Bless Me Ultima Literary Analysis

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

Antonio strived from the teachings of Ultima, she was able to influence and guide him at a young age, on page 1 of the novel Antonio begins his narration with, “When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes…” (paragraph 1) The llano was the place of his father’s people, his mother was able to see the beauty in the Luna culture but not in the llano. Antonio, unlike his parents, was able to see the beauty in the harvest of the luna and the freedom of the llano. He sought joy in gathering plants of the llano for the people, to heal the people, also Antonio’s shift in perspective enabled him to see beyond, he was able to catch symbolic meaning such as with Ultima’s owl. While his older sisters are frightened by the owl, Antonio comes to the conclusion that, “ It’s song seemed to say that it had come to watch over us.”

In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio matures a great deal for his age due to the violent actions he is surrounded by.     In the beginning of the novel the main character Antonio Marez, who was just six years old at the time, lives in a small town located in New Mexico. He lives with his parents, Maria and Gabriel, and two sisters, Deborah and Theresa. Tony also has three older brothers, but they are off fighting at War. During this time an older women by the name of La Grande, or Ultima, travels a long distance to come spend her last days with the Marez family. Ultima has a connection with the Tony like no other. She has such strong and unique relationship, emotionally and spiritually, with Tony because she delivered

An essential part of someone 's life is a place where they are left alone with their own thoughts, not being judged by anyone or anything outside of them. In many cases, this sense of safety can only be found within themselves, because their world is being torn apart by outside influences that have little regard for their own perspective. Similarly, this is ever-present with Antonio and his family in the book Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. In almost every aspect , Antonio 's family persistently attempts to influence him to their own accord, with even his brothers becoming distant memories that left him and expecting him to fulfill his parents ' antithetical wishes.

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

Even though Antonio has cultural conflicts, his relationship with his brothers, parents, and uncles, are very close, which is extremely significant through the novel. Antonio comes from a very close family circle and he feels as if a big weight of pressure is coming from every side of his family when it relates to determining his future. While his mother and his Luna uncles want him to become a farmer priest like their side of the family, his father and Marez uncles want him to become a vaquero like them. “Gabriel, they shouted, you have a fine son! He will make a fine Vaquero!” (5). Antonio feels an obligation to answer

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

As Antonio is going through life, Ultima uses her wisdom to guide him through his

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).

Antonio experiences the hierarchy outlined in Maslow’s theory by displaying the need for love and belonging in his life. The following passage from Bless Me, Ultima shows the degree to which he depends on Ultima: “I felt more attached to Ultima than to my own mother. Ultima told me the stories and legends of my ancestors. From her I learned the glory and tragedy of the history of my people, and I came to understand how that history stirred in my blood” (123). Because of the slightly rocky relationships in his

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

Bless Me, Ultima has many recurring motifs that surface during key points in the book, such as Antonio losing his innocence. After his brothers returned he had a dream of them entering a local brothel and in his dream, he pleads for them to not enter this evil place. His brothers ridiculed him for not entering and only his brother Andrew said he will not enter until Antonio has lost his innocence. His mother was also in this dream and she said "You are innocent when you do not know, but you already know too much about the flesh and blood of the Marez men". (Anaya 76) His priest tells him you are only innocent when you do not know, innocence is lost with the arrival of understanding. Antonio has seen 3 deaths, you can begin to say that he is no longer pure of innocence as it has become tainted by those deaths he has witnessed firsthand.

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