A desire for change gives fire to the spirit of revolution, yet few dare to chase it. One such person is Martin Luther King, Jr. who fought for racial equality. The fire that burned inside him was, in his childhood, just a flicker lit by watching his father protest segregation. Then, it was fanned by his own treatment in the South and he started the bus boycott. As a result, Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested and his house bombed; however, each incident simply motivated him to take greater action, eventually emerging as one of the most prominent leaders fighting for change. People who dare to stand up and act for change share one thing in common: personal experiences that give them real understanding of the wrongs being …show more content…
Initially, her faith allows her to understand why Minerva rejects Trujillo and God: “I understood her hatred. My family had not been personally hurt by Trujillo, just as before losing my baby, Jesus has not taken anything from me. But others had been suffering...I had heard, but I had not believed...I looked up, challenging Him. And the two faces merged!” (53). Through the use of the word “taken,” Alvarez shows the hurt Patria feels, as the word carries a connotation of loss and being wronged. By comparing Jesus to Trujillo, Patria relates her feelings towards losing her child to the pain of those hurt by Trujillo and the government, giving her an empathetic understanding of the harmful actions committed. In addition, the realization that “the two faces merged” reveals that Minerva’s feelings influence Patria’s understanding to the point where she associates her anger towards God with Minerva’s hatred towards Trujillo due to what they believe to be the wrongs of each. This suggests that Patria believes their feelings to be the same which allows her to feel the same “hatred” for Trujillo and the regime. This connection between reality and her faith makes a personal understanding that allows her to accept the truth about the “others” who “had been suffering” which she “had not believed” before. This then causes her to take action to change what is wrong by joining the revolution. Later, she is on a retreat in the mountains when the group gets caught in a conflict and she sees a boy get shot: “I saw the wonder on his young face as the life drained out of him and I thought, Oh my God, he’s one of mine!...I’m not going to sit back and watch my babies die, Lord...Amen to the revolution” (163-164). By describing the fallen soldier from the invasion as her own