How Julia Alvarez Makes Trujillo Such a Despicable Person

In the novel In The Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez we all knew who the villain was, but what Julia Alvarez excelled at in this novel was the introduction and creating the character of Trujillo. In introducing Trujillo as the savior of  the Dominican Republic we are shown what the Dominicans actually believed. Not introducing him as the terrible tyrant he was shown as in the western media.   This puts the reader in the shoes of the Dominicans, and not just a condescending westerner looking at the situation in the Dominican Republic. One of the main glorification's of Trujillo that stuck out to me was the people of the Dominican Republic had a picture of Jesus then a picture of Trujillo, showing the blind support and love they had for their dictator. When Minerva first heard of who Trujillo actually was she was shocked, how could her glorious leader be such an evil person. Sinita took weeks of coaxing to tell Minerva what happened to her family, and the secret she knew about Trujillo. We now see how powerful and extensive Trujillo is, the people who know about who he is are scared almost speechless when thinking about him. This revelation opens up Minerva's eyes, but really didn't do justice to how evil Trujillo truly was.  We just have heard of stories of Trujillo's atrocities and how bad of a person he was. This is completely changed by one of the most tense scenes in the book, the party at one of Trujillo's many mansions. When dancing with Trujillo we see he is a slime ball, trying to come on to Minerva and get closer to her.  Even though  the slap might be the most exciting moment of the chapter, I believe we see the true extent of Trujillo's evil after Minerva slaps him. The fear the family is in for the next few months show the true extent of Trujillo's power, and how the people fear him. In conclusion Julia Alvarez does a great job of introducing Trujillo to us by using stories, and characters having personal experiences with Trujillo.