The owl was her soul!" (Anaya, 255) "I realized that the owl had been with me throughout the night. It had watched over all that had happened on the bridge. Suddenly the terrible, dark fear that had possessed me was gone." (Anaya, 23) 4. The significance of the story of the Golden Carp to Tony was that it made him question about gods. He knew of one God that he was told to always believe, which is God himself, but now he was told about another God which makes him question his religion and who…
your manners. You must not shame your father or your mother (7)," she tells her children while preparing for the arrival of Ultima. "My mother beamed. Deborah's good manners surprised her, but they made her happy, because a family was judged by its manners (11)," Antonio tries to describe the feelings that his mother has when his sister demonstrated good manners toward Ultima. Maria wants her family to respectable, because those families that are not are talked about in the community. She wants to…
dream his parents argue about what water he was baptized in. "Oh please tell me which is the water that runs through my veins." (Anaya120) The waters of baptism represent cleansing, but in the dream his parents argue over whether he was baptized with the holy water of the moon, or the salt water from the oceans. This represents his parent's pulling him in two opposite directions. Later in this dream Ultima explains to both of Tony's parents that in reality both of their waters are the same…
river and the forces of nature that surround it, he begins to understand the human journey and his destiny. 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…
World War II has caused. The families of soldiers are broken because their sons are at war. And now the horrors of the war have claimed two more deaths. Tony begins to question his belief in God after Ultima cures his Uncle Lucas and Tony sees the beauty of the golden carp. Tony witnesses Ultima cure his uncle after the Trementina daughters put a curse on Lucas. Ultima’s special power is the only thing that can heal the ailing man. Not even the Church can reverse the Trementina’s curse. After…
Cultural, religious and language conflicts in Bless Me, Ultima Bless Me, Ultima, written by Rudolfo Anaya and published in 1972, has become one of the most widely read as well as critically acclaimed novels in the Chicano literature. It is first in the trilogy of novels by Anaya, with Heart of Aztlan (1976) and Tortuga (1979) following it. This novel can be viewed from many angles as well as layers, as it intertwines issues or themes of psychological maturation, social changes, identity crisis and…
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…
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. An example of magical realism in the…
mind, but the Voice with me did not answer...The mass was ending, the fleeting mystery was already vanishing. (Anaya 221) This is a turning point for Antonio because all of his hopes and anticipation of knowing the answers are dissolved and he is left with nothing. This is when he relies most on Ultima’s great wisdom: “Ultima was a practitioner of ancient religion of the earth, curing people with medicine,” (Sparknotes) and performing exorcisms on villagers’ homes. Ultima and her ways led Antonio’s…
Tony’s dream his parents argue about what water he was baptized in. "Oh please tell me which is the water that runs through my veins." (Anaya120) The waters of baptism represent cleansing, but in the dream his parents argue over whether he was baptized with the holy water of the moon, or the salt water from the oceans. This represents his parent’s pulling him in two opposite directions. Later in this dream Ultima explains to both of Tony’s parents that in reality both of their waters are the same…
denounces war, especially when history, which he has shown to appreciate, reveals war’s ability to triumph over those with unsavory intentions. 11. “On the first day of school I awoke with a sick feeling in my stomach. It did not hurt, it just made me feel weak” (51.1). (C) When I was little I experienced the dread of leaving my mother when I had to leave her side and go to Sunday school in church. There is a feeling of being torn between the comfort of your mother and becoming independent and strong…
forgiven Narciso for his sins and not Tenorio because Tony was partial to Narciso. God is not partial and when he gives forgiveness to one man he must also give it to another, but Tony does not like this. God?s response was ?I will...if you also ask me to forgive Tenorio.'; (173) Tony can?t believe that his God would think of forgiving an evil man like Tenorio. Once Narciso dies and Tony sees the beauty of the golden carp Tony starts to wonder even more whether God is really as good and wonderful…
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. To further illustrate the comparison of Ultima to Christ is the aura of power Ultima's character seems to possess, and to which she gains respect as a healer. The…
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…
How else could you know the taste of chocolate without actually taking a bite of it and feeling it melt in your mouth? Though Tony learned many things from Ultima about strength, he turned to his father, Gabriel, when dealing with questions about his own identity. Tony was having difficulties deciding which side of the family and which way of life to follow, Luna or Marez. Though sometimes it is easy to choose one way or the other, at times it is best in fact not to choose, but rather to develop…
