Bless Me, Ultima, By Rudolfo Anaya

First, and probably most important are the three sources of understanding for Antonio. First, there is Ultima, who serves as a neutral source of understanding and comforter for Antonio. The next source of understanding for Antonio is God. Antonio constantly struggles to understand good and evil through the eyes of the Catholic God. The final source of

Along these lines, Lupito’s death was a suicide. He wanted to escape the liability of the sin he committed. Antonio questions the ultimate of Lupito’s soul. “Did God listen? Would he hear? Had he seen my father on the bridge? And where was Lupito’s soul swinging to, or was it washing down the river to the fertile valley of my uncles’ farms?” (Anaya 23). Antonio knew it is a sin to commit suicide, but he did not physically commit that sin himself, so what will God do? Before dying, Lupito asked Antonio to bless him. Antonio knew only a priest can bless him, but he wasn’t sure if he had that power. At that moment he questions the justice of Lupito’s actions and God’s punishment. Lupito was shot in the leg. He bled out into the river and his blood will forever be there, flowing to other places, scarring other places. On that Occasion, Antonio a future priest, witnessed death. Antonio was no longer pure. Losing the purity meant he

As the novel proceeds, Antonio begins to spend most of his time with Ultima and his friends and less time shielded by the protection and comfort his parents and home have to offer. This time away from home serves as the catalyst to Antonio’s development into a man. The road to adulthood/becoming a man is filled with potholes, broken traffic lights and has no speed limit. In other words, it is everything but easy. On this road you hear things you don't want too , you see things you wish you hadn't, and you experience things you never have before. It must have been the coldest days of the summer

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

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).

Miguel de Unamuno once said, “Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.” This quote embodies a key element that is explored in the novel Bless Me, Ultima written by Rudolfo Anaya. While reading the Chicano novel Bless Me, Ultima, the reader may begin to question Tony’s reliance on this faith. Tony spends most of the novel questioning God’s reasoning. He also takes a very keen interest in the complexities of the world that surrounds him. While this novel does revolve around the theme of soul-searching, Tony takes the idea of self-discovery to a new level for someone of his age. Tony questions his faith, the concept of justice, and according to Ultima, he shows promising signs of becoming a “man of learning”. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima Tony embodies the foundations of a flourishing philosopher.

“It was warm in my attic, as I lay listening to the sounds of the house falling asleep and repeating a Hail Mary over and over in my thoughts, I drifted into the time of dreams.” (pg4) In Antonio’s dreams his conscience often screens the thoughts and words that he cannot bare to address. Antonio’s first dream is quite perspicuously affected by the talk of Ultima’s coming, although it is unannounced. “My soul wandered…... I recognized Las Pasturas and my heart grew happy.” (pg5) That night it was not the llano or adobe huts that kept young Antonio Márez asleep, it was the idea of such an embodiment

agonizing indisputable fact that our lives must end, the way good days ends with peaceful sleep.

Instead, Antonio grew in a deep disappointment when God remained silent. Through the events he witnessed, with Narcisco's death and Tenorio's evil doings, Tellez's haunting territory, Antonio began to question the nature and existence of God. He realized why was Ultima's magic so powerful, but the priest cannot make miracles. Antonio saw how Ultima does her power, but never saw how God did his. Florence's death also led him into darkness.

Often times, people tend to find no meaning in works of art such as stories, while in reality they fail to capture the true essence and deeper meaning these creations. Most notably, the novel Bless Me, Ultima is a perfect example of how much impact literary device have on a story. Bless, Me Ultima is a novel which depicts a boy named Antonio trying to adapt to his ever-changing world after meeting the curandera Ultima. As a result of Ultima’s guidance, Antonio finds light through the tough tragedies that occurred during his childhood. In Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya uses symbols such as the Virgin of Guadalupe, the river and the Golden Carp to depict Antonio’s gradual spiritual development, which demonstrates his shift in moral decision-making throughout the novel.

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

Antonio is exposed to death and despair very early in his life. For me, at a young age I was not exposed to anything that disrupted my dreams or life. For Antonio, his dreams became corrupted by the people he witnessed die. This is shown when Anaya writes, “These are the men I had seen die! I cried, who else will my prays accompany to the land of death?”(Anaya 257). My dreams are comprised of life’s realities and their influences on my life. The dreams I have are about me either forgetting to do homework or failing a test; the heart-aching reality of things is what haunts my dreams. Antonio's dreams are vivid and violent, while my dreams are focused around the heartache of reality and

Life isn’t forever but the way death comes may create questions on why. As a child you’re taken to church to have an understanding of life. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolf Anaya a young boy named Antonio grew up with a religious mother with an ideal idea of who god is, but as Antonio witness’s death he soon questions who god is and his power. This was a major conflict in Antonio’s life as each death brought a new door opening to more unanswered questions on why. Ultima a motherly figure to Antonio who was a guide throughout his religious ambivalence.

Antonio’s spiritual and religious confrontations help him mature throughout the novel and helps him discover himself. Antonio learns that death is inevitable and that God cannot always answer questions about life, you must experience it and answer those questions yourself. Antonio accepts all of these lessons that come from these experiences which eventually matures him into a

Antonio is hesitant and fearful of the almighty God and His straightforward way of justice. He mainly views God as a figure that is too powerful and out of reach to be able to connect to. Yet, rather than forcing himself to relate someone he couldn’t understand in order to be true to his religion, Antonio finds alternative way through the Virgin of Guadalupe.