WEB QUEST: In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez

GOAL: In this WebQuest, each group member will explore a different topic (listed below) to explore the background
of the author and events in the novel.
Later, by sharing the background information youve found with one another, you should know more about Julia
Alvarez and the Mirabal sisters and be able to understand and connect more fully to the world depicted in your novel.
Happy surfing!
INSTRUCTIONS:
(1) With your group, divide up the four topics below. In groups of five, two students should split up Topic 1.
(2) Visit and explore your assigned site. Explore as much of each site as time allows, clicking through all links
and tabs.
(3) On a sheet of loose-leaf paper, use the format on the next page to complete the assignment: write the topic
explored and website visited at the top along with your usual header
(4) Compose a PARAGRAPH summary of key details, facts, and interesting observations to share with your
group.

Topic 1: Authors bio and background

Visit this website that focuses on biographical information about Julia Alvarez
http://www.juliaalvarez.com/about/
What connections do you see between In the Time of the Butterflies and Alvarezs Hispanic heritage? How does this
information help you understand how/why Alvarez wrote the novel in the way that she did?
Then visit the Salon interview with Julia Alvarez
http://www.salon.com/1998/09/25/25feature_5/
In this interview, Alvarez comments on the available roles for women in the Dominican Republic and her own family.
How do you think these roles shaped her writing? How does this interview help you understand how/why Alvarez
wrote the novel in the way that she did? To what extent do you think our culture shapes the work of other female
writers?

Topic 2: Mirabel family

Visit this website devoted to the Mirabal family
www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/2000/sites/mirabal/English/index.html
Take some time to surf around and read about the Mirabal family. Click on Inside the Cocoon to view pictures
and quotations by the Mirabal sisters. (Be sure to click on the arrows at the bottom of each page to move to the
next page.) Summarize what you find, including facts and descriptions of images that you find striking on this site, and
describe the impressions they leave on you. Does the Mirabel family seem accurately represented in the novelwhy or
why not?

Topic 3: Mirabel Museum

Visit these websites on the Mirabal Museo
http://semdom.50megs.com/mirabal_museo.htm
http://www.museodelaresistencia.com/
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.museodelaresistencia.com/&prev=search
(The second link is in Spanish, the third link translates this page to English)
Take some time to surf around, read, and look at the pictures of the Mirabal Museo in the Dominican Republic and
of Dede, the surviving Mirabal sister. What impact have the Mirabal sisters made on the history of the
Dominican Republic?

Topic 4: Mirabel legacy

Visit the website of the Mirabal Center
http://www.mirabalcenter.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=179&Itemid=160
The Mirabal Center is an activist organization for low-income immigrants in West Harlem, New York. After exploring
the website and reading the website description of the organization and its current programs, describe and reflect on the

Mirabal sisters continuing influence on the world today.

Assignment page set-up:

Use a lined piece of paper with a header at the top
Name
Ms. Kates
English 2 Period X
23 March 2015
TOPIC: ___________________________________
WEBSITE VISITED: ________________________
PARAGRAPH ABOUT TOPIC:
Write a paragraph summary of what you found while exploring your assigned website. Make sure to respond to the
questions posed in the assignment prompts on the previous page.