Haley Miller: Blog Post #4

In the Time of Emma

~Blog Post #4~

Topic H

by Haley Miller

Although the time frame, setting, and point of view of the books are very different, Emma and In the Time of the Butterflies have some connections. In the novel, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, four Hispanic sisters work together to save their loved ones and country from oppression. Their battle is more outward, public and physical. In Emma by Jane Austen, the young Emma Woodhouse must fight a battle against herself. Emma undergoes many changes and is unsure of how to adjust to her new life. Emma’s battles are more internal, private, and mental. These two novels are related because they both address main characters going out of their comfort zone in order to over come their boundaries. The books also have common themes. One of these common themes is coming of age. The Mirabal sisters, from In the Time of the Butterflies, grow up physically and mentally. The books starts as the girls are beginning school, and end when they are grown up and having families of their own. Emma is a coming of age novel because Emma Woodhouse must give up her nanny and become the women of the home. After this event, Emma becomes more mature and less sheltered from the world around her. The little girl who grew up used to having “rather too much of her own way” matured into a women of class and respect (3). Through many relationship and hardships, the Mirabal sisters and Emma developed before our eyes, into the women they were to become.