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Symbolism In Bless Me Ultima

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Someone’s destiny may be known from the moment he or she is born; however, how that person will reach his or her’s destiny is unknown. The way someone can achieve their dream can be vastly different or very similar to another. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya follows Antonio Marez’s coming of age. He experiences loss of innocence, curiosity, and is torn about what his destiny is: be a Luna, a person of the earth, or a Marez, a person of the llano who is free. Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera is a film that tells the story of Paikea Apirana, a girl who is interested in becoming leader of her clan, but is rejected by her grandfather due to her being a girl. Paikea manages to prove herself to be the true leader through to her risks and hardships. …show more content…

Tenorio, the antagonist of Bless Me, Ultima, threatens to kill Ultima several times during the novel. While Antonio is working on the farm, he gets ambushed by Tenorio and is left in the bushes after trying to stop him. Tenorio then leaves to kill Ultima. Antonio is determined to warn and save Ultima and runs ten miles back to his home to where she is. While running, Antonio thinks about his future and Ultima and how she “personified goodness” (Anaya 255). He later realizes that he understands the feeling of trying to save someone. Antonio says, “I ran to save Ultima and I ran to to preserve those moments when beauty mingled with sadness and flowed through my soul like a stream of time” (Anaya 257). Antonio shows that he is willing to die for Ultima as she is the benevolence that can stop evil. Ultima unfortunately dies, but Antonio is at peace with her death as it is not in vain. Antonio’s sacrifice is the final event that he goes through that teaches him that he doesn’t have to be a Luna or a Marez. While Antonio runs ten miles to warn Ultima and is willing to die to do so, Paikea risks her life trying to save the her clan and beached whales. An entire pod of whales ends up beached in Paikea’s home town. The people try to get them back into the ocean but to no avail. Paikea believes that this is her fault as the ancients heard her call and came to help. In order to save them, Paikea gets on top of the largest whale, the one that supposedly belongs to the legendary Paikea, and urges it to get back in the ocean. Eventually, the entire pod manages to get back into the ocean with Paikea still riding the largest one. She tells her people not to worry, as she “wasn’t scared to die” (Ihimaera). Like Antonio, Paikea is willing to make a huge sacrifice to protect her people. Although they both make sacrifices in which they were willing to die, Antonio’s actions did not put himself at

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