In the Time of the Butterflies: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Back in 1994, Dedé keeps talking to the interview woman and thinks about Fela, who was the Mirabals’ old servant. Recently Fela had claimed to be possessed by the spirits of the dead sisters, and she set up a shrine to them in the shed behind Dedé’s house. People came from far away to consult the sisters.

Dedé hadn’t known about this until her Bishop told her. She snuck into the shed, saw the evidence, and then demanded that Fela stop it. Fela then set up her shrine down the road. Minou now consults her to “talk” to her mother, Minerva. Recently Minou had mentioned Minerva’s old friend Virgilio Morales. Dedé knows where he lives, but she hasn’t been to see him. Dedé tries to shame Minou about talking to spirits, but Minou angrily says that she wants to be her own person, not “the daughter of a legend.”

The narrative returns to the interview, but Dedé is distracted by thoughts of Virgilio Morales, or “Lío.” Dedé mentions him to the interview woman, but she has never heard of him. He was a radical young man who was often thrown out of the country. The woman implies that he was Minerva’s “special friend,” but Dedé defensively says that he was her friend too. She recognizes that she is still “fighting with her dead sister over a beau.” Dedé remembers Lío, and how she imagined his eyes accusing her whenever she went along with the Trujillo regime’s insanity.

The story then jumps to 1948 in Dedé’s memory. Dedé and Minerva are at their father’s store, counting up an inventory. Dedé is always very precise in her counting, but today she is excited because they are about to go to their uncle’s house and her cousin Jaimito will be there. Dedé and Jaimito have been jokingly paired up since childhood, but now she finds herself actually attracted to him. She is also pleased that if she marries Jaimito, her life will continue on happily in the same way she is used to.

Suddenly two men appear – Mario, one of the distributors for the store, and with him is an intellectual-looking young man. He is introduced as Virgilio Morales, a student at the university. Minerva immediately engages him in conversation (they both know Elsa and Sinita, who are at the university now), but Dedé tries to put herself forward too. Mario tries to flirt with her, but she rebuffs him.

Minerva suggests that they all go play volleyball and then go swimming. First she has to convince Papá to grant his permission, but he relents. They all get into the car and Dedé notices how she naturally stands back while Minerva slips in to sit next to Lío.

A few weeks later Dedé joins the group playing volleyball again, and this time she plays. This is unusual, as she considers “sports – like politics – something for men.” Dedé joins Jaimito’s team, while on the other side Lío and Minerva are talking intently. They then shift teams so that it is women against men. Night falls, and Dedé notices that Minerva has disappeared. She (possibly) purposefully knocks a ball into the nearby hedges, surprising Minerva and Lío who were hidden in the hedges.

There is then a brief quarrel between Jaimito and Lío, in which Lío criticizes Trujillo and Jaimito accuses Lío of abandoning his comrades whenever he flees the country. There is an uneasy silence when Lío mentions the regime, but finally the two men shake hands. Lío tells Jaimito that his cause “could use men like you.” In the present day, Dedé wonders why this brief fight seems so important in her memory.

Dedé returns to her memories of Virgilio, and she remembers how Mamá always complimented him and talked about politics with him. Dedé was slightly resentful that Mamá never complimented Jaimito in this way. Dedé and Jaimito are a couple now, and they often sneak off to kiss. One day María Teresa is reading the newspaper to Mamá (who still pretends that her eyesight is bad, instead of admitting that she can’t read) and there is a list of Communist protesters at the university. Virgilio’s name is among them.

Mamá gets angry at Minerva for this, and Minerva points out that Mamá had agreed with Virgilio’s ideas before she knew they were Communist. Dedé realizes that she has never thought of Lío as a subversive Communist, but only as a kind, high-minded young man. Dedé then realizes that Lío and Minerva are both “enemies of state,” and she suddenly understands what Minerva has been saying – that they are all living in a “police state.”

After that Dedé starts paying closer attention to the newspapers. She decides to provide Minerva with an alibi when she is meeting Lío. Minerva “chaperones” Dedé and Jaimito when they go out, and on the way they pick up Lío. After these outings Dedé excitedly wants to talk to Minerva about their suitors. Minerva claims that she isn’t in love with Lío, but that they are “comrades in a struggle” instead. Dedé is doubtful of this.

Soon Dedé feels her courage unraveling, and she asks Lío what his practical goals are. Lío lectures her on ideals, but offers few immediate, concrete solutions. Dedé asks him where he gets his courage, and Lío says that it isn’t courage, it’s only common sense.

Lío’s name starts to appear more in the papers, as the Communist Party is outlawed and slandered as “a party for homosexuals and criminals.” One day the police come to the Mirabal house asking for Lío, but Mamá (truthfully) says she hasn’t seen him in months. Dedé gets more frightened and feels her sense of order being upended. She even doubts whether she should marry Jaimito.

Dedé decides to stop reading the newspaper, as the regime has been passing especially ludicrous regulations lately. Jaimito thinks the rules are reasonable and tries to explain them to Dedé. Dedé knows that they are wrong, but she purposefully closes her eyes and hopes for the best. Soon afterward Lío decides to go into exile. Jaimito says that he should try to compromise instead, but Dedé defends him. She admires Lío for his courage, but accepts that she is not “grand and brave” as she wishes she was.

Dedé remembers the night that Lío goes into hiding. They had all just come from a meeting of the Dominican Party – the only legal political party at the time, which they attended as a pacifying show of support for Trujillo. After the meeting Jaimito asks Minerva if Lío has asked her to go into hiding with him. Minerva says he hasn’t, and again she denies being in love with Lío.

After Minerva leaves, Dedé and Jaimito sneak out to the car and Jaimito proposes to her. Just then they hear a cough, and discover that Lío is hiding in the back seat. Lío nervously apologizes, saying that he is in great danger, and he gives Dedé a note to deliver to Minerva. Jaimito gets angry, but Dedé convinces him to leave the car with her. She accepts his marriage proposal almost offhandedly, and then he drives away.

Dedé then goes inside and reads Lío’s letter, which is inviting Minerva to go into hiding with him. Dedé tells herself that she cannot expose her sister to such danger, especially if Minerva actually doesn’t love Lío, so she burns the letter.