the Time of the Butterflies, presents a fictionalized account of the lives and murders of three sisters who were in fact tortured and killed in 1960 in the Dominican Republic by the secret police of dictator Trujillo for their opposition to his tyranny. A fourth sister survived and her fictional spirit contributes to the telling of this enraging, heartbreaking, and finally inspiring story of tragedy and courage.

As Alvarez writes in the postscript to the novel, she and her own family were exiles from Trujillo's tyranny, leaving the country less than four months before the murder of the Mirabal sisters, known as Las Mariposas, or The Butterflies. In fact, the author's father was active in the underground resistance to Trujillo, along with the four sisters. Alvarez says that she.."

From the Paper
The story told in the novel In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is a true one, based on the Mirabal sisters, well-known in the Dominican republic for their heroic stand against the Trujillo regime and for what happened to them. Alvarez was born in the Dominican Republic, but she never knew the Mirabal sisters, as she explains in the postcript to her book where she notes that she and her family arrived in New York City in 1960 as exiles from their native land because of the Trujillo regime--her father had participated in an underground plot that was discovered by the country's secret police. Three of the four Mirabal sisters had been murdered some four months before that in what was deemed an "accident," though clearly it was not. Alvarez was a young girl at the time but could not get this story out of her mind, and she sought out more information..."

Abstract
This paper examines Alvarez's novel "How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents" illustrating how the 'accent' is mostly a metaphor for the evolution of several facets of the sisters. 'Accents', become synonymous with a modern, west-influenced lifestyle where equality is introduced into the male-female nexus. The author concludes that the relationships of the four sisters really mirror the male-female relationships of the west and their accents have completely changed they have been fully assimilated into the Western culture.

From the Paper
"Interestingly, Julia Alvarez presents several unique characteristics in the narrative. The novel is set from the early 1960s to the mid 1980, but in reverse chronological order. Such a description helps develop the characters of the four sisters: Carla, Sandi (Sandra), Yolanda (YoYo aka Joe) and Fifi (Sofia). To put the plot in the right order: Carlos is a doctor in the Dominican Republic. Carlos is married to Laura. They have four daughters. Carlos's nuclear and extended family is wealthy and influential one of a few in the entire nation situated on an impoverished tropical South American Island. Fearing reprisals in the dictatorial reign of Trujillo Ciudad, called only Trujillo in the entire novel (assuming that every Dominican is familiar with the name), the family escapes to the United States."

Tags:julia, alvarez, west, male, female, sisters, synonym, modern

Abstract
The paper portrays how Julia Alvarez's novel, "In the Time of the Butterflies," employs brilliant descriptions to depict the severe reality that Trujillo's regime imposed on the Dominican Republic from the 1930s to the 1960s. The paper illustrates how Julia Alvarez humanizes the story of violence and injustice in the Dominican Republic and opens doors into the souls of the Mirabal sisters. The paper highlights how Alvarez stresses the need to see the Mirabal sister personalities as leaders of revolution, as people who fight their own fears to fight injustice in the Dominican Republic.

From the Paper
"Of all the Mirabal sisters, Minerva is by far the most confrontational. Minerva has no fear and stands up to anyone, no matter what his or her position of power is, in this case Trujillo's regime. She is the one most identified with the resistance against Trujillo because of her beauty, her public rebellions, her conspicuous intelligence, and her leadership in the underground movement. Alvarez exhibits these same attributes in her Minerva, especially her vehement, outspoken hatred of injustice in any form. Often Minerva's rash actions are a problem to her goal to end the dictatorship of Trujillo."

Tags:Trujillo, revolution, injustice

Abstract
The paper examines the articles "A White Woman of Color" by Julia Alvarez and "What White Supremacists Taught a Jewish Scholar about Identity" by Abby L. Ferber who discuss their experiences related to race, culture and color. The paper describes the cultural difference and clashes and the discriminatory or racial behaviors that are the result of social practices. The paper looks at Alvarez in relation to her American society and her Dominican community and Ferber with her Jewish origin and the White supremacist views.

From the Paper
"The issue of race and color has been an important aspect in the history of the United States and in general of the world. This was and still is one of the toughest hurdles to overcome in terms of the complete emancipation of the society. However, this is yet to be fully attained. Although this equality at the level of the society is indeed a lofty goal, there are various aspects which relate to the history and culture of a certain people that make this task to be practically impossible."

