Blood becomes the river. The human race dies and only the “she-goats and the he-goats” (109) remain. The lake “cracked with laughter of madness” and the “ghosts stood and walked upon the shore”.(109) Who dares dream such gruesome images? Antonio Marez. He questions God, he communicates with the dead, the dead ask him for blessings. Just who is this Tony? Tony is only a seven year boy who lives in small town of El Puerto. But he is no ordinary boy, he is the hero of Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me Ultima. The novel guides you through Tony’s life. From childhood to adulthood. It tells you about the experiences Tony has in life. The difficult tasks he has to overcome. Tony being only seven years old has to go through a lot. …show more content…
(26) he feels his soul grow under Ultima guidance. One of Tony’s obstacles in life is to become a man. His mother does not want him to become a man but his father argues saying “everything Tony sees and does makes him a man”(37) but Maria says that it is a sin for a boy to grow to be a man by saying that “life destroys the pureness God gives”. (36) but this is not the only diction Tony has to make. His first dream portrays his insecurity about his identity. He has to choose between the two is he a “fine vaquero” or a “farmer-priest”(9) He is confused, on one side its his mother and on the other its his father. Who should he become? He is also confused about which God to believe in. the golden Carp, who he marvels at the “bright golden-pagan God”(114) on the other side the catholic God “who could not forgive”(120) He does not understand why God cannot forgive Narcisio who is a good man while the Virgin Mary can forgive the evil Teronio. Tony is confused throughout most of the novel. Tony believes that the women always forgive, therefore in his child’s logic he thinks women in general do not judge but always forgive. He has a lot of decisions to make. He remembers his dream where he sees Andrew at Rosie’s and remembers what Andrew had told him in his dream that Andrew “will wait and not enter until (Tony) looses (his) innocence”.(85) Tony’s belief that
Tony is very smart but also quite poor. His family didn't have enough money to send him to school but since he was smart and the nuns had faith in him they were able to provide him with a scholarship: “His family could not afford to send him to school. But the nuns believed in him because he was smart and a good boy.” (McKay 44). This shows how tony was viewed as a person before everything with the LRA happened. Tony also had a dream to become a priest when he was older. He never openly said it but it was very obvious to others; “ He has never actually said to his friends, but everyone knew that tony really wanted to become a priest.” (McKay 45). This shows that Tony wanted to go to school to repay god and how much of a good kid we was and how he didn't deserve to have to become a rebel soldier.
Tony loves him so thats the main reason why she gives him another chance, but he also did allot for her to realise that she could be losing her soulmate, another person who helped her find that out was her friend Jone. Jone helps her out by kicking her out of her house and telling her what a great husband she has and how she has become a better person with him.
Tony, Wes's older brother, serves as his primary role model throughout his life. As a child, Wes looks up to the Tony, who holds his own street corner and sells drugs. "To Wes, Tony was a 'certified gangsta.' Tony had started dealing drugs... before he was ten. By the time he was fourteen, Tony had built a fierce reputation in the neighborhood. Despite his skinny frame and a baby face, his eyes were lifeless and hooded, without a spark of optimism" (27). All Wes wants is to be like Tony. He looks up to his older brother and is incapable of seeing his flaws with the drug dealing and violence in his life. By the time Tony is a teenager, the drug game has made him "lifeless". Wes decides to look up to this lifeless figure, even though Tony has barely any hope for his future. Wes respects Tony's "fierce reputation". Tony, instead of working hard to gain his respect, intimidates and threatens others for it. Wes is taught that this is the only way to gain respect, because there is no one else in his life who shows him the right
“I got up and pretended to study the pictures on the walls like I was a lover of religious art. When I got to the Merciful Mother right above Sinita’s head, I reached in my pocket and pulled out the bottom I’d found on the train. It was sparkly like a diamond and had a little hole in back so you could thread a ribbon through it and wear it like a romantic lady’s choker necklace. It wasn’t something I’d do, but I could see the button would make a good trade with someone inclined in that direction.
