What happens when a young boy questions his family’s religion and the beliefs he was raised with? Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya is a coming of age story about a young boy named Antonio. He has always been surrounded by the strong Catholic religion of his mother, but when he is confronted by contradictory ideas and thoughts of pagan gods, like the golden carp, he begins to question his viewpoint of the world. Antonio’s conflict of religion, shown through his thoughts of comparing the golden carp versus God, makes him realize that he can not rely on people, and that he has to make his own decisions. This is important because as people grow up, they realize that they have to learn to make their own choices and choose their own path to be successful
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The illumination is a light that symbolizes good things like happiness and knowledge. The illumination shows his epiphany of religion that there is something else that is important and contradicts his faith. Antonio also mentions how he had expected God to give him answers as he received his first communion. This shows his doubt and uncertainty that God will ever live up to his expectations. He thought God would lead him to revelation but it is actually the golden carp that does it. Then Antonio says that he has sinned which shows that although he has all of these new ideas and realizations, he still does not know what to believe and where to place his faith. He transitions multiple times back and forth in his thoughts between his beliefs of the golden carp and his Catholic faith. When Antonio clasps his hands together to pray it shows his desperation to fully believe in his Catholic faith without any contradictions. It is significant that he is about to pray but never does because of the waters of the pond exploding. The pond water exploding symbolizes the violence and extremeness of the internal battle he is having. [Antonio goes back and forth between expecting God to do things and questioning Him and Catholicism. His thoughts and emotions conflict between what he has known and what he has been told versus what he has seen. He now has proof of a religion that before he would consider untrue and he is unsure on how to react to
The illumination is a light that symbolizes good things like happiness and knowledge. The illumination shows his epiphany of religion that there is something else that is important and contradicts his faith. Antonio also mentions how he had expected God to give him answers as he received his first communion. This shows his doubt and uncertainty that God will ever live up to his expectations. He thought God would lead him to revelation but it is actually the golden carp that does it. Then Antonio says that he has sinned which shows that although he has all of these new ideas and realizations, he still does not know what to believe and where to place his faith. He transitions multiple times back and forth in his thoughts between his beliefs of the golden carp and his Catholic faith. When Antonio clasps his hands together to pray it shows his desperation to fully believe in his Catholic faith without any contradictions. It is significant that he is about to pray but never does because of the waters of the pond exploding. The pond water exploding symbolizes the violence and extremeness of the internal battle he is having. [Antonio goes back and forth between expecting God to do things and questioning Him and Catholicism. His thoughts and emotions conflict between what he has known and what he has been told versus what he has seen. He now has proof of a religion that before he would consider untrue and he is unsure on how to react to