In the Time of the Butterflies

What community values, or negation thereof, does trujilos police state embody?

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The novel portrays many instances of how the authoritarian state permeates life for the Mirabel sisters and the other characters. The police state negates any sense of community. For instance, they must watch what they say since there are spies hiding outside their house. Even those citizens who are not suspected rebels are afraid to speak openly, since they cannot trust their own neighbors. In the first chapter, before the Mirabel family comes under any suspicion, their relaxing evening outdoors is ruined when Papa accidentally says Trujillo’s name in a less than flattering way. All of a sudden, “the dark fills with spies who are paid to hear things and report them down at Security.”

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http://www.gradesaver.com/in-the-time-of-the-butterflies/study-guide/major-themes/