Gandhi 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.

Antonio realizes that Ultima ways of curing are both for and against the catholic church. Antonio had a dream about the waters of the moon and the waters on the land. Later on Antonio finds those clay dolls mentioned earlier and ultima makes it very clear to him that he is not to touch them. Tenorio finds one of his daughters dead and sees Ultima bag of herbs under her bed. An angry mob gathers to confront Ultima and they make her way through a door with the sign of the cross which is a strong catholic figure. It is known that a witch or bad spirits cannot go through the signs go the cross so they challenge Ultima to go through it which she successfully does. Antonio later finds out the cross hey made is gone . Narciso is dead and his death is declared an accident. Pneumonia strikes Antonio for a few weeks. Leon and eugene come over to visit for christmas. they destroyed their car they bought in las vegas on the way to Guadalupe. another one of Tenorios daugters becomes sick and is

In the book Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, a family friend of Antonio’s named is killed. This followed by a dream concerning vengeance and repentance. Anaya uses Biblical allusions, symbolism, and slight allusions to Pagan beliefs to show Antonio beginning to understand the consequences of each action, and the power of forgiveness, and how each aof these actions plays a role in who a person is.

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

was an elder lady that came to live with Antonio's family for her final years. She mentors and teachers Antonio during her final years.She shows Antonio her ability of making medicine that can help heal people.Her motivation is that she was to do good and help those that needed it.”My work was to do good,she continued, I was to heal the sick and show them the path of goodness.”(pg.260).Ultimas’ personality trait is that she is very caring for others and willing to help people on need.Ultima's character is the most complex, and although the deuteragonist, or the character second in importance, she can be seen as the heroine of the story. Ultima is a person of action, the one who performs the healings and provides guidance to others. She is the

According to Kenneth Turan on Los Angeles Times, “magic realism informs young Antonio Marez's sense of how strange and unfathomable the world can seem” (Los Angeles Times). Ultima was seen as a woman of wisdom by Antonio because she had a lot of knowledge and experience of life. Ultima possessed wisdom no other had ever because of her powers as a curandera and rivalries with those who thought of her as evil. Antonio learned the powers of herbs through Ultima. The fact that whenever Antonio tells the story of Ultima he feels as if she is alive again is truly powerful. This shows the impact she had on his life and the fascinating events they encountered together. It was obvious that Antonio was maturing because he was learning how to not fear tragedies, “It is because good is always stronger than evil. Always remember that, Antonio. The smallest bit of good can stand against all the powers of evil in the world and it will emerge triumphant. There is no need to fear men like Tenorio”

This is a turning point for Antonio because all of his hopes and anticipation of knowing the answers are dissolved and he is left with nothing. This is when he relies most on Ultima’s great wisdom: “Ultima was a practitioner of ancient religion of the earth, curing people with medicine,” (Sparknotes) and performing exorcisms on villagers’ homes. Ultima and her ways led Antonio’s beliefs and faith in a separate direction from that of the Catholic Church.

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 story where Ultima visits, Antonio feels that he will become a priest. He is to follow his family's rules of becoming a priest. They are strict Catholic and his mother practices her religion very strictly. Antonio not only witnesses, but becomes a part of, Ultima's cure for Uncle Lucas. Uncle Lucas is dying, and the Priest's past attempts to save him had failed. When this occurs Antonio starts to not believe in his religion. Then, the family turns to Ultima as a last resort. It is like he has taken some of the burden of the pain off Uncle Lucas, helping him overcome his illness. Ultima's cure ends up saving Lucas' life, and Antonio becomes a part of it. “Your son lives!” says the old man. (103) The Priest failed where Ultima did not, this really upsets Antonio: "The power of the doctors and the power of the church had failed to cure my uncle. Now, everyone depended on Ultima's magic. At this point, Antonio begins to doubt his destiny of becoming a priest. Later on, Antonio learns the story about the golden carp from another boy his own age. Antonio sees the golden carp, which means he is one of the magical people in the town. Not everyone can see the golden carp; the golden carp is considered a pagan god.

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.

Ultima’s god like figure is shown through her powerful nature in showing that destiny is not to be decided by parents. In Antonio’s first dream, he sees the scene of his birth, down to the fighting of his relatives over his destiny. Ultima is present and stops the madness, shouting “Cease! she cried, and the men were quite . I pulled this baby into the light of life, so I will bury the afterbirth and the cord that once linked him to eternity. Only I will know his destiny” (6). By doing this Ultima suggests that as she was the one to deliver the baby, she should be the one to ‘decide’ his fate, and that as none of his relatives did the same, they do not get the opportunity to make the choice for themselves. At the time this takes place, Ultima

The night before Ultima is due to arrive, Antonio lies awake in bed, listening to his parents talk about Ultima. Both of his parents speak of her with a great deal of reverence and awe. Antonio’s father respects her because she has been an important figure in his home village of Las Pasturas and shares his love of the llano. Antonio’s mother is even more attached to her because Ultima helped her in childbirth and was her companion during her lonely years on the llano. Antonio’s mother is concerned that Ultima must live alone on the llano during her old age and urges her husband to bring the curandera to live with them.

Antonio was a person that believed in his god so much, about to become the future priest, he expected his god to help Horse and guide him in the right path. This changed Antonio because he felt betrayed in god thinking god will help everyone, losing faith in his god. Since Antonio didn’t have the strong belief for god anymore, he didn’t want to be forced to become a priest by his mother. He then overcomes this stage of his life by the given blessings of Ultima. Another situation is when his friend Samuel introduces “The Golden Carp” in which he considers “his god”. This Golden Carp is a big golden fish that has mythical powers. It supposedly has the power to change faith in humanity and all kinds. Antonio doesn’t understand anything at this point in his life because the god he put some much trust and faith into isn’t as much as support in his life. This scars Antonio, making him go intellectually

Consequently, each person at some point in life asks some question about life. Some ask if they actually want to live the kind of life they are experiencing, while some will ask other questions like “who am I” or “The importance of their

Once in a while we start thinking about life and as a result it instigates us to reflect about life as we grow older. Our thinking becomes more complex and not being able to find answers leaves as in despair. We even ask questions such as “What is my purpose in life? Is it worth living with all the hardships we encounter?” Then we come along reading the works of other people who provides their own insights about life and some may make sense, some might make us angry and sometimes it makes life even more confusing.