Bless Me Ultima Essay

What questions is Tony asking about Lupito's death? - the questions that Antonio is asking in regard to Lupito’s death is about where he is ending up. Is he going to hell since he had committed a mortal sin. He is also wondering that since Lupito died in the river if the water of the river will carry Lupito’s soul away. 3.

The shocked and flabbergasted diction of this section lends itself to a similar purpose. The surprise that the narrator shows when Luo initially begins the procedure is indicative to the fear within the protagonists and the absurdity of the situation as a whole. When the narrator says: “what the devil had got into him?” (Sijie 142) it shows the reader that the strangeness of the scene had not escaped the notice of those involved. The befuddled diction continues when the narrator says: “even today it confounds me” (Sijie 142) showing that the situation his oddness was not reduced with time. Overall, this section sets the scene for an intense and decisively odd situation.

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.

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

His parents have ideas which conflict each other when it relates to their precious last son’s fate. Like a hawk swooping down on its prey, Ultima, an elderly curandera comes to occupy a room in the Marez residence. To everyone else in the house Ultima staying with them is negligible, but the bond Antonio and Ultima soon begin to create is the first step into Antonio’s quest in finding his fate. “When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth. The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood.”(Anaya 1) Ultima’s presence alone lifted Antonio’s spirits, even the little things such as the llano he lived on all his life that had become mundane to him, began to glisten with great importance.

Hardship in childhood can cause children to be wise beyond their years. A child 's experiences are what shape their future, making them evolve both mentally and spiritually. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio’s system of beliefs is greatly influenced by the perception of God that is instilled in him mainly by his mother. His understanding of God is forced to evolve as Antonio goes through many experiences throughout the course of the novel, including the tragedies that befall Narciso, Florence, and Ultima and his exposure to these characters. God is a being that is characterized by his punishment of those who sin and his protection of those who do not. As the events in this novel unfold, Antonio sees on many occasions how the God that he believes in does not perform the roles that he believed he did.

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

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-,”

The loss of innocence in life is an inevitable process. Losing one’s innocence comes merely by growing up. The philosophy of the loss of one’s innocence is a definite theme in the book Bless Me, Ultima. This theme is displayed throughout the entire story and plot of the novel. There is loss of innocence all around the main character, Tony, with his brothers and the people he meets. Tony also loses a great deal of his own innocence to the harsh realities of the world which marks his transition from a boy to a man.

          Florence- Florence is one of Atonio’s friends. Although he does not believe in God, he attends catechism lessons with his friends. Florence’s mother died when he was three. Afterwards, his father slowly killed himself with alcohol. His sisters are now prostitutes at Rosie’s house. He asks Antonio insightful questions that point out the gaps in the Catholic Religion. When Antonio becomes

Death is viewed as a gate to meet God and live an eternal life with him. Whatever happens at death is always a mystery. In much religious death once everyone dies they will face judgment by God (Noebel,2006). Death is not the end of life; it is the beginning of eternal existence. Postmodernism has no moral absolutes but rather places responsibility into the hands of the

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.

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.

Bonvolio announced the death of a dear friend, but in a way of giving respect and honor. Without thinking, Bonvolio is able to say such a speech to a fallen

Lázaro is not able to receive the love and attention that he needs as a child because he is without a father and the mother must work to make up for it. In addition, his masters, who keep all of the food for themselves, constantly starve Lázaro. This creates more than one problem for young Lázaro because the masters are supposed to provide protection for him and instead they starve him, leaving him physically and emotionally empty because he is not receiving what he needs to survive. Lázaro has contempt for most of the masters that he serves, because they treat him callously. He realizes that he must do whatever it takes to obtain the essentials of life, because it will not be provided for him, therefore becoming a pícaro out of necessity.