Analysis Of Bless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

Many of Antonio’s dreams foretell future incidents. In the first dream, the night before the arrival of Ultima, Antonio is born and both sides of his family gather together for the arrival of the baby boy. The two families express their hopes and desires for the

This sets up the initial conflict for Antonio, he wants to believe in his mother's God, but at the same time he finds conviction and truth in what Samuel is telling him about the golden carp god. Furthermore, while Antonio is supposed to be praying to God he says, "There wasn't time to discover Him, like I could do when I sat on the creek bank and watched the golden carp swim in the sun-filtered waters" (233). I think this shows that Antonio feels a deeper connection to nature and the golden carp than he does to God and traditional values. He is more like Ultima, than like either one of his parents. The golden carp offer Antonio a way of thinking that is free and unstructured, unlike that of Catholicism.

His parents have ideas which conflict each other when it relates to their precious last son’s fate. Like a hawk swooping down on its prey, Ultima, an elderly curandera comes to occupy a room in the Marez residence. To everyone else in the house Ultima staying with them is negligible, but the bond Antonio and Ultima soon begin to create is the first step into Antonio’s quest in finding his fate. “When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth. The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood.”(Anaya 1) Ultima’s presence alone lifted Antonio’s spirits, even the little things such as the llano he lived on all his life that had become mundane to him, began to glisten with great importance.

It is inevitable that certain moments in your life will affect how you think and act forever. These epiphanies can occur anywhere and anytime throughout life, whether it be when you're an immature child or a fully developed adult. The sudden realization can be shocking and life changing or so miniscule that you don’t realize the change within yourself. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio at the young age of seven, encountered many situations that caused his perceptions of reality to alter. Many factors such as death and the introduction to secular ideologies caused these epiphanies to arise.

The moon that represents the Luna family, and sea which connects to the Marez, are forces which push Antonio to make his final decision about family. In the beginning, Antonio tries his hardest to please both of his parents by combining their dissimilar ideas about his future. Although Antonio begins his life thinking he is a mixture of both parents’ heritage, the juxtaposition of the symbols in the book changes his mind on that, “It is the blood of the Lunas to be quiet... They are quiet like the moon – And it is the blood of the Márez to be wild, like the ocean from which they take their name” (Anaya 41). Aside from the obvious fact that the Spanish word for moon is, in fact, Luna, that family represents the moon. The calmness of said moon contrasts with the wild men of the sea. Maria is controlling of her family, similar to how the moon controls the sea. Each contrasting idea propels Antonio in separate directions- either towards the Luna priests or the Marez vaqueros. Despite the fact that his mother wants to make a priest out of Antonio, the other side of his family thinks in their own unique way, “He is a Marez… His forefathers were conquistadors, men as restless as the seas they sailed” (Anaya 6). Once again, the contrary sides of Antonio’s family pull him to the sea instead of the moon. The true struggle Antonio goes through is choosing his own destiny, even with the strong influences of both the moon and sea. Suddenly he has a moment of realization and tells his uncle, “‘I am Marez,’… ‘That is right, you are a Marez first, then Luna” (Anaya 250). Even though he may think he is Marez first, he still lives with Luna blood coursing through his veins. After all, he skipped a grade, which makes him a boy of learning. Then again, his adoration of nature proves

A clear theme in Bless Me, Ultima is Antonio’s struggle to find who he is amidst two sides of himself: the Lunas and the vaqueros. He fears for his future, where he believes he will have to decide between the two parts of himself, and inevitably disappoint one half of the people in his life. He fears what his life will be. He fears the river. This all changes when Ultima arrives. She teaches him to love the presence of the river, and to love his life however it may come. She shows him that the river is the lifeblood of the herbs she uses to heal and save, and that he can use his life to help others as well. But her spirit, in the owl, also shows him that life, and the river, can be very dangerous (Anaya, 14).

Another example of Antonio's sense of development in good and evil is his home. It is means a lot to Antonio, because the people living in it makes him feel protected and provide warmth to him. When Tenorio and his men came to his house to take Ultima away, Antonio’s father "You walk on my land! That is my business" (Anaya 130). This make Antonio feel that he would be protected by the presence of his father., Gabriel. However, Antonio's mother made home very fond and ardent for him. She had always been affectionate towards him and would show him care. Most importantly, Ultima was the one who contributed to the goodness of Antonio's home. She made Antonio feel as though her presence filled the home with love and safety. It was Ultima who calmed Antonio down after he had seen Lupito die. Whenever he had a nightmare, Ultima would always be right beside to comfort Antonio and " could sleep again" (Anaya 34). Ultima's fearlessness against Tenorio and his three daughters made Antonio feel that he would be safe wherever Ultima was. Overall, the

In the book “Bless Me Ultima,” by Rodolfo Anaya, the role of duality goes very into depth with its many controversial topics. Some of these topics include the contrast between Catholicism and indigenous mysticism, good witchcraft and evil witchcraft, and men and women. Since Antonio must struggle to find his own identity and place he must battle between his family, beliefs, and self. This can be seen between his parents, who’s frequently conflicting views make it difficult for Antonio to accept either of their belief systems, his struggles between the English and Spanish language, and how evil and good affected his innocence.

