Examples Of Archetypes 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.

When he lifts his hands into the air, instead of speaking to God to save his brothers, he speaks to the presence of the river. This shows that he will have some religion dilemmas between God and the Golden Carp. In his last dream, Antonio witnesses “Tenorio capture the night spirit of Ultima and murder it, and Ultima died in agony” (244). Soon after this dream, Tenorio kills Ultima’s owl. Antonio then understood that the owl is her living soul.

In this situation when Ultima walks through the door and passes the test and “they could not understand the power of Ultima. But she had walked through the door so the power of la curandera was good” (135). Evidently Ultima had passed the test by walking through the door with holy nails above for if she was a witch she would not have been able to do so proving she is not evil. Even one of the men from the mob said that ultima was free of the accusation after she had passed the test. Lastly Ultima brought Antonio closer to nature and taught her ways to him, this was shown when she made Antonio speak to a plant he was going to pull out “for Ultima even the plants had a spirit, and before I dug she made me speak to the plant and tell it why I pulled it from its home in the earth” (39). Ultima gets Antonio involved with nature which helps get him more involved with the luna side of his

This part of the book shows Ultima committing acts of voodoo, which is the most evil practice on the planet. Even though Ultima was trying to help Uncle Lucas she was willing to use dark art and not just herbs in order to make that happen. This shows that Ultima gets her powers not solely from being a curandera but from the dark arts of a

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.

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

Living with Ultima since seven, Antonio quickly learns the struggles between his two family cultures. His mother’s side, the Lunas, who is obsessed and pushes Tony to become a priest. On the opposite, his father wants him to follow the Marez tradition, being of the son of vaqueros, riding horses across the plains. Leaping from child to adult, he begins to understand the tragic between both religious, overcome obstacles to unknot the family ties that bind him from finding his own identity. In his bildungsroman Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya uses imagery and point of view to illustrate the protagonist, Antonio’s loss of innocence.

Antonio has now seen that there is power in the river, and however most people would be scared of a threatening force and power, Antonio understands its true power. He already feels his connection to a power other than the religion that he currently practices. He discovers another power that he could believe in.

Experiencing death can sometimes be the best event someone can go through. Death is more than just someone stopping from existing, it’s a concept that can be perceived as a new beginning. Being able to take the death of someone and turning their philosophy into consideration can be beautiful. In the novel “Bless Me Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya Antonio gets his faith put to the test when the arrival of Ultima brings him the beginning of the end.

2. An example of an archetype in Bless Me Ultima would be Ultima as mentor to Antonio . Ultima mentorship realtes to the book main theme to try to encourage the people to do the right thing.

Before curing Lucas, Ultima asked his brother if he would accept the responsibility of disturbing fate and he accepted. These kinds of events continue to happen all throughout the story. Tenorio tries to kill Ultima because according to him, she is responsible for his daughter’s deaths. Towards the end of the story he finds out that Ultima’s owl is actually her spirit so he goes after the owl. Antonio tries to warn Ultima but is not able to do anything about it. Ultima’s owl is shot, causing Ultima’s death and so is Tenorio as he tries to shoot Antonio. Before Ultima’s dies, she speaks to Tony’

Antonio for his young age deals with all sorts of emotional spiritual draining situations. Religious expectations are looked upon Antonio just like myself or anyone else you question what kind of God lets certain things happen? Is he listening? “The golden carp had seen me” is one of many sources that proves to him the almighty is watching foreshadowing forgiveness. The doubt farthers more into depth “I could have reached out and touched the holy fish” alluding to Christianity, manifestoing Antonio’s internal struggles. Rivers are the flow of life; cleansing purification. Throughout centuries water plays a big role in a religious symbol. Water brings life. Christ turns water into wine at Cana (John 2:1-11), the entrance of a spiritual rebirth into the kingdom of heaven. Blood stained in the winter white snow; the river of the llano where Antonio lost his innocence witnessing a murder scene but more so a suicide. “Again the owl sang; Ultima’s spirit bathed me with its strong resolution.” Ultima guides Antonio through a world above and beyond she’s the foundation to Antonio’s experiences. “You will learn much, you will see much” Once a human being witness or experiences something even the smallest thing it will have some sort of impact on fleshing an imprint. With this you will learn what reality is really like what we don’t understand what we feel is

Ultima can be viewed more as a motherly figure then Antonio’s own mother Maria in so many ways that Antonio would feel much more comfortable in what he had to deal with throughout the novel. As much as his Maria would smoother her son with love and affection she strives for Antonio to become a priest.

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