Comment #1 for In the time of the Butterflies

The tone in the novel "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez helps the reader to characterize each of the Mirable sisters.
When Patria narrates the story, she uses a sincere and reflective tone which gives her a caring and reflective personality.  She shows her caring personality on page 221 in the quote "I offered Our Lord to take me instead of my Nelson."  This quote shows her care through her sincere tone because of her offer of sacrifice for someone else's benefit.  A different quote used on page 220 that presents a a reflective tone and personality is "My first born, my little ram." This is reflective because the subject of the quote is described in two different ways to shows his personality.
Dedé's tone shows her change in personality from harsh and formal to informal and touching.  On the third page in the novel, she is narrating the story using the third person which adds a formality to a piece of writing.  She also narrates with a harsh tone by using the quotes on page 3 "Oh dear, another one," "There's the obligatory interview," and the last sentence of "Doesn't she have seven more months of anonymity?" All of these quotes express an edge to Dedé's personality.  By the end of the novel, on page 321, Dedé narrates in the first person and uses a touching tone to win the quote " ...and I see them all there in my memory."
Minerva's restless tone shows her rebellious attitude towards her life.  On page 85, Minerva describes her feelings with the phrases "roar off into country side" and "set me free." Both of these quotes describe rebellion against staying still at a certain place. In Minerva's story, she rebels against staying at home.
Maria Teresa, the youngest of the four sisters, writes in her diary using a tone that shows her youth and informality.  She is introduced to the reader by her journal entry which starts out by addressing the diary as her friend by using the word "you" to address the diary on page 30 with "Minerva gives you to me."  She continue to address her book using the word "you" throughout the diary and then draws in it as well.  Both the drawings in the diary, and the personification of the diary add to Maria Teresa's childlike characteristics and informality because the use of "you" in a piece of writing is informal and the use of pictures instead of words to describe items or scenes is used in lower grades of school instead of upper.