hair. This was his hair with which they had worked the evil. Ultima cured Lucas using only natural herbs and medicines. She did not perform any witchcraft. She also did this with the help of Antonio as well. 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…
family structure and language; and then, in more deep levels of religion, and basic understanding of oneself. Inner fights and double realities are present through out Antonio's development. Ramon Saldivar does an extensive study of Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, and as well as Shirley and Shirley, he seems to be afraid of calling or recognizing a…
speaking to God to save his brothers, he speaks to the presence of the river. This shows that he will have some religion dilemmas between God and the Golden Carp. In his last dream, Antonio witnesses “Tenorio capture the night spirit of Ultima and murder it, and Ultima died in agony” (244). Soon after this dream, Tenorio kills Ultima’s owl. Antonio then understood that the owl is her living soul. Furthermore, his dreams influence his belief of religion. In one of his dreams it shows God as unforgiving…
the time of Ultima’s death at the end of the story, the owl has taken on great significance in Antonio’s life and consequently in the progression of his understanding. "It was true" states Antonio "that the owl was Ultima’s spirit. It had come with Ultima, and as men brought evil to our hills the owl had hovered over us, protecting us." (Anaya, 256). Other animals play a magical part in Antonio's story. There is the golden carp, an enchanted fish that Antonio sets out to find. He is inexplicably…
Before curing Lucas, Ultima asked his brother if he would accept the responsibility of disturbing fate and he accepted. These kinds of events continue to happen all throughout the story. Tenorio tries to kill Ultima because according to him, she is responsible for his daughter’s deaths. Towards the end of the story he finds out that Ultima’s owl is actually her spirit so he goes after the owl. Antonio tries to warn Ultima but is not able to do anything about it. Ultima’s owl is shot, causing Ultima’s…
(26) he feels his soul grow under Ultima guidance. One of Tony’s obstacles in life is to become a man. His mother does not want him to become a man but his father argues saying “everything Tony sees and does makes him a man”(37) but Maria says that it is a sin for a boy to grow to be a man by saying that “life destroys the pureness God gives”. (36) but this is not the only diction Tony has to make. His first dream portrays his insecurity about his identity. He has to choose between the two is he…
In addition, Tony’s mother Maria was a staunch catholic who desperately wanted her youngest son to become a priest to a small community of farmers. Her roots were in farming and living off the land (having a mutually benefiting relationship-being connected to the land). She prayed during times of family toil constantly. Tony has a dream after his brothers beckon him into a whorehouse to sleep with the women at “Rosie’s House.” He refuses the offer and affirms that he will preserve his innocence in…
Ernie loves to brag. He does not like Tony very much and teases him every chance he gets. The Vitamin Kid is the fastest runner in Guadalupe, and he races Tony across the bridge to school every morning until he takes an interest in girls. Red is a Protestant, so he faces teasing very often from the group. Like Tony, he is a good student. Lloyd enjoys reminding everyone that they can be sued for ever the most minor of offenses. Abel, the smallest boy in the group, likes to urinate in the most inappropriate…
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. The final source of understanding for Antonio is God. He is expected to understand God, because…
lead to disillusionment. It is the nature of childhood to have more insight to their environment and open to myths that adults no longer entertain. The innocent tend to accept coincidences as magic. In Anaya’s novel, Antonio is very fascinated by Ultima and her powers as a curandera and does not seem to question her methods once she cure his Uncle Lucas. Her magic makes him question the teaching he receives in school and church in this narration: I had been thinking how Ultima’s medicine had cured…
Also the way they talk and act show how their childhood innocence is floating away while they don’t even know it. Then, there is the big example in one of Tony’s friends, Florence. An atheist, he didn’t accept the god of the church whom so many others in the town believed in. He didn’t have any faith in anything only because his life had gone through too much pain and harsh experiences. It is understandable of how Florence feels about life and god because of what he had gone…
This is especially true for Tony in BMU as he is torn on a myriad of levels. Is he Marez or Luna? Is he a future Catholic priest or vaquero? Tony verbalizes the quandary he is in when he asks, "What life will I choose" (Anaya 41)? Through Tony's dreams, the depth of the ambivalent dilemma is elucidated. From the very first dream in the novel, a stage is set for the ambivalent theme. Tony is witnessing a birth of a child who, barely out of the womb, is being fought over like the spoils of war…
Given these two choices, Tony feels he must choose between them. Anaya introduces Tony to a different culture, as he enters school; there he meets the white dominant culture head on. Tony, now blends a third culture into his life. Tony's heritage offers him two ways of being a Spanish-Mexican-American; in Alexie's novel, Victor strives to be an Indian, period. Victor’s culture, being different from Tony's, breeds different cultural problems. Victor, a Native American Indian, in Sherman Alexie's…
