The Role Of Revenge In Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

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

As Ultima is dying, Antonio asks “‘Bless me, Ultima”’ (Anaya 260). After my first time reading this, I didn’t find that line to have any importance. However, after taking some time to think and focus on what really was the main purpose of this book, I took an assumption that this three word line was the final of the book, the resolution and the theme. It is so interesting to me that Mr. Anaya would place such an importance on just three words. But it really symbolizes the path that Antonio would want to take. Instead of following in the direction of the catholic church, Antonio decided that he would follow in the gods of nature (i.e Golden Carp). Because of Ultima blessing him he wouldn’t follow in the Catholic church because only a priest can bless someone, and Ultima is not a

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.

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

Bless Me, Ultima has many recurring motifs that surface during key points in the book, such as Antonio losing his innocence. After his brothers returned he had a dream of them entering a local brothel and in his dream, he pleads for them to not enter this evil place. His brothers ridiculed him for not entering and only his brother Andrew said he will not enter until Antonio has lost his innocence. His mother was also in this dream and she said "You are innocent when you do not know, but you already know too much about the flesh and blood of the Marez men". (Anaya 76) His priest tells him you are only innocent when you do not know, innocence is lost with the arrival of understanding. Antonio has seen 3 deaths, you can begin to say that he is no longer pure of innocence as it has become tainted by those deaths he has witnessed firsthand.

Rudolfo Anaya’s novel, Bless Me, Ultima, depicts the struggle of a young boy, Antonio, to find his path in life. As he tries to understand events of his waking hours, his dreams haunt his unconsciousness. Through the interpretation of the symbolism of Antonio’s dreams, the reader develops a deeper understanding of Antonio’s struggles.

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.

An essential part of someone 's life is a place where they are left alone with their own thoughts, not being judged by anyone or anything outside of them. In many cases, this sense of safety can only be found within themselves, because their world is being torn apart by outside influences that have little regard for their own perspective. Similarly, this is ever-present with Antonio and his family in the book Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. In almost every aspect , Antonio 's family persistently attempts to influence him to their own accord, with even his brothers becoming distant memories that left him and expecting him to fulfill his parents ' antithetical wishes.

In the novel, Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya portrays the negative effect the bickering between the families and the future of Antonio that takes a toll on how Antonio perceives it. In the novel, Antonio sometimes never really expresses his take on certain events, even if they were traumatic, Antonio then exclaims that, “Sometimes I felt like Jason, like I wanted to shouth and cry, but I never did.” (Anaya 10). This can be portrayed in many ways, but take into consideration the continuous strive of taking pride in his family and also acting and behaving cautiously in order to keep shame away from his parents. It can be reasonably justified as to why Antonio would feel like Jason and his character is viewed as quite developed at his refusal to show his feelings in which are left behind at the pressuring decision of what family to

Death in one’s life time is unavoidable. In a way those effected by death, die themselves but ultimately shed that part of their life to grow a new stronger and wiser layer in its place. Rudolfo Anaya shows this perfectly in his novel Bless Me, Ultima, with the use of his character Antonio. Anaya uses death as a catalyst to the solution for Antonio’s frustrations on religion. Each death showing significances to the plot and or on Tony because of how it caused him to question his beliefs and the beliefs pressured on him. Death is one of the sole constant in this novel, it begins and ends in death to where one can say Anaya interprets death to pioneer the resolution for Antonio’s ambivalence.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” (Mahatma Gandhi). While this famous saying is obviously theoretical, Anaya uses a much more literal interpretation of the idea by physically removing Tenorio’s eye out while he is in the middle of getting his revenge, hence giving the readers a small hint of Tenorio’s ultimate state at the end of his quest. In his novel, Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya uses the archetypal situation of a quest for revenge to depict Tenorio’s need for retribution towards Ultima, thus showing that the more desperate a person gets, the more vengeful they become. In the earlier chapters of Bless Me, Ultima, Tenorio’s need for revenge is not immediately apparent, as he is unaware of the identity of his daughter’s killer, and is still slightly scared of Ultima. As Tenorio starts to gain more and more hatred towards Ultima, he takes desperate actions to carry out his scheme of vengeance. Though he wants her dead, Tenorio is not yet vengeful enough to kill Ultima himself, thus leaving him to

Still, there was another figure to believe in, Ultima. Ultima was welcomed into their home, and performed amazing treatments that only a god could do. He was not sure what to believe in. Ultima was the only individual whom he knew existed and had personally seen her powers put to work. In Chapter Eleven Antonio explains his own thinking process as he witness’s the Golden Carp for the first time as he says, “The golden carp," I whispered in awe.

The theme of Revenge has been utilized in numerous works of art throughout history, including books, plays, movies, etc. Revenge is the result of one’s desire for vengeance, however, revenge is known to be implied under high emotions of anger thus not with reason concluding with a horrible outcome. Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ is no doubt a play about a tragedy caused by revenge; Prince Hamlet’s retribution for his father, King Hamlet’s murder and Laertes vengeance for his father, Polonius’ murder. The theme of revenge in Hamlet is portrayed through various literary techniques such as foreshadowing and irony.

Sestinas Song of Evil So much evil. The awkward moments of disconnection.