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Lesson 3

We will analyze a section of Chapter 7: “María Teresa, 1953 to 1958.”

Lesson Goals

  • Can I express an accurate understanding of the central ideas of texts?

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in texts?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will reread and annotate an excerpt from chapter 7 through the marxist lens.

Step 1

Reread the diary entry in Chapter 7, "Wednesday Late Afternoon, December 30," on page 121.

Using a colored pen, annotate the text through the Marxist lens. As you annotate, consider the following question:

  1. Who has economic or social power and who does not?

Step 2

Discuss your annotations with a partner or in a small group.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will discuss the text with a partner or in a small group.

With a partner or in a small group, choose three questions to discuss and write about in your Learning Log:

  1. What differences in social stature exist between Tio Chiche and the Mirabal family?

  2. How can you best characterize the relationship between Tio Chiche and Trujillo? Cite evidence to support your characterization.

  3. What hierarchies are revealed when Mama writes the letter to Generalisimo Trujillo?

  4. What types of hierarchies exist among the four sisters? How does Minerva traveling to Jarabacoa and Mate staying home play into these roles?

  5. How have other people buttered Trujillo up? What does this reveal about the power structure in the novel?

  6. What does Mate teaching Mama her signature reveal about the two very different worlds they grew up in? How do their ideas of hierarchy differ?

Share your responses with the whole group during discussion.

Activity 3: Read – Write

For homework, we will finish reading chapter 7.

For homework, read the remaining pages of Chapter 7. Annotate the text through the perspective of the Marxist lens.

After you are done reading, respond to the following questions:

  1. How does reading the text through the Marxist lens impact my understanding of the text?

  2. How do I understand the text (the characters, plot, setting, and conflicts) differently through the Marxist lens than through the historical or biographical lenses?

Write new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal.