In the Time of the Butterflies: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

The narrative now consists of María Teresa’s diary entries. She prepares for her First Communion, and is excited about her fancy new shoes. María Teresa thinks about souls, and about how her friends Daysi and Lidia have been mean to her. She often asks Minerva for advice, as they are both now at the same school. María Teresa says that she is “advanced for her age” because of her older sisters, but she purposefully doesn’t win the handwriting prize at school every week so the other girls don’t get jealous.

María Teresa returns home for the holidays and is excited to see her family. Her nickname at home is “Mate.” She writes about Minerva making Daysi and Lidia be nicer, and Minerva telling her about menstruation and sex. One day a young man follows them, complimenting Minerva effusively. Minerva ignores him but lets him buy María Teresa some ice cream.

María Teresa describes Patria’s cute children, Nelson and Noris. For Three Kings day the family goes shopping in Santiago, and María Teresa gets new shoes. She compliments Minerva for being so smart and good at arguing. María Teresa talks about her cousin Berto, who brought Mamá some flowers.

María Teresa describes a “funny little moment” when an uncle mentioned Benefactor’s Day, and Minerva said they should go celebrate at the cemetery. The room went silent, but María Teresa doesn’t understand why. Later María Teresa talks more about the shoes she wears for Benefactor’s Day, and how happy she is to have El Jefe (Trujillo) as her president. She feels special because her birthday is in the same month as his.

One day María Teresa is shocked to hear that Minerva has been sneaking out of school. María Teresa is called before a nun, but she affirms Minerva’s lie that they have a sick uncle that she was visiting. Later María Teresa convinces Minerva to explain, and Minerva says that she has been going to secret meetings at Don Horacio’s house. He is Elsa’s grandfather, and is in trouble with the police for refusing to hang a picture of Trujillo in his house.

María Teresa asks why Minerva would do such a thing, and Minerva says that she wants María Teresa to grow up in a free country. María Teresa is confused, as she thinks the country is already free, but then she gets upset and starts having an asthma attack. Minerva holds her hands until she calms down.

The next day María Teresa is more suspicious of the police and Trujillo. She had thought of Trujillo as “like God, watching over everything I did,” but now when she sees a portrait of Trujillo she thinks that he is trying to catch her doing something bad. María Teresa affirms that she still loves the president, she is just disappointed in him.

María Teresa gushes about letters she gets from her cousin Berto. She then describes Minerva’s “rude” new friend Hilda who now hangs around the school a lot. Hilda goes to the secret meetings at Don Horacio’s house and wears a beret and trousers. She questions God’s existence, and the nuns humor her for a while because she is an orphan, but then they tell her to leave the school.

Two months later guards start visiting the school, asking for Hilda. Minerva tells María Teresa that Hilda had suddenly appeared asking for a place to hide, and Sor Asunción had agreed to hide her. The police keep coming by, but the nuns say nothing about Hilda.

Minerva graduates and she and María Teresa go home for the summer. Patria has been pregnant, but she gives birth to a stillborn boy. Patria cries all the time now. On the last entry María Teresa explains that she has to bury this diary, as Hilda has been caught and everyone in Don Horacio’s group now has to destroy anything that would seem suspicious. María Teresa has mentioned Hilda, so she has to dispose of the diary too. She bids it farewell.