Analysis Of Bless Me Ultima

To begin, Lupito's death was the first eye-opening for Antonio. "Did God listen? Would he hear? Had He seen my father on the bridge? And where was Lupito's soul winging to, or was it washing down the river to the fertile valley of my uncle's farms? A priest could have saved Lupito. Oh why did my mother dream for me to be a priest! How would I ever wash away the stain of blood from the sweet waters of my river!" (23) This is the first time Antonio questions God's presence and wonders about sin, death, and hell. This is also a traumatic moment Antonio experienced because he saw what men are capable of, murder. In short, Lupito's death impacted Antonio's life.

Context: Antonio follows his father and his father’s friend, Chavez, to the river in order to avenge the death of Chavez’s brother, the sheriff, who was killed by Lupito. After Lupito is murdered, Tony is extremely scared, but is later comforted by Ultima and her owl.

Anaya shows Antonio’s quest for knowledge that begins with his questions after witnessing the shooting of Lupito. As Tony and Ultima head to church together on Sunday, he questions, “‘But, Ultima, how can he go to communion? How can he take God in his mouth and swallow him? Well God forgive his sin and

First anaya uses symbolism to communicate her point of how Antonio is having a hard time deciding whether or not to be a Luna or a Marez. In Antonio's dream it's described as a situation where he is stuck picking a side a little after birth. “ This one will be a luna the old man said , he will be a farmer and keep our customs and traditions…. Gabriel , they shouted, you have a fine son he will make a fine vaquero!” (Anaya,5). This symbol communicates how Antonio has to choose what side of his family he will portray. The luna and marez name represents what Antonio will become. The luna name symbolizes the farmer and priest lifestyle, however the marez name symbolizes the vaquero free lifestyle.

It is inevitable that certain moments in your life will affect how you think and act forever. These epiphanies can occur anywhere and anytime throughout life, whether it be when you're an immature child or a fully developed adult. The sudden realization can be shocking and life changing or so miniscule that you don’t realize the change within yourself. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio at the young age of seven, encountered many situations that caused his perceptions of reality to alter. Many factors such as death and the introduction to secular ideologies caused these epiphanies to arise.

The wisest man asks questions pertaining to the complexities of life. However, when no answers are delivered said man seeks answers in a place that seems most correct. The spiritual life relies on believers who have strong fundamental beliefs in hope. The unshaken foundation relies on believers who give their everlasting hope and have solace in this faith alone. The faith goes deeper than understanding, but full reliance on the church and its holy deities to solve the world 's most mysterious questions, cure even the most powerful illness and still have faith when such actions do not occur. In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima Antonio sought to find the answers he was so desperately in search for, however he never received an answer. Antonio’s religious ambivalence is created through his journey of life from several encounters, life and death alike, and not receiving answers to the questions that he most desperately sought for. The aspect of Antonio’s ideal benevolent God verses the God he was presented, and external sources, would all create different epiphanies that would lead him astray from the traditional church and into other spiritual realms. These realms would be an outlet for him to receive enlightenment to the situations of which he was presented.

Universal among all journeys to destiny, tragic events test the perseverance and resolve of the one on his or her journey to destiny. In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio

Narciso and Antonio do not have many direct encounters in the novel, yet Narciso has a profound effect on Antonio’s religious maturation. Narciso, who is considered the town drunk, is present in many important conflicts as a mediator figure. He goes to great lengths to help his friends, which is shown when he attempts to convince the townsmen not to rashly kill Lupito after he had shot the sheriff. Once Lupito is killed Antonio worries about the fate of the men on the bridge who shot him, including his own father. Antonio wonders "Did God listen? Would he hear? Had he seen my father on the bridge? And where was Lupito 's soul winging to, or was it washing down the

As the story unfolds, Antonio is struggling with his own mind for an answer to the sinful nature of man and the forgiveness of his God. Under the guidance of Ultima, he learns that he must decide for himself the moral basis of life and live by it so as not to drown in the world of sin he lives in. The theme is expressed when Antonio excitedly enters the church for his first communion, thinking it will bring him an understanding of that that has been troubling his mind, ”A thousand questions pushed through my mind, but the voice within me did not answer. There was only silence.” When he feels nothing at the end of the communion and wonders why his God would not answer his questions, he begins to learn that he cannot rely on his church or his priest to provide him with what he needs to define morality. He learns that moral independence is important and as he fulfilled Ultima’s dying wish, he then understood and forged his own moral independence. Another theme is that culture and blood have a great influence of one’s identity. It can be easily seen that his family’s religious ways and the pride they carry in their blood is greatly troubling Antonio on his road to finding his moral

Revenge is often a prominent element present in numerous plots. Characters like Heathcliff or Chillingworth have sought retribution in the strongest ways against those who have wronged them. In Rudolfo Anaya’s novel Bless Me Ultima the concept of revenge also plays a hefty role. Through the eyes of Antonio, a young boy who starts making inquiries about the world, the audience can make a connection between the forces of good and evil. In order to show that life is more complicated than the two categories, Anaya uses the contrasts of the characters Ultima and Tenorio in a battle of revenge to show that the line between good and evil does not always exist.

Personal ideologies provide an aspiration for a fools paradise. That endeavor contrived a blindness that makes their perfect world, someone else’s ordeal. Individuals might convoke others for guidance to an explicit ambit to discover their own dogma. However, humanity has a type of ignorance in a sense that compels them to force their own beliefs onto others. Distinct mentalities collide due to their own belief of being “right” which in turn causes further separation between religions, nations and even families. In the book “Bless Me Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya, the predominance of Antonio’s parents impulses him to have an

Lupito has just killed the town sheriff, and all the men are out for his blood. They are searching the bridge and the bushes looking for him when Narciso comes down and tries to calm everyone down. He shouts at the the group of men: “Let us act like men! That is not an animal down there, that is a man. Lupito. You all know Lupito. You know that the war has made him sick-,”

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

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.

Only a few books dare to discuss the confusion surrounded by a religious awakening. In Bless Me Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya, Premio Quinto Sol national Chicano literary award recipient, challenges standard religion and brings in different ideas through the perspective of a young and confused boy. Due to the new ideas that he is introduced to, the events that occurs especially deaths, and his eagerness for knowledge all leads Antonio to question his religious beliefs. At the end of his struggle to understand, the boy reaches the peace of mind he was seeking.