Ultima is a Curandera in "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya Essay

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).

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

Ultima has some people accusing her of being a witch. There are quite a few people that believe she is a witch. They have some good reasons for thinking this. She does use voodoo dolls against Tenorio’s daughters, that doesn't help her case. “ When she was done she stood the three dolls around the light of the flickering candle,and I saw three women. Then Ultima spoke to the three women. “ You have done evil,” she sang, “ But good is stronger than evil, “And what you sought to do will undo you...(101).”That’s not the only thing she uses that could be considered black magic. She uses herbs from the llano to help people. She believes that the herbs she gets can do a number of things.” Ultima and I walked in the hills of the llano, gathering the wild herbs and roots for her medicines. We roamed the entire countryside and up and down the river. I carried a small shovel with which to dig, and she carried a gunny sack in which to gather our magic harvest (39).” She also believes that to pick an herb you have to speak to it.”For Ultima, even the plants had a spirit, and before I dug she made me speak

She represents the Native American minority culture and Christianity as a curandera. She is a Native American spiritual healer who is derived from Rudolfo Anaya's own experience, "of a woman who was said to have powers to cure sickness"(Hispanic Biography 42). The syncretism of Ultima's Christ like abilities are given in two illustrations.

Ultio, is the Latin word for Revenge, which the witchcraft craze of the 1800’s was indirectly a result of. Richard Godbeer argues that women and men, alike, were accused of witchcraft by vengeful neighbors. These vengeful acts, however, were a direct result of tensions in and around the colonies. In a new land faced by harsh weather, disease, and war with neighboring Native American tribes, many colonists needed an escape, something they could easily control and defeat. Accusing neighbors of witchcraft, was not only an act of revenge, but a way for colonists to band together against a common enemy they could destroy. They essentially created a substitute for their fears and hatred.

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.

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.

There are countless people within our society who do not believe in the old, traditional way of doing things. Doctors are very popular in today’s society, but many years ago people relied mainly on healers. Our ancestors relied on healers to help cure them, they would give the sick a remedy and a few days later they were as healthy as a horse. People tend to forget where they come from, but those whose lives were saved because of a healer’s knowledge about nature and plants will forever thank and never forget the person who blessed them with a second chance at life. Ultima, a curandera of the llano, is well-known to be effective with her remedies so everybody turns to her when they become ill. Back then the practice of Curanderismo played

In this scene, we see many elements of typical “brujeria”. The doll making, the hair, the song Ultima sang and the remedy she made. In most instances, making a doll to look like a specific person and wish to do harm to it believing it will make whomever the doll resembles feel pain is known as witchcraft. We see Ultima make three dolls to resemble the three witches who cursed Lucas however the only harm she wishes to do them is that which they tried to do to Lucas, “then Ultima spoke to the three women. ‘You have done evil,’ she sang, ‘but good is stronger than evil, and what you sought to do will undo you. . .’

was an elder lady that came to live with Antonio's family for her final years. She mentors and teachers Antonio during her final years.She shows Antonio her ability of making medicine that can help heal people.Her motivation is that she was to do good and help those that needed it.”My work was to do good,she continued, I was to heal the sick and show them the path of goodness.”(pg.260).Ultimas’ personality trait is that she is very caring for others and willing to help people on need.Ultima's character is the most complex, and although the deuteragonist, or the character second in importance, she can be seen as the heroine of the story. Ultima is a person of action, the one who performs the healings and provides guidance to others. She is the

Antonio realizes that Ultima ways of curing are both for and against the catholic church. Antonio had a dream about the waters of the moon and the waters on the land. Later on Antonio finds those clay dolls mentioned earlier and ultima makes it very clear to him that he is not to touch them. Tenorio finds one of his daughters dead and sees Ultima bag of herbs under her bed. An angry mob gathers to confront Ultima and they make her way through a door with the sign of the cross which is a strong catholic figure. It is known that a witch or bad spirits cannot go through the signs go the cross so they challenge Ultima to go through it which she successfully does. Antonio later finds out the cross hey made is gone . Narciso is dead and his death is declared an accident. Pneumonia strikes Antonio for a few weeks. Leon and eugene come over to visit for christmas. they destroyed their car they bought in las vegas on the way to Guadalupe. another one of Tenorios daugters becomes sick and is

Ultima is an old healer, curandera, evil yet good, wise, vengeful, protective about family, and Antonio’s mentor. She has a tremendous impact in the Luna y Márez family. Antonio’s mom, María says “When I married you and went to the Llano to live with you and raise your family, I could not have survived without la Grande ’s help” (Anaya, 3). Antonio’s mother also talks about how Ultima helped her when she was birthing her children.

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 is also one of Antonio’s spiritual advisors. As such she helps Antonio learn about the ways of the Earth and all the beauty of it. In some sense she brings him closer to the llano than he was prior to her involvement in his life. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca argues that: “Bless Me, Ultima is about the perseverance of faith in a world beset by evil”, and he gathers all this from the way Ultima teaches curanderismo to Antonio throughout the novel.

Therein lies the contradiction of the curandera, she cannot be categorized as only a pagan icon, in that curandera has respect for and practices the religion of Catholicism along with her healing (Blessed or Evil). Similar to the Virgin of Guadalupe, the character of Ultima, a curandera, defies easy classification as either of the native or dominant culture. The myth of the Miraculous Apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531 and Bless Me Ultima arise as cultural narratives of ambivalence, with elements of both resistance and assimilation in their characters, which elude definition by dominant culture's standards.