his video speech to appeal to the emotions of his fellow delegates. Henry begins his speech in a normal tone of voice, but throughout the video, his voice gradually gets louder with time, and in the end, he shouts his concluding line, “give me liberty, or give me death!”[4] This gradual volume change in Henry’s voice enabled him to appeal to the feelings of his audience effectively, and eventually emphasize on his message of fighting for liberty. At the beginning of Henry’s speech, he was aware…
shocked my mother for months. It left me scars and an unforgettable memory that I can recall even nowadays by looking into the mirror. On that particular day I have finally realized what being irresponsible can lead to and I swore to myself that I will not debate with my parents about what I have done, is right. Being misled by my friends and even my own intuition destroyed my reputation in the area I have lived. The Germany I know was not the same to me anymore because looking forward into 12th…
About Me I am Ane, a seventh grader who loves soccer like nothing else, iodizes Nicola Tesla, and has a relentless ambition to become a neurosurgeon. My preferred after school activity is the rough, yet enthralling sport of soccer. I also aspire to become like Nicola Tesla, an intelligent and modest man who changed the world. One thing that continuously drives me it my passion to become a neurosurgeon, a field that requires intelligence and hard work. As a 12 year old boy who is inspired by…
It also involves self-confidence, when I convince others to assert me, I also encourage myself at the same time. Personal branding The following illustrates what personal branding I have. Crisis management operating: Thanks to my experience from an internship at a hotel, I have trained to handle urgent circumstances and do so in a calm and professional manner. Handling Crisis well can turn it into an opportunity (Schwartz, 2011). I am confident that can face variety problems and deal with…
think I would be a good candidate for Me to We, because I want to make a huge difference in the world, starting from our school. I am a person who has acceptance and understanding. I know what it’s like to be different and face problems in a new place. I am a person who accepts and is willing to understand people from diverse cultures. I am an idealistic person. Who has great ideas waiting to be heard. I want to help Free the Children, and I want to be in Me to We because I am a committed and passionate…
The movie Arlington Road has perhaps the most unsatisfying ending ever. I saw it in 1999, and it still annoys the crap out of me. A close second? 12 Monkeys. All that buildup, and I’m not sure how to interpret the ending. Argh! Maybe I’m peculiar this way, but when I invest 2 hours of time in a movie, I like to see an ending that feels rewarding in some way. It doesn’t have to be a happy ending per se, and it’s also not much fun if the ending is totally predictable. It just has to be a satisfying…
can change the meaning of the poem without directly stating it. For instance, when I read the title of this poem, I immediately surmised that this piece would characterize a content relationship between two people. Reading the line, "you fit into me / like a hook into an eye" (1-2) gives one a picture of two jovial people having a lot in common. Their relationship is not incredibly tough to work at, and does not require any need for improvement. However, Atwood's next line tells us that the hook…
relationship with people I've known my entire life began to falter. I stopped caring about the friends that I had since I was young and didn't even try to keep in touch with them. I had such little respect for myself that I didn't want anyone around me that cared. Then at the start of my high school years I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't let others rule my life anymore but after years of acting a certain way its hard to change. I knew inside that I was worth more and better then I gave…
Many of the statements on there were very thought provoking. One of the statements was “we can’t understand somebody unless we walk a mile in their shoes”. To me, this is a very true statement and in both of the works it shows that. In Black Like Me this is what the whole basis of the book is about. John Howard Griffin disguises himself as a African American to see what their life is really like. In the movie Crash every character has their own story but none of the other characters seem to understand…
The graphic novel, Pedro and Me by Judd Winick, is a tribute to his friend Pedro Zamora, as well as his own story of personal growth. It is an inspiring story that shows the true meaning of friendship and love. It also displays information about HIV/AIDS and how to truly protect oneself against it. Pedro was a young, gay, HIV-positive Cuban American who spent his time educating people about the disease. They both appeared on MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco and chance put Judd and Pedro in the…
do that for him.” Due that the fact that I believe this quote to be true I chose my first memory of a now very close friend of mine, Amara. She had the goofiest and most outgoing character of any one I had met. I knew she was completely opposite of me and I loved it. I'll always remember her for her personality but she had so much more than that. Amara was a short kind of girl with a lot energy to more than make up for her vertical challenges. She had light chocolate-brown skin and a head of long…
