Magical Realism : ' Bless Me, Ultima ' And ' Flight '

In contrast to John’s newly crafted dreams, Alfonso, Alexandra’s aunt, also had dreams that did not become reality. She relates her love story and dream of a future with Gustavo Madero. She eventually concludes: “What is constant in history is greed and foolishness and a love for blood and this is a thing that even God-who knows all that can be known-seems powerless to change” (239). According to Alfonso, dreams are “foolishness”. Furthermore, if the all-knowing God can not change destiny then dreams certainly have no role in the crafting of destiny. God’s inability to change destiny, further highlights conflict between John Grady’s destiny and his aspirations. Through out the novel he makes decisions based on his dreams. Alfonso insinuates the necessity for John to acknowledge the consequences of his actions as a result of his fantasies: “…if it were fate that ruled our houses it could perhaps be flattered or reasoned” (231). The decisions that John makes based on his fantasies affect his destiny.

Antonio, who has begun to discover the importance of independence, must use this to his mother, who has her own vision of his future. The fact that he holds this value signifies growth in Tony’s character, and his continuing development into a man.

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.

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.

experiences, result in the loss of innocence. Even though it was tough going through all these events, Antonio receives strength that will assist him extremely throughout his life, with fights and revelations. His incidents have developed the brawny, grown man he will soon be. Transformations are always needed for us to be fully grown, even though it can be hard and

Even though Antonio has cultural conflicts, his relationship with his brothers, parents, and uncles, are very close, which is extremely significant through the novel. Antonio comes from a very close family circle and he feels as if a big weight of pressure is coming from every side of his family when it relates to determining his future. While his mother and his Luna uncles want him to become a farmer priest like their side of the family, his father and Marez uncles want him to become a vaquero like them. “Gabriel, they shouted, you have a fine son! He will make a fine Vaquero!” (5). Antonio feels an obligation to answer

For example, in the beginning of the story, Antonio dreamt about his parents and their families conflicting cultural arguments about their future expectations of what they wanted Antonio to be, either a priest or a vaquero. The Lunas and the Marez argued for the possession of the afterbirth remains and cord in order to plan and set out Antonio’s path through their beliefs. This argument in Antonio’s dream became so intense that each party was willing to fight

Magical realism is the blend of magic and reality, it treats magical occurrences as mundane. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya a young boy, Tony experiences magical events when an old curandera, Ultima comes to live with his family. As Tony experiences death, magical healing, and fulfillment from a non-catholic god, he starts to contemplate his religious beliefs and direction in life. Magical realism is used throughout the book with symbols like the golden carp, the owl, and water. The symbolism enriches the text by adding depth to magical realism.

The point of having familial and inner tension within Antonio and Maggie was so that they’re able to use that tension and develop as a result from it. For Antonio both of his familial tension caused by his parents, and his inner tension, caused by death as well as religion, resulted in Antonio maturing as a character. Antonio being forced to either be a priest or a vaquero led to overall confusion to what or who he will be but through this confusion he made the decision upon himself that he will choose his own path and destiny. Antonio decided to make and follow his own dreams, he stood up for himself. Although it may be unclear what exactly Antonio ends up becoming, the reader can assume that Antonio became a writer due to his love of learning.

life of Antonio and now has began the process of growing up at an earlier age. Also leading to

Antonio is faced with many different options about religion and himself, which throughout the book is a big factor. Many important people in Antonio’s life want him to grow up and be happy, however they also have high expectations for him and want him to follow a certain path in his life. He must chose if he will follow the path of his mother, the Luna, or the path of his father, the Márez. In Antonio’s dreams he hears his mother and father talking to him. In his dream his mother says, “Mother of God make [Antonio] a priest”(pg. 45) while his father says, “He will make a fine vaquero”(pg. 5). When the mother and father says “make” it shows that they want him to be something and follow their hopes for him. Also his parents are saying to Antonio that he must choose which path to take. Antonio’s

The upbringing of children between the two cultures contrast one another through the expectations of their youth and personalities created through their various upbringings. This dramatic shift in cultures is visible when Antonio begins public school for the first time. Antonio’s schooling serves as his first institution where he must interact with American children and is exposed to their way of life. An obvious cultural barrier is revolves around language. Antonio enters school without knowing a lick of English and as described by Crossroads, A Journal of English Studies, “…it is a well-known fact that language is one of the most important elements of human identity and culture”. Antonio’s language separates him from the other children and makes him feel alienated. It was hard enough leaving home when his parents were arguing over his future as a man. Not only does his language build an initial barrier between himself and the English-speaking children, but by throwing him into an institution where all of his teachers speak only English, he is forced to adapt to the new culture. Aside from his language barrier, Antonio finds himself being antagonized because of the food that he eats. Food symbolically is supposed secure and fulfilling, but instead Antonio’s Mexican lunch brings upon abuse from the other students. This new terrifying reality which Antonio lives in brings about thoughts of running away and other miserable feelings. However, Antonio is able to conquer his situation and the school goes from being an institution of suffering, to one of

When writing a novel, an author often includes several similarities and references to their personal or history. An example of this is Rudolfo Anaya and his book, Bless Me, Ultima, a coming of age story revolving around the life of a young boy growing up in New Mexico, Antonio. Antonio's two families have opposing values and views which confuse him, making him feel as if he has to make a choice. The setting, characters/families, circumstances, and culture of Bless Me Ultima are all a projection of Anaya's life. Rudolfo Anaya wrote Bless Me, Ultima to portray his struggle to find his place in the world, or to have a sense of belonging, and to revert back to his native style.

Antonio’s dreams reveal that his family is very important to him. He fears the future of his life of which path will he take. His desire was to become a priest after his dreams. Later in the story his desire changes to something else.

Antonio experiences an internal struggle after witnessing his brother, Andrew, at Rosie’s Brothel. To understand the root of this conflict, we must remember Antonio’s dream in Chapter 9. In this dream, all of his brothers enter Rosie’s despite Antonio warning them that entering would be a sin. He begged his Andrew not to enter, and Andrew agreed to wait with him until he lost his innocence. When he sees Andrew in Rosie’s, he begins to question if he has lost his innocence on account of the deal they made in his dream. He recalls all of the evil he has seen, like Lupito’s murder, the three witches that cursed his uncle, and even the town coming to hang Ultima. He claims that he carries all of the evil inside of him. He claims that the Holy Sacraments