In the Time of the Butterflies Lesson Plan

Based on what you've read so far about the history of the Dominican Republic and Trujillo's reign, what do you think are some of the reasons that Trujillo was able to rise to power and maintain such a iron grip over the country for so long?

Although this is a vast question and an entire unit, if not an entire class, could be taught on this subject, the idea behind this question in this format is simply to get students to think more deeply about the historical context of the novel and how they can understand it. There are many possible answers to this question, and any answer that reflects students' consideration of different historical factors should be...