blog for 3/10

I think that Julia Alvarez, in part I of, In the Time of Butterflies, is trying to provoke a sense of good vs. evil, in nearly all of the characters.  Each member of the family is religious, but most have already questions their own faith at one point or another.  Minerva experienced, second-hand, the power and corruption in the Trujillo regime from her friend Lina being  taken as a mistress, and knows that she will have to take action at one point or another, whether it will be a faithful one or not.  Patria also questions her own faith as she had always been one of the more religious people in the family, but finds what she thinks is love while washing a mans' feet, Pedrito Gonzales.  She gives herself up to him, and eventually has children.  As both her and Minerva seem to be losing some of their faith, her third child is a miscarriage, and is born dead.  This petrifies Patria, and she seemed to have lost all of her faith.  So, Chea takes them on a pilgrimage to Higuey, which showed her that her husband is unfaithful to her.  Also, the father is a heavy drinker, however, he seems to be a caring, generous, and level-headed person, which I think is also an example of  questioning faith, as drinking is sacreligious, yet he seems to be one of the more stable, and well-rounded characters so far in the book.  I think that a lot more will come where characters must make the decision whether to be faithful or not, whether to themselves, or their religion.