The Inner Strength of "Phenomenal Women"

Although I'm having a difficult time getting through In The Time of The Butterflies, there is one thing that keeps jumping out at me: the unwavering strength of the Mirabel women. I think the reason I am not that interested in the novel is because I am having a hard time relating to the unbelievably restrictions and dictatorship in which the characters are living under. However, the strength of the girls and their mother still has the ability to amaze me.
The Mirabel family is "run," if you will, by a father who is very set in his ways, a typical trait I would say. But the family took a turn for the worst when one of the daughters, Minerva, knew better than to believe that her dear old dad was simply "away on business." Minerva followed him one day only to find out that she and her sisters were not the only ones to call this man their father. It was of course a shocking, heart-breaking realization but over an understandable amount of time, the girls proved their maturity. After a blow to the face by the man she once adored, Minerva's face throbbed as he looked at her and said "That's to remind you that you owe your father some respect!" She replied, "I don't owe you a thing. You've lost my respect," (Alvarez 89). The following passage perfectly describes the priorities of the Mirabel family and while I have trouble understanding the history aspect of the novel, it is their values that are crystal clear. "I saw his shoulders droop. I heard him sigh. Right then and there, it hit me harder than his slap: I was much stronger than Papa, Mama was much stronger. He was the weakest one of all. It was he who would have the hardest time living with the shabby choices he'd made. He needed our love," (Alvarez 89).
The women of this novel live day to day with the scars of broken families, miscarraiges, disappointments, and being viewed as "pieces of meat" as opposed to the Phenomenal Women that they are are. The previous link will bring you to a Maya Angelou poem, one that says everything golden about the Mirabel sisters and more.