Analysis Of Bless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

Florence’s death scene in Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya aptly conveys the novel’s theme of faith and truth being subjective. In this scene, Antonio accepts the beliefs of Florence which Catholicism deems sinful, and loses his complete faith in God upon realizing that his friend is condemned. Antonio’s piety is a significant aspect of his character, but he questions his faith and acknowledges the validity of other beliefs regardless.

While it isn't made clear what age the main character Tony is in “Tony's Story” by Leslie Marmon Silko, it is clear that he faces two moments that can be considered a loss of innocence. These are when Leon is attacked by the policeman, and when he later kills that same policeman. In the first instance, Tony was faced with an authority figure who acted violently and cruelly in a manner that he was not expecting. This moment taught him of the evil in the world and it led him to associate the policeman and his actions with those of witched. In his mind, it is the policeman, or witch, that has upset the balance in nature and brought the drought upon the land. While Leon keeps talking about his rights, Tony only sees the policeman as an evil

The Christian belief is that no matter what you do wrong or to what extent, you are always able to be forgiven. As long as you are able to realize and admit to what you've done wrong and are willing to pay for your sins and repent, you will always be forgiven in the eyes of God. In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the mariner is willing to repent. After committing his sins against nature, he comes to realize that it is not to be taken for granted. By realizing and expressing the beauty that nature is, the mariner is granted his forgiveness in return for penance; his telling of this story.

and becoming a man, boys witness acts of sin and commit a few acts themselves. Tony has witnessed sin but he is not a man because he has not committed any sins or seen enough to really understand the world he is living in. Tony is taught that, ?It was a sin to grow up and be a man.'; (31), by listening to his mother, and realizes that one day he would be grown up and lose his innocence to become a man. Because of this Tony sees how cruel God can be by putting boys on earth to grow up and become men. Tony asks whether his destiny and faith are the ones he wants to believe in and begins his journey towards changing his spiritual beliefs, and the golden carp only reinforces these doubts that Tony is just beginning to realize.

For centuries, psychologists have debated theories concerning the development of human behavioral tendencies. One of these topics, self-actualization, is the evolution of an individual toward fulfillment of the highest needs; those for meaning in life, in particular. Abraham Maslow, a highly celebrated psychologist, has dissected this topic and created a theory of self-actualization where he outlines a pyramid through which one ascends and achieves specific needs until he reaches an actualized state. Bless Me Ultima is a bildungsroman novel where Rudolfo Anaya stresses the way in which Antonio, the protagonist, finds his place in the world and learns about his beliefs as an individual through hardships, love from those close to him, and exposure to new cultures. Although Antonio does not entirely fulfill self-actualization, he demonstrates Maslow’s theory of self-actualization by ascending the need hierarchy and exhibiting characteristics of a self-actualized person.

Tony’s first trial, the death of Lupito, changes him. Ultima helps him come to terms with this but reading the Act of Contrition changes Tony. As Tony grows up he starts to see the world as it really is witnessing the evil of Tenorio and the cruelty of his classmates. As he grows he continues to read the Act of Contrition over the friends he sees killed. Tony starts to take a priests role as he confronts the evil in the world.

Traditional New Mexican culture is the backbone of Bless Me, Ultima. Although there a lot of qualities taken from the culture, readers will view the novel from multiple perspectives and separate the realistic representations of the culture from fiction. Analyzing different elements from the novel will demonstrate how the relationship between them brings the world of Bless Me, Ultima to life. The elements of the llano, owl, and whirlwind will specifically examine Ultima and her role as a curandera. These are just three of the elements, but all of them together are essential to Tony’s understanding of Ultima and his coming of age we see throughout the novel.

The novel Bless Me, Ultima is essential to Chicano literature. Bless Me, Ultima represents the Chicano culture during the 1940’s in rural New Mexico. This book also incorporates folktales such as witches, the golden carp, which makes the genre magical realism. The novel reflects conflicts one might encounter as a Mexican. For example, a crucial theme and conflict in the book Bless Me, Ultima, is religion.

