In the Time of the Butterflies Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

"I want to meet them. They're my sisters, after all." (2.6.64)

Minerva, with this short phrase, is taking a huge leap. She tells her father that she wants to meet his other daughters, the ones he visits on the sly. By calling them her "sisters" she is recognizing fully their relationship and even, in a way, approving of it.

Quote #8

I felt a pang of jealousy seeing them treat Papá in the same way my sisters and I had. (2.6.67)

Papá's other family treats him like their dad… because he is their dad. It's strange for Minerva to see it, and it even makes her feel a little envious, perhaps because she can see her past self in the girls. They are still young and innocent, and she has had to grow up.

Quote #9

I can't believe she came to the funeral mass with her girls, adding four more slaps to her big blow. […]
I asked Minerva who invited them.
All she said was they were Papá's daughters, too. (2.7.3-5)

María Teresa isn't quite as charitable as Minerva, and considers her father's other family to be injuries. In fact, she calls them "slaps" and "blows"—violent language to describe the pain and insult she feels because of their existence. She quotes Minerva as saying that they are Papá's daughters—she's not ready to accept them as her sisters.