Rudolfo Anaya's Use of Magic Essay

In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, one of the main characters, Ultima is accused many times of being a witch. Ultima is a curandera who uses herbs and medicines to cure people. She goes to live with Antonio Marez, a young boy who lives in the llano with his parents and two sisters due to the fact that she cannot live by herself and had nowhere to stay. Although many people think she is a witch, her use of herbs, medicines, and scapulars show that she is merely just a curandera. With her use of chants and having her spirit in her owl, many are led to believe that she is really a witch.

In chapter 10, Ultima encounters a situation in which she must lift a curse from the body Antonio’s Uncle Lucas and cure him from the near clutches of death that was inflicted by Tenorio’s 3 bewitched Trementina daughters. With Ultima busy creating herbal preparations for Lucas’s cure she instructed Antonio to aide her with apprentice like duties such as making a fire and following her commands to helping his uncle drink the remedy. As the night grew longer Antonio witnessed Ultima use her magic to cure his uncle Lucas and rebound the cure back to its origin. Antonio witnessed Ultima mold three black clay dolls resembling the Trementina girls and chanting of prayers “You have done evil,” she sang, “But good is stronger than evil, “And what you sought to do will undo you…”(Anaya, pg. 101). Finally after the arduous process to cure Lucas’s curse, Lucas vomited a huge ball wiggling hair in which later Ultima burned by the tree of the evil Trementina’s dancing tree. As a result Ultima triumphantly saved Lucas’s life through the way of Curandera, and Antonio realized how the powers of church and doctors

Tony being brought up to the idea that God is everything and that he was supposed to be a priest, who was the one closest to God was all being questioned since Ultima’s spirit being present in Lupito’s death rather than God himself.

As Antonio is going through life, Ultima uses her wisdom to guide him through his

Ultima's curing of Antonio's uncle is an instance where her powers have proved to work while God's has failed. His uncle was cursed by the daughters of Tenorio Trementina after confronting them during a satanic ritual. Ultima was then called to try and save him from dying. "The church would not allow your grandfather to let me use my powers. The church was afraid that... The priest at El Puerto did not want the people to place much faith in the powers of la currandera. He wanted the mercy and faith of the church to be the villagers' only guiding light."(Anaya 97) The Lunas waited to call Ultima because the church didn’t want the prosperity of her powers cause religious ambivalence amongst their followers. Antonio was able to witness la currandera work her magic and cure his

A clear theme in Bless Me, Ultima is Antonio’s struggle to find who he is amidst two sides of himself: the Lunas and the vaqueros. He fears for his future, where he believes he will have to decide between the two parts of himself, and inevitably disappoint one half of the people in his life. He fears what his life will be. He fears the river. This all changes when Ultima arrives. She teaches him to love the presence of the river, and to love his life however it may come. She shows him that the river is the lifeblood of the herbs she uses to heal and save, and that he can use his life to help others as well. But her spirit, in the owl, also shows him that life, and the river, can be very dangerous (Anaya, 14).

     After reading the book, Bless Me Ultima, I realized the integral importance of religion and need for religion and answers to life’s questions. At first, while reading this book, I thought it was just about relationships and the meaning in them but as the plot progressed I realized the book, is more than that, it questions the structures that decide the rules, morals and values that society is composed of. There were three types of religion that I identified in the book that young Anthony chose to pursue. The first was the paganistic rituals of Ultima. Ultima came into the life of Tony at a very young age and had great influence n the child. Ultima saved the life of Lucas through Tony’s

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, by Rudolfo Anaya, is a coming-of-age story that revolves around a young boy named Antonio. In the story antonio is growing up with half his family wanting him to be a farmer the other half wanting to explore and not sit in one spot, and other wanting him to be a priest. Then, one day a old lady by the name ultima comes along and teaches him about herbs and magic. In the story ultima uses “magic” to heal or save people. We do not know if they share the power or just Ultima has them but they have powers. Throughout the story you can see that Antonio and Ultima have a special connection and get together very well. Also in the story Antonio has dreams that will foreshadow the plot.

Ultima's Christ like nature is displayed through her abilities, or powers as a curandera to perform miracles. Ultima's powers are shown in the text as being good; although, it is confusing to say whether her powers are coming from Christianity, or witchcraft? To illustrate the issue of this comparison to Christ, Antonio's mother recalls Ultima's powers saying, "I have seen her work miracles. She learned from the flying man from Las Pasturas"(Anaya 85). The incongruity of this statement to that of Christianity is clear cut. According to the Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, Anaya acquired the myth and superstitions from his family who lived in Pastura about a women like Ultima, who could heal (42). From Anaya's experience, syncretism of miracles and elements of superstition in folk Catholicism is apparently true. However, the only one to perform miracles in Christianity is Christ.

Two other literary elements that Rudolfo Anaya includes in “Bless Me, Ultima” are magical realism and archetypes. Magical realism can be described as something that is not necessarily real but is believable and could be considered a miracle. Archetypes are typical examples of a person, place or thing. Anaya includes many examples of both not only to make the story grasp the reader more, but to guide the reader to interpret the story through their own lenses.

Characters: Ultima- An old Curandera who comes to spend her last days with Antonio and his family. She is Tony’s mentor and helps him to find the right path for his life.

Ultima is an old curandera, which means healer in spanish, who comes to El Puerto to live with the Marez family after she is left alone in the town of Las Pasturas. When she arrives and turns to greet him, Antonio feels awestruck. According to Antonio, he “felt the power of a whirlwind sweep around me (Anaya 12).” A series of events occur throughout the story which makes Antonio overprotective of La Ultima. For instance, when Antonio and Ultima go to his grandfather’s house to cure his uncle, “Some women bowed their heads, other made the sign of the cross (Anaya 104).” Crossing your forehead in front of someone who is helping your family is a sign of disrespect. I feel that if I were Antonio, I would feel very offended because Ultima is my friend and nobody should be disrespected in front of the people you care for the most. As Antonio grows, he finds himself questioning his religion and comes to accept that everything is not what it seems. For example, Antonio realizes that the people of the town can be very judgemental and will blindly follow anyone because they fear the unknown. Antonio has to deal with is brothers who are led astray by the prostitutes of the town and their unrealistic dreams. After the war ended, his brothers came back, but with different plans for themselves. They leave because they want to be free, but I believe that they chain

Throughout the book Antonio is introduced to many new ideas. The first is the experiences he has with Ultima. Ultima is a healer who learned

Ultima teaches Antonio of this magical strength as she tries to help him understand the murder of Narciso. The townspeople do not seek justice because Narciso had been the town drunk and his life seemed worthless, “Because Narciso was the town drunk, nobody cared much”. Ultima explains that Narciso had died trying to help a friend and that was honorable. Once Narciso had been a respectable young man but hard times had fallen upon him after the death of his young wife. Narciso had turned to alcohol to ease the pain but had remained forever indebted to Ultima for trying to save his wife. Ultima uses the death of Narciso to teach Antonio the ways of his ancestors. She explains, “The old people…always helped each other; through good or bad they stuck together, and the friendships that were formed in that desolate llano were bonds for life”. It was through Ultima that Antonio discovers life is not what is always seems. Narciso had died trying to warn Ultima but few remembered anything good about him. Narciso had an inner goodness that had been hidden by his use of alcohol. Ultima taught Antonio to see the magic in Narciso, just as she had thought him to see the magic in the river and all that surrounded it.