What Is The Theme Of 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.

Furthermore, his dreams influence his belief of religion. In one of his dreams it shows God as unforgiving and punishing. God tells Antonio that “vengeance is mine” (173). Towards the end of the dream, the Golden Carp appears as “ such beautiful brilliance that he became a new sun in the heavens” (176). The Golden Carp seems much more positive than the Catholic God because of how the different God was described as in his dream. Antonio believes more of the Golden Carp rather than God because God punished people while the Golden Carp “swallows everything good and evil…and…becomes…a new sun to shine its good light upon the earth” (176). In the first dream, it mentions of another power, describing it as the presence of the river. Antonio asks to save his brothers but “…sparks flew when [he] spoke. It is the presence of the river” (26). This foretells that there is another great

(R) Anaya is commenting here on the religious perspective on war shown through the eyes of Antonio’s Catholic grandfather. His commentary questions the power of a faith which denounces war, especially when history, which he has shown to appreciate, reveals war’s ability to triumph over those with unsavory intentions.

He has been asking god why evil things happen, and he doesn't get any answers, Antonio believes that on his first communion god will finally answer his questions. He says “then the shining goal easter sunday and first holy communion”(204). Antonio can't wait for his holy communion to get answers from god. But when his first communion comes around he asks god for answers and god doesn't answer back. After Antonio asks god for answers Florence tragically drowns. Antonio witnesses the death of Florence and is sad for him. Florence never believed in the catholic faith so Antonio knew he was going to hell. Antonio stated ”the lonely river was a sad place to be when on is a small boy who has just seen a friend die”(242). He has witnessed another innocent person die and begins questioning god even more. Antonio is sad that Florence died, but he realizes that while growing up there will be many devastating events he has to fight through. At the beginning of the book Antonio is an innocent boy who has never experienced any devastating events in his life. At the end of the book Antonio is strong, he has seen three people die and has been introduced to the hardships he will have to go through whilst growing

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 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.

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.

Rivers provide life in the most desolate of places. They bring the frigid, sky-fallen rain from the frozen mountain lakes to the sunbathed ocean, and give life and sustenance to every ecosystem and civilization on their path. However, in Bless Me, Ultima, the river is a symbol for the experience of life, more than just breathing and moving. Antonio’s river is his life, and it flows through his story just as his life does.

experiences, result in the loss of innocence. Even though it was tough going through all these events, Antonio receives strength that will assist him extremely throughout his life, with fights and revelations. His incidents have developed the brawny, grown man he will soon be. Transformations are always needed for us to be fully grown, even though it can be hard and

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

Religion is a cultural event that occurs in the life of the Lunas. Antonio’s mother brings that aspect with her when she marries with a man that has Marez blood. The presence of religion stays with Antonio throughout the course of the novel. It can easily be said that religion defines an enormous portion of who he is from the point of birth. He makes his best efforts to stay away from horrible experiences and put his thoughts out of anything that may make him doubts and God and heaven. But even for him it reaches to a point that he can’t bear with much more. But religion remains present even at home. While Antonio’s three older brothers, Andrew, Leon and Eugenio are away at war, Antonio and his family pray for them all the time and even when they have returned. They do this on a day to day basis to keep the presence of religion alive.

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.

The overall message and core argument this book offers is that the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-5, will cause an enormous increase of people who are not mentally ill being diagnosed with a mental disorder and receiving unnecessary treatment for it. Allen Frances argues that assigning everyday problems to mental disorders causes massive disadvantages for individuals and society. Diagnosing a healthy person as mentally ill will lead to unnecessary, harmful medications, the constricting of horizons, misallocation of medical recourses, and wasting the budgets of families and the state. He states as well that we do not take responsibility for our own mental well-being. We do not trust our

This sets up the initial conflict for Antonio, he wants to believe in his mother's God, but at the same time he finds conviction and truth in what Samuel is telling him about the golden carp god. Furthermore, while Antonio is supposed to be praying to God he says, "There wasn't time to discover Him, like I could do when I sat on the creek bank and watched the golden carp swim in the sun-filtered waters" (233). I think this shows that Antonio feels a deeper connection to nature and the golden carp than he does to God and traditional values. He is more like Ultima, than like either one of his parents. The golden carp offer Antonio a way of thinking that is free and unstructured, unlike that of Catholicism.

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