Meet the Cast
Bélgica "Dedé" Mirabal
Dedé is the second-oldest sister in the Mirabal clan, the practical one who knows how to add and subtract on the spot and who keeps the family store's shelves stacked neatly at all times. She is a...
Minerva Mirabal
Minerva Mirabal, the third sister, is the ringleader of "the butterflies." She's the spunkiest, smartest sister, and arguably the bravest (though we think they're all really brave). Minerva is the...
María Teresa "Mate" Mirabal
María Teresa, also known as Mate (pronounced MA-tay) for short, is the youngest of the Mirabal sisters, "butterfly" number three. We get to know her through her journal entries, from when she's a...
Patria Mercedes Mirabal de González
Patria, the eldest Mirabal sister and butterfly number three, is the slowest of the three sisters to join the struggle because she takes her time and must choose what she believes is the right path...
Don Enrique Mirabal, a.k.a. Papá
The girls' father is sort of a complicated guy. He is a doting dad and is crazy about all of his daughters, but he's not such a great husband. He's softhearted with the campesinos that come asking...
Mercedes Reyes de Mirabal, a.k.a. Mamá
Whereas Papá is a dapper gent and a ladies' man, Mamá sticks to her home. She is a simple woman who didn't have an education of her own and insists that her daughters have the opportunities she d...
Present-Day Characters
There are only a few characters that populate 1994, when the novel takes place. Most of the others have died, but there is a focus on the next generation, those few who have survived the Trujillo e...
The Family
While the four sisters are the most important members of the family, the clan is extensive and has a lot more members than just the butterflies and Dedé. So let's get to naming names (but not in a...
Friends
The Mirabals are one tight family unit in In the Time of the Butterflies, but nobody gets by without a little help from their friends. The main core are the girls that the sisters befriend at schoo...
Villains
Rafael Trujillo, a.k.a. "El Jefe," alias "The Goat" and "Chapita"The President of the Dominican Republic is a larger-than-life character in the novel. While he (like the Mirabal sisters) is a real,...