To tackle the housing affordability, first of all, it is crucial to lift the supply of housing as it will release the pressure on the housing price. Nevertheless, the supply of housing is inelastic as it requires an adequate fund, time, approval from the Government. Besides, the housing system is heavily dependent on the private sector. Thus, the Government should provide initiatives for housing providers to shift the supply of houses in the market. Australia would follow the policies from other countries to tackle the housing affordability. However, it has to fit in the Australian context. These policies might work well in other places but it does not mean that it will be applicable in Australia. The Singapore Government has a public
Despite the fact that Antonio is only a newborn, the two sides of the family have already predetermined his path in life. His mother, Maria, wants Antonio to become a priest while his father, Gabriel, would rather him be free and follow in his example. Both parents want to instill their own aspirations upon him and partake in a mentalgame of tug of war with Antonio, the youngest and last son of the family, the final chance to make one of his parent’s dreams a reality. At a young age, Antonio is forced to come to a consensus of which parent will he please and which one will he forsake. This fact lingers over him and often resurfaces within his dreams. Though he doesn’t yet have to reach a decision, this dream acts as a cautionary reminder that he will have to soon in the future as it slowly approaches.
The geography of rivers is important to their symbolism in this story. Antonio’s river starts from a lake, a place of no morals; studies prove that infants are selfish beyond belief, and so is water at its birth. His river carries the water to the ocean, the place where all water lands, carrying the blood and salt and debris that it picks up on its long journey. All high rivers go to the ocean, no matter how many lakes they go through. The ocean is where water goes to die, until its spirit, in clean water, is carried through the clouds back into the frigid mountain lakes, where it is born again. This is the cycle of water, and the cycle of life.
In addition, Tony’s mother Maria was a staunch catholic who desperately wanted her youngest son to become a priest to a small community of farmers. Her roots were in farming and living off the land (having a mutually benefiting relationship-being connected to the land). She prayed during times of family toil constantly. Tony has a dream after his brothers beckon him into a whorehouse to sleep with the women at “Rosie’s House.” He refuses the offer and affirms that he will preserve his innocence in order to become a priest in the holy catholic faith. His brothers mock him. They try to tell him that in being a man and the son of a vaquero his need for bodily pleasure will become stronger. Here is where I believe Tony accepts the destiny that his mother supplies for him as a man of god, but again his faith in this religion fails. He feels that his catechism will protect him from being corrupted and that god will reveal himself during this ceremonial rite-but nothing happens. He thought that when he partakes in this ceremony all will be revealed to him, but it is not.
The formula of the simplest possible compound containing only C and I atoms is CI4.
Tony himself went through the process of growing up and losing his innocence as well throughout the novel. In the beginning of the whole story, Tony is concerned with nothing much but his own little world like every child ought to be. His worries and experiences are really nothing compared to what he had in store for him later on, but although his later experiences would be rather unreal it still would be how any child would grow up, very gradual learning and taking things in stride. So as the story
In the biomythography, Zami, by Audre Lorde, Lorde uses specific scenes to highlight arguments running throughout the text. The epilogue is Lorde's reflection on her life and emphasizes many of her struggles and ideals about life. Lorde uses this final place in the book to show the reader how her journey throughout life gave her the ability to define a home. This passage emphasizes that Lorde faced many hardships, especially the challenges of self-integration. Lorde, was a minority in every group that she belonged to. Because of this, Lorde had trouble with both fitting in and defining herself; it was not until Lorde became confident in being different that she could find a true home.
He kills Narciso in cold blood. He is a true coward and he hides behind others instead of facing those who he seeks to fight.
Cleansing and rejuvenation are themes that are suggested by the author, and symbolized through the use of water. In one of his dreams, Tony refers to the waters of the river, " I must lift the muddy waters of the river in blessing to our new home!" (Anaya 26) The cleansing qualities of the river show Tony's desire to put the tragic happenings of his life behind him, and begin anew. His desire is to be washed clean from the haunting memories if Lupito's death. Another reference to water is the waters of baptism. In Tony's dream his parents argue about what water he was baptized in. "Oh please tell me which is the water that runs through my veins." (Anaya120) The waters of baptism represent cleansing, but in the dream his parents argue over whether he was baptized with the holy water of the moon, or the salt water from the oceans. This represents his parent's pulling him in two opposite directions. Later in this dream Ultima explains to both of Tony's parents that in reality both of their waters are the same. This shows that Tony is rejuvenated by the idea that he dose not have to choose between one parent or another, but can take the best of both of them. Because of the water Tony is able to
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.
Bless Me, Ultima is a story about the maturation of a young Mexican-American boy, Antonio M’arez, struggling with many questions about his destiny, life and death, and good and evil. Ultima who comes to live with Antonio becomes his caretaker and his teacher. Antonio learns there are powers in the world that differ from his beliefs in the Catholic faith. Ultima teaches Antonio “that the tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength that resides in the human heart”. Ultima shows Antonio how to experience the magic of life with his heart and not with his eyes. For the first time, he sees the river not as something to be feared but as a source of life, “I had been afraid of the awful