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Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Essay

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"Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

Children believe what their parents tell them but as they get older they start to question that which used to be unquestionable. Bless Me, Ultima is a novel by Rudolfo Anaya about a young Chicano boy, Antonio Juan Marez y Luna, who is growing up and seeing the world for how cruel it really is. A wise old curandera, or faith healer, Ultima, arrives just before Tony receives his first glimpse into the world of men. Ultima gives Tony spiritual healing throughout the book, as well as advice to keep him in harmony with nature and his spirit. The more Tony sees of death in the little town of Guadalupe, New Mexico, the more he questions the Christian God and turns towards the golden carp, a pagan god of …show more content…

By growing up and becoming a man, boys witness acts of sin and commit a few acts themselves. Tony has witnessed sin but he is not a man because he has not committed any sins or seen enough to really understand the world he is living in. Tony is taught that, ?It was a sin to grow up and be a man.'; (31), by listening to his mother, and realizes that one day he would be grown up and lose his innocence to become a man. Because of this Tony sees how cruel God can be by putting boys on earth to grow up and become men. Tony asks whether his destiny and faith are the ones he wants to believe in and begins his journey towards changing his spiritual beliefs, and the golden carp only reinforces these doubts that Tony is just beginning to realize.

The next step in Tony?s spiritual journey begins when Tony sees another god and wonders whether this god is any kinder to his people than God. Tony believed that God should have forgiven Narciso for his sins and not Tenorio because Tony was partial to Narciso. God is not partial and when he gives forgiveness to one man he must also give it to another, but Tony does not like this. God?s response was ?I will...if you also ask me to forgive Tenorio.'; (173) Tony can?t believe that his God would think of forgiving an evil man like Tenorio. Once Narciso dies and Tony sees the beauty of the golden carp Tony starts to wonder even more whether God is really as good and wonderful as Tony has been taught he is. Tony starts to

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