What does Minerva mean when she says, “I realized I’d just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country”?

The dire situation of life in the Dominican Republic is portrayed symbolically when Minerva describes wanting to leave home. Minerva considers herself trapped at home, perceiving Inmaculada Concepcion as a kind of escape. She sees her own situation mirrored in that of the rabbits in their pens, but she realizes that she is nothing like a rabbit when the rabbit that she tries to let free refuses to leave the cage. As for her, however, "I'd just left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country."