In the book In the Time of the Butterflies the two sisters Minerva and Mate were arrested and locked up in a small cell with other women. Several of the women were political prisoners like the Mirabel sisters but many of the others were prostitutes. There was also a woman who had tried to get her child back by threatening to kill someone who had her child.
Everyday Minerva would hold school except on Sunday. They would discuss the revolution and how to behave. When they pardoned several people they offerred a pardon to the Mirabel sisters but they refused. Minerva said that if she had nothing to be pardoned for because she had done nothing wrong, then she could not give in to be pardoned.
In the prison the women were very hungry, on several occasions Minerva was placed in solitary confinement for acting out, and Mate was beaten and physically abused. They had one male prison guard who tried to be kind to them and brought them smuggled in packages and even some blue hair ribbon for Mate.
When the UN investigators came around to assess the way the political prisoners were being treated, they even fed the girls chicken and rice in the prison. The guards were afraid that the girls would report them as having been inhumane. Mate hides a note in her hair telling them what grievances she had because of the mistreatment.
Both women were realtively broken when they left the hospital, but they hid it well.
No comments:
Post a Comment