An important motif in “Bless Me, Ultima” are Antonio’s dreams. His dreams foreshadow major events and make him question his beliefs, especially revolving around

Ultima is an old curandera, which means healer in spanish, who comes to El Puerto to live with the Marez family after she is left alone in the town of Las Pasturas. When she arrives and turns to greet him, Antonio feels awestruck. According to Antonio, he “felt the power of a whirlwind sweep around me (Anaya 12).” A series of events occur throughout the story which makes Antonio overprotective of La Ultima. For instance, when Antonio and Ultima go to his grandfather’s house to cure his uncle, “Some women bowed their heads, other made the sign of the cross (Anaya 104).” Crossing your forehead in front of someone who is helping your family is a sign of disrespect. I feel that if I were Antonio, I would feel very offended because Ultima is my friend and nobody should be disrespected in front of the people you care for the most. As Antonio grows, he finds himself questioning his religion and comes to accept that everything is not what it seems. For example, Antonio realizes that the people of the town can be very judgemental and will blindly follow anyone because they fear the unknown. Antonio has to deal with is brothers who are led astray by the prostitutes of the town and their unrealistic dreams. After the war ended, his brothers came back, but with different plans for themselves. They leave because they want to be free, but I believe that they chain

In the novel, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Ultima is a curandera (healer) and she cures people in Las Pasturas even though she is often mistaken as a bruja (witch). “‘Your father has gone to Las Pasturas,’ my mother chattered, ‘he has gone to bring La Grande” (7). Antonio’s mother, Maria, is a very religious, Catholic person, and she would not have allowed her into her house if she was a witch. Maria understands Ultima is a curandera, especially since Ultima helped her bring birth to her children. “[Tenorio] crossed his fingers and held the sign of the cross in front of Ultima’s face. She did not budge” (93). Tenorio makes a cross to harm Ultima, accusing her as a bruja. Ultima revealed she is a curandera and that it is Tenorio’s daughters

Throughout the confrontation that Ernie and Antonio have about Ultima, Antonio has to stand up for her because of the way he is being raised in which his family had customs and beliefs. In his family's eyes a curandera’s power is strong enough to help them through any obstacle in life. Curandera’s are known for being very spiritual to the Earth, such as the way Ultima is to the Earth due to the fact that she knows all the herbs and medicines to help and cure people of what they are facing. Ultima is a mentor towards Antonio and tries to teach Antonio all there is to know before she passes away. Antonio will stand up for her due to his customs and beliefs.

Two events that make him question himself and the world around him are Ultima’s cure and seeing the golden carp. When Ultima is called to cure Antonio’s uncle of a curse, he wonders why the priest did not have the power to cure him. “And I also wondered, why doesn't the priest fight against the evil of the bujas. He has the power of God, the Virgin and all the saints of the Holy Mother Church behind him” (85). Tony questions his God, and why the priest can’t cure his uncle even if he has the power of God behind him. This questioning leads him towards maturity. Tony is exposed to other religions as well, his friend Ciso takes him to see an ancient pagan god called the golden carp. When he sees the carp he thinks, “This is what I had expected god to do at my first holy communion! If God was witness to my beholding of the golden carp then I had sinned!”(114). This statement shows that Tony still thinks that he must choose between two religions. For Tony, this event is earth shattering; he thinks that if he acknowledges the another god he has failed his own. Experiencing Ultima’s cure and seeing the golden carp causes Antonio to question himself and what he has been taught, leading him toward

Tony Marez, the young protagonist, hopefully decides good people suffer because “God comes in cycles, like the weather” and therefore cannot watch over everyone all the time (Anaya 197). In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Tony learns about other religions and strange powers on Earth other than Christianity, the main religion in his town, on his quest for knowledge. Curious, Tony learns about the Golden Carp, an ancient god in the form of a large fish, and Ultima, a powerful woman, as he begins to grow up. Anaya uses Ultima, the Golden Carp, and God to show how religion changes a person’s perspective of the world.

Throughout the book Antonio is introduced to many new ideas. The first is the experiences he has with Ultima. Ultima is a healer who learned