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Zoe Burry, Alyssa Mallari, Agnezze Ventura

Ms. Woelke

Pre-AP 9

06 February 2019

Rhetorical Précis 

In Minou Tavárez Mirabal’s empowering speech, “Violence against Women and the

Example of the Mirabal Sisters,” (delivered 06 November, 2006) she expresses her immense

belief on the development of the Dominican democracy and the rights of its people. The author

first highlights the oppressive treatment directed towards women, from history to the present,

which elicits an emotional response from her audience; she then incorporates statistics regarding

vicious acts and physical mistreatment an abundance of Dominican women face, to validate her

claims on the subject; and to conclude, she reinforces her credibility by presenting her familiarity

with the national forces and legal system, allowing her to build a rapport with the listeners. Her

purpose is to inform her spectators on the history of the Dominican people’s pain, struggle and

hardships in order to remind them of the country’s triumph over prior mistreatment. Mirabal’s

speech seems to be directed towards college students, professors and an educated, mature

audience because she discusses these matters concerning brutality against women in a scholarly

and sophisticated manner. (Group)

For example, Tavárez Mirabal introduces the unrecognized figures in Dominican history

and the prominent issues that risen over time. She talks of the “political participation… in

combating violence against women” and how “Luis Vitale [refers] to women, as “the invisible

half of history” and their to follow their “example” (Tavárez Mirabal 1). Mirabal’s diction
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emphasises the contribution of the unrecognized women working against the Dominican

Republic and political forces now working to end the violence against them. The fact that there

were many underground organizations working to build a democracy to replace the corrupted

government only solidifies that the violence within their society is apparent and requires political

attention. Furthermore, Tavárez Mirabal elaborates more on the political forces contributing to

ending the “violence against women” and how political “participation is a central focus of the

political dynamic”(Tavárez Mirabal 1). The tone Minou uses signifies the severity of this

obstacle that prevents the Dominican people from achieving equality and a stable government.

Through this, she implies that with the promotion of democracy and the support of the

Dominicans, violence and inequality can secede from its government and society. In summary,

Mirabal brings the issues of the Dominican society to light with facts of their struggles for peace

and political structure. (Alyssa Mallari)

To then further extend her claim, Tavárez enunciates appalling gender-based statistics

and provides her audience with historical accounts of anguish and valiance; which occurred

during the time of the Mirabal sisters. As researched, the National Prosecution of the Dominican

Republic has discovered “violence affects six out of every ten Dominican homes” and with

determination, Tavárez is striving to “put an end to gender violence.” (Tavárez Mirabal, 2).

Fueled by frustration about the corruption of violence, Tavárez compels her audience with her

passionate tone and emotionally provoking diction about abused peoples in the Dominican

Republic​. By expressing her resentment, it is made clear that the people of her country face

adversity on the basis, and she strives to end this predicament.​ As she continues, she begins to

speak of the torturous times of the 1960’s. She admittedly states that in that era, her heroine and
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mother (Minerva Mirabal) gallantly shut down the regime and still has an empowering impact on

the modern day. She says that her people should express gratitude to “Minerva Mirabal [with]

her important leadership as a forerunner in building a new political era for the Dominican

Republic.” and for “leading the fight against the the Trujillo dictatorship.” (Tavárez Mirabal, 4).

By simply expressing Minerva’s fight against the regime and a building of a safe government,

her audience is overcome by the hardship, dedication and passion Minerva put into her views and

the safety of others. Minou’s pride in her mother and the growth of her country plucks at the

heartstrings of her viewers to, feel dignity in their growth. Therefore, Tavárez ​Mirabal provides

statistics on her country’s modern day gender discriminations and how other prior issues were

resolved from the era of Trujillo’s regime. (Zoe Burry)

Tavárez-Mirabal delivers her speech with emotive language in a serious yet anticipative

tone. She uses rhetorical devices such as anaphora to convey her hope for a better future and the

amelioration of women’s rights in the Dominican Republic. She utilizes this device notably, to

put emphasis on the idea on women being more involved with the government, she n​otifies the

crowd that it is imperative “to develop” plans and ways “to gain” more available positions for

women to express themselves on political affairs. (Tavárez-Mirabal 4). As she summarizes her

speech, she is able to draw the assembly’s attention through a repetitive use of the word ‘to.’

T​his way, it allows her point to become more memorable as it uses a similar beginning each time

she introduces an issue about gender inequality. Additionally​, Tavárez-Mirabal calls on the

crowd to take action, to contribute to changing prejudice against women. She brings her

spectators’ attention back to the significance of the Butterflies and their role in history, heroines

who died for a cause; still, she remarks on how the spiritual presence of the Mirabal sisters
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“lives” within this battle, fueling their strength and “giving legitimacy” to their cause.

(​Tavárez-Mirabal 4). Mirabal is​ addressing the audience like they contributed to history and the

progress society has made, like the Butterflies did, that makes them feel as if they too are apart of

the movement. This empowers the crowd and convinces them that any individual with a voice is

capable of change. Hence, her lecture puts expressive language to use, she conveys it in a

pressing tone with optimistic undertones, in hopes of a better future. (Agnezze Ventura)

Thus, the devices Tavárez Mirabal employs to support her claim states that action is

needed to amend the Dominican society. With her usage of facts and data, she reinforces her

reliability, allowing her to have an influence on her listeners. While connecting with her

spectators through her vehement and loaded-language, she invokes certain emotions of her

assemblage. Moreover, Mirabal applies her knowledge and well known sources to further

envelop her onlookers within her argument. Consequently, Minou Tavárez-Mirabal expertly

executes her argument with efficacious information and debative points.