Jane Sosik
Mr. Hier
English 10 Honors 2523-01
How is it that two books taking place at two different times conveying two different stories could share such similar ideas? Therefore, are the two novels really so different after all? In the novels Saturday by Ian McEwan and In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, both share the theme of family, a decision or a situation faced by one character's inner struggle, and both novels are finished on an ambiguous note, leaving the reader to think about the author's message being delivered.
Family plays a very important role in both Saturday and In the Time of the Butterflies. After being the only one in her family to survive, Dedè is still constantly thinking about the tragedy of her sisters. "And I see them all there in my memory, as still as statues, Mamá and Papá, and Minerva and Mate and Patria, and I'm thinking something is missing now.
English: Photo of Julia Alvarez from Interview wit...
English: Dede Mirabal conversing with journalists ...
English: The mausoleum containing the remnants of ...And I count them all twice before I realize--it's me, Dedé, it's me, the one who survived to tell the story," (Alvarez 321). Similar to Saturday, where the main character Henry Perowne is pondering his daily thoughts about each member of his family, specifically his wife Rosalind. "What a stroke of luck, that the woman he loves is also his wife," (McEwan 39). No matter what is going on in the characters' lives, family is always the center of their attention
In both novels In the Time of the Butterflies and Saturday, the main character is faced with a bothersome struggle within them. "A chill goes through her, for she feels it in her bones, the future is now beginning. By the time it is over, it will be the past, and she doesn't want to...