Ultima

cases lose the will to continue to believe in their spiritual or secular ideology. Regardless of what it is death can always find a creep into your beliefs and make you question the fundamental pieces of your life that make you whole. In “Bless me Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya, aside from playing a vital part in the development of the plot, the deaths that take place in this piece of literature are critical to the mindset of Antonio, the protagonist, and his beliefs. His mental change is evident…

exist in. For example: Yin and Yang, or in the case of Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Gabriel and Maria Marez. Yin and yang symbols represent the idea of perfect balance and harmony in Chinese culture, demonstrating the polar forces that create and explain the world. Yin stands for femininity and passiveness, while Yang stands for masculinity and activeness, much like the characters of Maria and Gabriel. The story of Bless Me Ultima is punctuated by the clashing personalities of the two…

The loss of innocence is inevitable, as humans grow up and experience life, influences are introduced and trust is lost. In Rudolpho Anaya’s Bless me Ultima, the main character, Antonio, is forced to grow up too quickly losing his innocence through a series of terrible circumstances. Antonio concerns himself with the loss of his innocence because of his own precociousness and his thoughts of a promising future as a priest. Furthermore, his mother is constantly worried that he is growing up too…

the age of seven. Though he started school later than the average child, he matured at a rate that subsequently affected and changed his life. Coming of age by the process of maturing is an important and well addressed topic in the novel Bless Me, Ultima. Rudolfo Anaya addresses this throughout the book to focus on Antonio Marez’s coming of age as he experiences both harmony and conflict during his upbringing. Rudolfo Anaya adequately provides various factors relating to Antonio’s coming…

together by an uncontrollable force. However, the true meaning of destiny cannot be explained by such few undemanding words for destiny itself can never be truly understood. With a destiny of their own to seek and unfold, Antonio from the novel Bless Me, Ultima and Paikea from the novel Whale Rider, realized the importance of acceptance, perseverance, and above all fate. Antonio, after astonishingly dreaming of his birth, felt pressured into becoming either his father’s last hope or his mother’s…

Rudolfo Anaya’s classical Chicano novel, Bless Me Ultima, describes a six-year-old boy named Antonio setting out on a journey to manhood while also undergoing a search of his identity. The story takes place in the llano of New Mexico with a family of six including Ultima. Antonio, the main character, is placed in godforsaken situations that challenge his beliefs, sense of direction for the future, and feeds into his fears. Throughout the novel, Ultima guides Antonio away from the…

life of its own. The readers can find these elements in different stories or even movie, for example in Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo A. Anaya or in another story titled “ A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One element of magical realism is when a metamorphosis takes place in the story. For example, in the story Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo A. Anaya Ultima is curing lucas when all of a sudden she hears coyotes stretching at the wall, her owl then swoops down and…

shows that the morality of the people has not changed since the crucifixion. Mexican folklore includes the belief of a healer called a curandera. The curandera, Ultima, shares aspects with the priest in the Catholic Church. Ultima heals the illness of Antonio’s uncle Lucas when the priest fails to do so. The village start to think Ultima must be an evil witch because…

a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the head of a sad maiden.” In the book, Bless Me Ultima, Ultima uses special herbs that have magical powers, along with her soul/spirit owl, who she is able to control, and is connected to her lifeline. Throughout the story there are curses put on people, but Ultima is easily able to cure them with her special herbs and knowledge of the earth. Ultima also uses her dolls to remove curses from people, by making the dolls come to life. “She lifted…

each of them had specks of rooster blood scattered on their faces. Then they took Utima’s cadaver, and placed her into a woven cottonwood basket. What had this meant? Were her teachings to me from the Diablo himself? Were my friends correct about Ultima being a bruja? No, that could not be it. A kind curandera, like her, would not stoop to the sins made by witches. My heart lurched with fear of what the Trementinas might do next. It was at that moment, they put the basket onto the bed of the…