Bless Me Ultima Magical Realism

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.

One consistent theme throughout Bless Me, Ultima is the influence of others’ expectations on identity. Antonio is under constant pressure from both his parents to conform to their respective family’s philosophies and beliefs—even Ultima, who appears to try to be impartial, does clearly contribute to this pressure. The Luna and Márez families clearly have different beliefs and hold different things to be important in their lives, as evidenced by the tensions between the two families in Antonio’s dream (6). The Luna are farmers, religious, and believe firmly in education, while the Márez are people of “unbounded freedom” (25) and explorers. Antonio’s mother desires that her son become a priest and receive a good education, and is diligently religious

Another reason why some people may think that Bless Me Ultima, is anti-catholic is because Antonio in one point of the book was having lots of doubts and questions about God; Antonio was having doubts about God when Narciso died due to Tenorio and Narciso was being a good man trying to warn Ultima about Tenorio. Later on, the night that Narciso died, Antonio had a dream and it was about the God forgiving Tenorio and God not forgiving Narciso, so Antonio was confused and mad that God had forgiven bad but not good.

Magical realism is a type of writing where two views of reality come together. There are numerous of ways magical realism is expressed in Latin American writing. A very common one amongst stories is open-ended conclusion in which we the readers just have to accept it. Usually magical realism is used as a metaphor for something more meaningful. One story that conveys a lot of magical realism is The Third Bank of The River by João Guimarães Rosa. The story is about the narrator's dad who was quite the quiet man, who one day bought a boat fit for one. He entered the river and never spoke a word to another soul again. The son is the only one who stays at the house in case of the father's return. He leaves food out for him so that he will survive, until one day he makes an offer to his father, and ends up fleeing in terror.

In chapter 10, Ultima encounters a situation in which she must lift a curse from the body Antonio’s Uncle Lucas and cure him from the near clutches of death that was inflicted by Tenorio’s 3 bewitched Trementina daughters. With Ultima busy creating herbal preparations for Lucas’s cure she instructed Antonio to aide her with apprentice like duties such as making a fire and following her commands to helping his uncle drink the remedy. As the night grew longer Antonio witnessed Ultima use her magic to cure his uncle Lucas and rebound the cure back to its origin. Antonio witnessed Ultima mold three black clay dolls resembling the Trementina girls and chanting of prayers “You have done evil,” she sang, “But good is stronger than evil, “And what you sought to do will undo you…”(Anaya, pg. 101). Finally after the arduous process to cure Lucas’s curse, Lucas vomited a huge ball wiggling hair in which later Ultima burned by the tree of the evil Trementina’s dancing tree. As a result Ultima triumphantly saved Lucas’s life through the way of Curandera, and Antonio realized how the powers of church and doctors

Ultima throughout the story shows signs of being a curandera rather that being a witch. When Ultima is first introduced she is described a curandera who knows her herbs: “Ultima was a curandera a woman who knew the herbs” (P4 L12). Ultima is a Curandera because curanderos in our world heal people using the herbs they know and find in the forest or plains which perfectly describes Ultima as she helps and cures Antonio's family using herbs as well. Furthermore, there is a video Tittled “The Curandera” which is about a Curandera and her practices as a curandera which the central character states

     After reading the book, Bless Me Ultima, I realized the integral importance of religion and need for religion and answers to life’s questions. At first, while reading this book, I thought it was just about relationships and the meaning in them but as the plot progressed I realized the book, is more than that, it questions the structures that decide the rules, morals and values that society is composed of. There were three types of religion that I identified in the book that young Anthony chose to pursue. The first was the paganistic rituals of Ultima. Ultima came into the life of Tony at a very young age and had great influence n the child. Ultima saved the life of Lucas through Tony’s

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 story where Ultima visits, Antonio feels that he will become a priest. He is to follow his family's rules of becoming a priest. They are strict Catholic and his mother practices her religion very strictly. Antonio not only witnesses, but becomes a part of, Ultima's cure for Uncle Lucas. Uncle Lucas is dying, and the Priest's past attempts to save him had failed. When this occurs Antonio starts to not believe in his religion. Then, the family turns to Ultima as a last resort. It is like he has taken some of the burden of the pain off Uncle Lucas, helping him overcome his illness. Ultima's cure ends up saving Lucas' life, and Antonio becomes a part of it. “Your son lives!” says the old man. (103) The Priest failed where Ultima did not, this really upsets Antonio: "The power of the doctors and the power of the church had failed to cure my uncle. Now, everyone depended on Ultima's magic. At this point, Antonio begins to doubt his destiny of becoming a priest. Later on, Antonio learns the story about the golden carp from another boy his own age. Antonio sees the golden carp, which means he is one of the magical people in the town. Not everyone can see the golden carp; the golden carp is considered a pagan god.

