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Emily Domingo
Mrs. Russel / Mr. Beckstorm
Lit/Writ, World History, Block 6/3
27 October 2020
Unit 1Mini Essay
Social change happens when the overall society's ideal cultural ideas and influences
change gradually over time.
Social change starts when a group of people start to change their ideals and steer away
from the current rule of society. This can be cultural and political. An example can be shown in
the novel In the Time of the Butterflies based on the Miribal sisters who stood up to their dictator,
Trujillo, in the Dominican Republic during the early 1900’s. “Bad things?” I interrupted.
“Trujillo was doing bad things?” It was as if I had just heard Jesus slapped a baby or Our Blessed
Mother had not conceived Him the immaculate conception way. “That can’t be true.” I said, but
in my heart, I felt a china-crack of doubt,” (Alvarez 17). Here we see when Minerva, one of the
four Mirabal sisters, is first revealed to Trujillo’s dictatorship. This is also Minerva’s drive when
she first starts to hear about the person Trujillo really is from Sinita. We can see that when
Minerva says “that can’t be true” Minerva is doubting Sinita and hoping that Trujilo isn’t a bad
person. Yet even though Minerva tries to keep her hopes up, we see that at the end of the quote
Miinerva says that she has a “china-crack of doubt” meaning that although she wants to stay on
the positive side, she knows deep in her heart, that Sinita may be right. The tone of Minerva’s
voice also reveals that she is worried and anxious to know about Trujillo. Minerva wants to
know, but at the same time she knows it won’t be any good news either. This helps build onto
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Minerva’s true character that we’ve seen in the book. Minerva really does know her rights from
wrongs and that standing up for what’s right is the person Minerva is no matter the consequence.
This relates back to the claim about when social change starts as Minerva learns more about
herself as we are learning more about her morals while Sinita is telling Minerva about Trujillo.
We can also see how social change starts in other countries as well such as the Mexican
Revolutions in 1810 and 1910. Both revolutions were motivated for more power to the people
than the government. Before the first revolution in 1810, Mexico was still under rule of Spain.
Spain hsd taken away rights and wealth from the workers in Mexico with a corrupt system. This
included high taxes and the skin color of their skin. Liberals that favored a democratic rule in
Mexico formed an alliance and came to the conclusion that Mexico must gain their independence
from Spain. Padre Hidalgo was one of the speakers for the people in Mexico but when it came to
the revolution, he wasn’t a skilled military leader which led to the defeat from the Spanish Army
and to his capture and execution. Even after his execution, his movement went on. Jose Morales
organized a congress where he presented the first official document of independence called the
Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America. Social change started in
Mexico when the people changed their ideals for their country, realizing they didn’t want to
be under Spanish rule.
A catalyst leads to social change when the society feels oppressed and is not in agreement
with their current government. We see this in the book In the Time of the Butterflies, the beautiful
story of how the Miribal sisters gave a voice to their country. Three of the four sisters were
blinded by the oppression from their government when they were younger. As they grow older
together, they finally start to see how unjust their “democratic” government was. Trujill killed off
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citizens who questioned his ruling. Patria, the oldest sister, was at her church retreat when she
witnesed Trujillo for what he really was. During her retreat, an invasion had brokeout close to
where she was staying, exploding the buildings’ roofs down all around her. As she snd her
church took cover, she caught eye with one of the men fighting agaisnt Trujillo’s army. “‘Get
down, son! Get down!’ His eyes found mine just as the shot hit him square in the back. I saw the
wonder on his young face as the life drained out of him, and I thought, oh my God, he’s one of
mine!” (Alvarez 162). Alvarez chose to write, “he’s one of mine” to show that Patria thought
about the son that she lost back years ago when he was just a baby to emphasize Patria finally
coming eye to eye with her other two sisters, understanding the oppression her country is going
through. The Dominican Republic was not the only country that went through social change.
France is also popular for it’s well known revolution in the late 1700’s. As the government
oppressed the peasants at the bottom of the social class, taxed citizens for selfish reasons, and
had parties with the citizens’ tax money. The people had finally had enough of their unjust
government and started what we now know as the French Revolution which shaped the current
government of France into a semi-presidential system, giving more power to the citizens thus
proving that a catalyst leads to social change when the society feels oppressed and is not in
agrrement with their current government.
Persistence in the face of backlash leads to incremental change proving to the
other party that they will not give up under any circumstances. Persistence is especially shown in
the novel In the Time of the Butterflies when the regime and the MIribal sisters are captured in
jail, but still doesn’t back down from what they believe in. “He stood up straight as he could and
said, Comrades, we have suffered a setback but we have not been beaten. Liberty or death!”
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(Alvarez 232). Here Manolo was being taunted by the guards because his girlfirend Sina was
taken to a room of naked men. Instead of Manolo showing signs of weakeness, he stands up to
the gaurds and doesn’t back down. We can interpret the thoughts of the guards at this moment
when they thought they could break Manolo and Sina but instead, he broke them. “We have been
told to be ready for our release tomorrow!” (Alvarez 252). Meta tells everyone the good news of
their release which is the outcome of their persistence showing Trujillo that they will not give up.
Another example of persistence leading to incremental change is the Haitian Revolution, when
Touissant L’overture was lead Haitians and slaves agaisnt the Napolean Army even with many
setbacks such as lack of supplies and diseases. Even though Touissant was later captured, the
Haitians kept fighting for their freedom and wrote thier own Constitution in 1801. This also
contributed to Enloghtment ideas for natural rights and democratic representation. The Haitian
government paid France for the freedom of their slaves and as a result of their persistance, finally
became their own Republic. Thus showing how persistence of determination and showing no
signs of defeat can lead to incremental change.