Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima

(CL) Antonio comes from a line of farmers on his mother’s side of the family who hold a deep and meaningful connection with the land and nature since it was the source of their livelihoods. Whether or not Antonio will become a man of the land or a priest, his roots will still remain partially planted in nature.

Furthermore, his dreams influence his belief of religion. In one of his dreams it shows God as unforgiving and punishing. God tells Antonio that “vengeance is mine” (173). Towards the end of the dream, the Golden Carp appears as “ such beautiful brilliance that he became a new sun in the heavens” (176). The Golden Carp seems much more positive than the Catholic God because of how the different God was described as in his dream. Antonio believes more of the Golden Carp rather than God because God punished people while the Golden Carp “swallows everything good and evil…and…becomes…a new sun to shine its good light upon the earth” (176). In the first dream, it mentions of another power, describing it as the presence of the river. Antonio asks to save his brothers but “…sparks flew when [he] spoke. It is the presence of the river” (26). This foretells that there is another great

This sets up the initial conflict for Antonio, he wants to believe in his mother's God, but at the same time he finds conviction and truth in what Samuel is telling him about the golden carp god. Furthermore, while Antonio is supposed to be praying to God he says, "There wasn't time to discover Him, like I could do when I sat on the creek bank and watched the golden carp swim in the sun-filtered waters" (233). I think this shows that Antonio feels a deeper connection to nature and the golden carp than he does to God and traditional values. He is more like Ultima, than like either one of his parents. The golden carp offer Antonio a way of thinking that is free and unstructured, unlike that of Catholicism.

Antonio’s introduction to the golden carp presents a problem for him because of the Catholic view of pagan gods, yet Antonio feels a strong connection to it. When he first witnesses the golden carp he is overcome by “a sudden illumination of beauty and understanding” he had “expected God to do at [his] first holy communion” (Anaya 114). When Antonio’s questions to God are not answered during his first communion, he believes God has abandoned him. However, with continued pressure from his mother to become a priest and from Cico to choose between Catholicism and the golden carp, he struggles to decide what he believes. As Antonio’s doubt deepens, he questions God’s definition of good and evil and His plan concerning who receives forgiveness and who receives condemnation. In a dream, God speaks to Antonio saying, “You would have a God that forgives all, but when it comes to your personal whims you seek punishment for your vengeance” (173). For example, Antonio believes Florence should be forgiven, regardless of his disbelief in God, but Tenorio should receive punishment. When the Church cannot answer his questions, Antonio turns to the Golden Carp, and even considers that the Virgin should be a god. Antonio is lost in his faith identity,

His parents have ideas which conflict each other when it relates to their precious last son’s fate. Like a hawk swooping down on its prey, Ultima, an elderly curandera comes to occupy a room in the Marez residence. To everyone else in the house Ultima staying with them is negligible, but the bond Antonio and Ultima soon begin to create is the first step into Antonio’s quest in finding his fate. “When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth. The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood.”(Anaya 1) Ultima’s presence alone lifted Antonio’s spirits, even the little things such as the llano he lived on all his life that had become mundane to him, began to glisten with great importance.

Narciso and Antonio do not have many direct encounters in the novel, yet Narciso has a profound effect on Antonio’s religious maturation. Narciso, who is considered the town drunk, is present in many important conflicts as a mediator figure. He goes to great lengths to help his friends, which is shown when he attempts to convince the townsmen not to rashly kill Lupito after he had shot the sheriff. Once Lupito is killed Antonio worries about the fate of the men on the bridge who shot him, including his own father. Antonio wonders "Did God listen? Would he hear? Had he seen my father on the bridge? And where was Lupito 's soul winging to, or was it washing down the

While Maria enforces her beliefs on the entire family, Gabriel isn’t much of a religious man. Gabriel was a vaquero, a free man with nothing to bound him, his limits were about as far as the eye can see. He was a Marez. Even though Gabriel was of the Marez bloodline he was still under the control of Maria. His inner beast was held inside a cage like a lion held in the zoo. He was at the top, but now he is just a fraction of a man of who he used to be. To be on display for all. Antonio is reminded that he is both Luna and Marez. At Antonio’s birth the Marez family came and stated with conviction (Anaya,70) “Gabriel, they shouted, you have a fine son! He will make a fine Vaquero!” Antonio felt even more pressure now that he had to decide whether to become a priest or a vaquero. If he becomes a priest he might become a man with the power of God’s influence in his hands

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.