Tags:Dominicans, Jews, society, minorities, acculturation

Abstract
The writer of this paper details the plot as well as the main characters of each novel while focusing on the numerous similarities in both works of writing. This paper examines the manner in which both authors focus on the real-life problems encountered by Latin immigrants in the U.S. This paper delves into the numerous difficulties which awaited the immigrants upon their arrival to America including issues with gender, culture and class backgrounds. The writer contends and explains why the Garcia girls in Alvarez's novel did not assimilate completely in the U.S., even though they lost their native accents they continue to remain stuck between the two cultures unable to fully adapt to either one. This paper also delves into the topic of illegal immigration and the ensuing problems facing the characters in Boyle's novel.

From the Paper
"The Garcia girls come to the United States because of political reasons. They are forced to leave the Dominican Republic because their father got in trouble with the Dominican secret police for protesting the nation's ruling military dictatorship. In contrast, the immigrants of The Tortilla Curtain immigrate illegally, rather than with the help of the CIA like the Garcia girls. The immigrants from Mexico of The Tortilla Curtain do so to better their way of life, economically, rater than for political reasons, when they flee their nation to make their way to Southern California via Mexico. The Garcia girls come from a privileged background. They had enjoyed many, if not more of the toys and luxuries of their American counterparts. True, they still have trouble fitting in, when they come to America."

Tags:literature, review, latin, american, analysis, immigration, conflict

Abstract
The novel "In the Time of the Butterflies" is a fictionalized biography of the lives and fate of a family of sisters who were killed in 1960 during the political turmoil in their native Dominican Republic. The paper shows how the author, Julia Alvarez, a Dominican by repatriation, celebrates the lives and murders of the Mirabal sisters, who are referred to as the Mariposas or butterflies, recreating historical events while recounting some of her own experiences in that time and place.

From the Paper
"Around the time that their second daughter was born, the Dominican Dictator, Rafael Trujillo, pretended to reform his government. He invited dissenters back to participate in the political process and promised that he himself would not run in the next election. The couple returned with their two daughters. Consequently, Julia Alvarez spent ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic under the repressive regime."

Tags:Trujillo, dictatorship, Castro, reform

Abstract
Many times the element that makes a book a classic is the fact that the human element become involved and therefore the reader gets attached to the story and the characters that are in it. This paper reviews "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez and "Searching for Life: The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina" by Rita Arditti and shows how the authors draw the readers in until they become attached to the ladies of the stories. It examines how the commonalty of the stories is the fact that the protagonists have a serious life filled with struggles because of their presidents and how the struggle of one person against something as strong and powerful as a president is a story that can draw out the most maternal and paternal instincts in the most stoic reader.

From the Paper
"In Searching for Life: The Grandmothers of the Plaza De Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina by Rita Arditti the reader has a different approach all together. Instead of getting attached one by one the reader only has to get attached to the cause. It is a noble cause however and the grandmother's search for their grandbabies is heartbreaking to say the least. Each of the books provides an accurate accounting of the way the lives were for the protagonists and the readers are drawn to the plight of all involved. However there are different levels of concerns with each story. In the Butterfly story the sisters are portrayed as those who actually plan to overthrow the government while the story in Searching For Life is about grandmothers challenging the dictatorship."

Tags:president, rebellion, prison, death

Abstract
This paper compares three feminist Hispanic literary works: "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisnero, "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent" by Julia Alvarez, and "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina Garcia. The paper investigates how the issues of gender, race, ethnicity, belief, education, family and culture affect identity found in these literary works.

From the Paper
"During the last few decades, a new genre has emerged, the female Hispanic writer. These women are enriching the American literature landscape with their lyrical stories and ethnicity. They are telling stories of young girls, mothers, grandmothers, and friends, who have been transplanted from a culture a world away into the American dream. They are telling their own stories. Telling those who read their tales what it's really like to grow up with little or no knowledge of the language and customs, trying desperate to adapt and meld into American life, weaving old ways and new into their own identity."

Tags:race, ethnicity, belief, education, family, culture, affect, identity