thoughts and it is unknown whether they will happen in the future or not. No one can predict one’s future. However, he has made the decision “if you forget me”—if his love chooses to forget him, he will forget her as well, but if she still loves him, he will love her as he did before, like he said, “in me all that fire is repeated” and “in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten”. Also, there is assonance used at the end, such as “live”, “mine” in the last two lines. This assonance makes the poem…
Perhaps I will wake in fuzzy footed pajamas with bells and flowers on my headboard, and there will be kisses and waffles and cartoons waiting for me in the next room. Play will not be desperate but idle, and my imagination will fly beyond this cage of fear to a land with auburn-haired princesses and gnomes and fairy godmothers. God is sobering for me, though He may be liquor for others. They pass and we go unnoticed: two huddles of blanket and sleep-smashed hair, the same as any two of the…
for weeks on end. Every night. Every chance he could get me alone. I turned 12, then 13. Routine, like eating and sleeping and going to school. Next came his attempt to put his hand down my pants. I resisted, he backed off, until the next time. Again and again, until, finally, as before, I just didn't resist. He never said anything when I resisted, but his attitude towards me changed. He would ignore me. Not look at me. Not smile at me. Act like I didn't exist. In a house where he was the only…
Character: The main character in Pieces of Me is Maddie. Maddie is a teenager who ran away from home, because she didn’t get along very well with her mom’s boyfriend. Maddie is a confident, independent girl. She got around by herself and didn’t interact with others very much. After a few months of living on her own she met a guy named Q. Her and Q got along very well, but at first she wasn’t very open with him. The farther the book went on, the closer they got. Maddie didn’t have very much faith…
and drug problem. This is a really rough start, compared to the daughter, born into a happy marriage in a small suburb, where both of the parents have got a job, and a stabile everyday life. If these two girls could switch roles, the girl from ”Tell Me” would be living a good life, and the suburb girl would be living in misery, just like the main character of the story does. Your life is determined by your surroundings, your friends, and your family.…
This generational gap was what altered the development of real learning, for it allowed Generation Me children to assume that hard work was not needed to succeed and to learn. Due to the different mindset that was developed through the gap, self-esteem was not lacking in GenMe. So, it is understandable why Boomers felt that an individual should be more important than society. They had to go through life fighting for what they believed in, causing what Tannen calls the “human spirit” to take the blow…
The reasons mentioned above are huge to me and my ideal community, because as many of them state they promote a huge sense of togetherness and this would be key in any community of mine. Law and order: Residents are supposed to adhere to the laws of the country along with observing community rules and regulations. The rules and regulations shall be made in a way that all residents shall have independence within their individual capacity but activities of residents that may offend or disturb…
involved feel that their needs are important. For the project to be a success, everyone participating must feel as if they are contributing and that they are being valued equally. On a more personal level, the Leadership Program has taught me the value of time management, organization, and confidence. Each of these characteristics was developed through the personal service project that I designed. My personal project was focused on my area of interest, dietetics. I chose to work with pediatric…
closely until he caught onto Mississippi’s ways. In an extreme case like this, it was vital to learn about their roles and behave accordingly. Part B - [My Sociological Insight] One thing that I found sociologically interesting about Black Like Me was how dominant ideology affected people’s behavior and how people took it for granted. Any racial prejudice or discrimination nowadays is considered extremely offensive. However, the whites, by common consent,…
promise that He will not destroy the Earth with floods again. It is a sign of a new beginning. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Jesus’ death which provided our deliverance from the bondage of sin. Jesus told His disciples “Do this in remembrance of me.” Observing this ordinance should make us more appreciative of the relationship we have with Christ because it will remind us about what Jesus has done and continues to do for us. Memory is one of our greatest assets. “It is how we know who we are…
They were born on Air Force bases. In just about every small town and most medium to large cities, there is a “black” part or section of town. I grew up in a very small town but the part of town I lived in was very big to me. Everyone had the same ideals, beliefs, and expectations. We all knew each other very well. We went to the same church, played in the same park, ate the same type of food, and we listened to the same music. There were no unique individuals, no one really stood out…