Ultima has some people accusing her of being a witch. There are quite a few people that believe she is a witch. They have some good reasons for thinking this. She does use voodoo dolls against Tenorio’s daughters, that doesn't help her case. “ When she was done she stood the three dolls around the light of the flickering candle,and I saw three women. Then Ultima spoke to the three women. “ You have done evil,” she sang, “ But good is stronger than evil, “And what you sought to do will undo you...(101).”That’s not the only thing she uses that could be considered black magic. She uses herbs from the llano to help people. She believes that the herbs she gets can do a number of things.” Ultima and I walked in the hills of the llano, gathering the wild herbs and roots for her medicines. We roamed the entire countryside and up and down the river. I carried a small shovel with which to dig, and she carried a gunny sack in which to gather our magic harvest (39).” She also believes that to pick an herb you have to speak to it.”For Ultima, even the plants had a spirit, and before I dug she made me speak

I definitely agree with you that the society viewed Ultima either in a good way or a bad way. In my opinion, the old townspeople, who knew Ultima for many years really had a loving and compassionate emotion for her, just like Narciso. These people have viewed Ultima as a healer based on their own personal experiences of Ultima healing their loved ones. On the other hand, the culture of the new townspeople were unaware of Ultima’s healing powers that they automatically assumed it was witchcraft.

This is a turning point for Antonio because all of his hopes and anticipation of knowing the answers are dissolved and he is left with nothing. This is when he relies most on Ultima’s great wisdom: “Ultima was a practitioner of ancient religion of the earth, curing people with medicine,” (Sparknotes) and performing exorcisms on villagers’ homes. Ultima and her ways led Antonio’s beliefs and faith in a separate direction from that of the Catholic Church.

Ultima is an old curandera, which means healer in spanish, who comes to El Puerto to live with the Marez family after she is left alone in the town of Las Pasturas. When she arrives and turns to greet him, Antonio feels awestruck. According to Antonio, he “felt the power of a whirlwind sweep around me (Anaya 12).” A series of events occur throughout the story which makes Antonio overprotective of La Ultima. For instance, when Antonio and Ultima go to his grandfather’s house to cure his uncle, “Some women bowed their heads, other made the sign of the cross (Anaya 104).” Crossing your forehead in front of someone who is helping your family is a sign of disrespect. I feel that if I were Antonio, I would feel very offended because Ultima is my friend and nobody should be disrespected in front of the people you care for the most. As Antonio grows, he finds himself questioning his religion and comes to accept that everything is not what it seems. For example, Antonio realizes that the people of the town can be very judgemental and will blindly follow anyone because they fear the unknown. Antonio has to deal with is brothers who are led astray by the prostitutes of the town and their unrealistic dreams. After the war ended, his brothers came back, but with different plans for themselves. They leave because they want to be free, but I believe that they chain

There are countless people within our society who do not believe in the old, traditional way of doing things. Doctors are very popular in today’s society, but many years ago people relied mainly on healers. Our ancestors relied on healers to help cure them, they would give the sick a remedy and a few days later they were as healthy as a horse. People tend to forget where they come from, but those whose lives were saved because of a healer’s knowledge about nature and plants will forever thank and never forget the person who blessed them with a second chance at life. Ultima, a curandera of the llano, is well-known to be effective with her remedies so everybody turns to her when they become ill. Back then the practice of Curanderismo played

Ultima teaches Antonio of this magical strength as she tries to help him understand the murder of Narciso. The townspeople do not seek justice because Narciso had been the town drunk and his life seemed worthless, “Because Narciso was the town drunk, nobody cared much”. Ultima explains that Narciso had died trying to help a friend and that was honorable. Once Narciso had been a respectable young man but hard times had fallen upon him after the death of his young wife. Narciso had turned to alcohol to ease the pain but had remained forever indebted to Ultima for trying to save his wife. Ultima uses the death of Narciso to teach Antonio the ways of his ancestors. She explains, “The old people…always helped each other; through good or bad they stuck together, and the friendships that were formed in that desolate llano were bonds for life”. It was through Ultima that Antonio discovers life is not what is always seems. Narciso had died trying to warn Ultima but few remembered anything good about him. Narciso had an inner goodness that had been hidden by his use of alcohol. Ultima taught Antonio to see the magic in Narciso, just as she had thought him to see the magic in the river and all that surrounded it.