When writing a novel, an author often includes several similarities and references to their personal or history. An example of this is Rudolfo Anaya and his book, Bless Me, Ultima, a coming of age story revolving around the life of a young boy growing up in New Mexico, Antonio. Antonio's two families have opposing values and views which confuse him, making him feel as if he has to make a choice. The setting, characters/families, circumstances, and culture of Bless Me Ultima are all a projection of Anaya's life. Rudolfo Anaya wrote Bless Me, Ultima to portray his struggle to find his place in the world, or to have a sense of belonging, and to revert back to his native style.

In the novel Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the main character Antonio Marez tells the story of his coming of age with his curandera and mentor Ultima. Rudolfo Anaya weaves a story from the child’s point of view of good and evil, of myth and reality, and of life and death. Throughout the novel, Antonio struggles with his identity, his faith in God, his family and destiny.

It can be argued, as human beings, we are students of life, and death is one of the hard lessons that we will encounter. Our faith is not a fixed concept, it is affected by a convergence of factors and events in our life. A person’s faith is a complex and differs from one person to another, but one thing is for certain, it affects how we look at life and how we approach life. Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me Ultima divulges into the life an inquisitive six year old Antonio as he transitions from a young boy to a man and becomes cognizant of life’s tragedies. His inquisitive nature that persists to understand himself and his world bears an internal struggle that leaves a rift of ambivalence that mentally tears him between opposing ideals.

   Bless Me Ultima and Baby of the Family serve as the 'coming of age' stories of two minority children. Rudolfo Anaya and Tina McElory Ansa skillfully reveal the richness, diversity, and conflicts that can exist within the Hispanic-American and African-American cultures primarily through the dream sequences in each novel. Dreams are the mechanism used in each work to magnify the individual experiences and conflicts Tony and Lena encounter. In addition and perhaps, more importantly, Tony and Lena deal with ambivalence and find their voices not only through the relationships with other characters, but through the resolution of their dreams.

Knowledge of God is sometimes manifested through God’s own demonstrations in that He performs some deed in order to make Himself or His power known. This knowledge also has an eschatological meaning in that all those which are to be ultimately saved will receive, amongst other gifts, this exceptional type of knowledge. Without forgiveness, however, this knowledge is not possible. For it is through forgiveness that human beings are able to enter into a special bond with God.

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). As the Book of Matthew says, one should not expect to receive what they are unwilling to give. When someone is forgiven for their wrongdoings, they are more likely to show forgiveness for others’ wrongdoings. In The Tempest, Prospero seeks retribution from Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian for their sins, then later forgives them after conflicting a punishment among them. In “Revolutionary Mercy,” O’Brien explains how the goal of the prison in his hometown is to gain penitence from the prisoners, leading to their release, as well as supporting how forgiveness is shown in the Gospel. Shakespeare’s The Tempest and William O’Brien’s “Revolutionary Mercy” emphasize the necessity of retribution, then eventually forgiveness, in moving forward and regaining the trust in others, as well as from others.

Tony Montana is a very vulgar person, able to drop any manner of language that can offend a person. Arrogant, violent and very frank, assuring to Sosa that the only thing he has in this world is his word and his “balls”. Tony is the survivor that has no qualms on killing other people if it can guarantee money and food. His ruthlessness will eventually land him a position in Frank Lopez’s drug cartel and will steadily make a name in the Miami underworld. He also developed a liking to Frank’s mistress, Elvira. With his excessive push to expand, he eventually gunned down Frank and took Elvira, and started building his own empire. Living in a lavish lifestyle, he would eventually develop paranoia and would develop a strong addiction to cocaine. With his steady decline, he would still show sign of goodness when he refused to kill a man along with his kids and wife. He shows a degree of honesty, and would not kill in