Parental pressure and religious ambivalence play a big role in Antonios life. In this dream we can easily see both of these themes. The divided world of his mother and father, and Catholicism and the religion of the Golden

To start off, Antonio is always under pressure from certain people that want him to do specific things in hopes of him securing the future of his people. This ties into conflicting cultures, which plays an important role when it comes to Antonio’s early life since his actions are defined by the conflicts between the Luna and the Marez. The Luna are the devoted farmers who worship the earth and the moon, while the Marez are very free-spirited vaqueros who are extremely devoted to their lifestyle and horses. Being a Marez is what causes Antonio’s three older brothers to go into the world and leave there family behind. “It was true, I thought, it is the Marez blood in us that touches us with this urge to wonder. Like the restless, seeking sea” (40). His brothers chose a path that Antonio is struggling to pick and cannot seem to identify with. This is a big deal because Antonio is only in the first grade and he is being pressured into growing up faster than he should be.

An important motif in “Bless Me, Ultima” are Antonio’s dreams. His dreams foreshadow major events and make him question his beliefs, especially revolving around

Florence wasn’t all that religious but he went to church anyways just to hang with his friends. Animal, I thought. Were the fish of the golden carp happier than we were? Was the golden carp a better God? (Pg. 197). This was Tony and Antonio talking about god and how he wasn’t reliable that it wasn’t bad to have knowledge outside of religion. Florence is just a small kid and he believes that isn’t looking over him. He does not believe in God because he lost his parents at an early age so he thinks that God is to blame for all of his misfortunes. Florence was found at the river where the carp swam floating motionless he had drowned. My attention was centered on the northern blue skies. There two hawks circled as they rode the warm air currents of the afternoon. They glided earthward in the wide, concentric circles. (Pg. 241). These hawks could symbolize the freedom, that maybe Florence was finally free from his torment that he has while he was alive. Florence was also a child when he died so he was pure of heart he did not commit mortal

As humans, we are granted experiences that both enrich and alienate us; bits of our lives are taken from us but others are added to make us whole. Though, sometimes, we are taken from the bits of our lives, and have to

Antonio learns about the golden carp from Cico, a friend of his. According to Cico, the golden carp was once a god who loved the people of Antonio's town, Guadalupe. The people were not allowed to fish for the brown carp that lived in the river that flowed around the town. These fish were sacred to the gods. However, because of a drought and no food, the people had to eat the carp to survive. This angered the gods. They wanted to punish all the people by death but "they relented from killing the people. Instead, they turned the people into carp and made them live forever in the waters of the river-". The god who loved the people wished to become a carp like them to protect them from the dangers of the river. The gods agreed and "because he was a god they made him very big and colored him the color gold". Antonio cannot believe there is a new god and seeks answers from Ultima. Ultima is pleased that he has learned so much, but says she cannot tell him what to believe for he must decide for himself. The Golden Carp represents all the questions Tony has about religion and morality. Tony’s confusion is due to conflicting forces in both these aspects of life. When Cico first introduces the Carp to Tony, he is forced to make a tough decision, “Do you believe the Golden Carp is a god?” which he skillfully evades until he has the information he wants to make his decision. After the emergence of the Carp, Tony begins to question his

At the beginning, the author (Equiano) gave an apologia, stating why he had chosen to write his narrative. He did not wish to be senseless, which is the danger when writing about one’s self. Somewhat, he wished to celebrate God, for God had made him a favorite and presented him with a great deal of favor,