Antonio's Fate In Bless Me, Ultima

Many people in the town love Ultima. They praise her and can’t thank her enough when she cures one of their loved ones. While many love and praise her, a select few in the town believe that Ultima is a witch and of ten accuse Ultima of it. One of these is Tenorio Trementina, the father of the three Trementina sisters who put a curse on Lucas, Antonio’s uncle. Even Antonio, who loves Ultima very much, once doubted if Ultima was really a witch or just a curandera. Some of Antonio’s classmates have also called Ultima a witch. Tenorio often besieges Ultima. Despite all this, Ultima is still very strong and remains strong until the day of her death. Ultima is also very brave strong. She is not threatened when Tenorio threatens to kill Ultima or when people make the sign of the cross to see if she really is a witch.

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

Throughout Rudolfo Anaya’s book, “Bless Me Ultima”, the main character Antonio has several vivid, detailed and sometimes graphic dreams. In one of these dreams (on pages 243-244), Antonio bears witness to blood, violence, and death. In this dream, Anaya uses imagery, symbolism, similes, and specific diction to indicate that Antonio is losing faith in his religion and god. Notes: Need to adjust the words used towards the end.

In the novel, Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya portrays the negative effect the bickering between the families and the future of Antonio that takes a toll on how Antonio perceives it. In the novel, Antonio sometimes never really expresses his take on certain events, even if they were traumatic, Antonio then exclaims that, “Sometimes I felt like Jason, like I wanted to shouth and cry, but I never did.” (Anaya 10). This can be portrayed in many ways, but take into consideration the continuous strive of taking pride in his family and also acting and behaving cautiously in order to keep shame away from his parents. It can be reasonably justified as to why Antonio would feel like Jason and his character is viewed as quite developed at his refusal to show his feelings in which are left behind at the pressuring decision of what family to

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 this book some of the examples of conflict Antonio faces include his innocence versus the people in his life, Antonio’s reality versus the dreams he has, and his faith, whether it be to the Golden Carp, God, or the magic of Ultima. In this novel, one conflict is Antonio’s innocence versus some people that have affected his life in major ways. For example, Antonio’s mother wants him to be a priest, however he feels he cannot because he has seen so many bad things in his life, for example someone being murdered, his brothers beating him up and making fun of him, them going to “whore houses” and being very inconsiderate towards him. Antonio also had to witness many deaths, like the death of Lupito, Narciso, Florence, and Ultima and her owl, which all made him feel less innocent and not worthy.

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

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).

In the beginning, Antonio is only six years old. He is at the center of a conflict between the Márez values of his father and the Luna beliefs of his mother. His father would love for him to become a cowboy, but his mother desperately wants him to become a priest. “ Once I had told my mother about my dreams, and she said they were visions from God and she was happy, because her own dream was that I should grow up an become a priest.” (4) All throughout the book he works as a helper to Ultima. “ We walked together in the llano and along the river banks to gather herbs and roots for her medicines.” (15) He takes in her wisdom concerning life and all of the things she does. As the story goes on, Antonio is torn between sin and morality and the truth about religion. “... I learned from her that there was a beauty in the time of day and in the time of night, and that there was peace in the river and in the hills.” (15) Eventually, he decides to find his own path in life and create his own religious faith.

In the novel a pathetic situation was created when Tenorio kills Ultima’s spiritual owl. Actual life was created when Antonio was stuck in a dilemma to choose what path he was going to take when he grew up.

Throughout the novel, Antonio is learning that Ultima’s owl is also his protector. "Its song seemed to say that it had come to watch over us," (13). The song, Ultima’s owl sings throughout each night, symbolizes Ultima’s comforting presence in Antonio’s life and the protective power of her magic. Also, like Ultima, the owl is like a healer to Antonio, when it sings through the night. "The owl had always been there. It sang to me the night my brothers came home from the war, and in my dreams I sometimes saw it guiding their footsteps as they stumbled through the dark streets of their distant cities," (272). Throughout the novel, the owl of Ultima is not only Ultima’s protector, but it is also Antonio’s protector. Also, in Antonio's mind as well, he could see it as a guiding spirit, because it provided a sense of hope and longing. All in all, Antonio sees Ultima’s owl as a protector and comforting presence throughout the novel.

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

Parental pressure and religious ambivalence play a big role in Antonios life. In this dream we can easily see both of these themes. The divided world of his mother and father, and Catholicism and the religion of the Golden

First, and probably most important are the three sources of understanding for Antonio. First, there is Ultima, who serves as a neutral source of understanding and comforter for Antonio. The next source of understanding for Antonio is God. Antonio constantly struggles to understand good and evil through the eyes of the Catholic God. The final source of

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