1. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolph Anaya is a novel about the protagonist coming-of-age with the help of his protector, Ultima. The novel takes place in Guadalupe, New Mexico closely after World War II and is told from the protagonis, Antonio Marez y Luna, better know as Tony as an adult looking back to his childhood memories. The author, Anaya, uses bildungsroman to portray a tale from the child's point of view of good and evil, of life and death, of myth and reality that challenges young Tony's beliefs about God, his family and his destiny. His progress in learning about life is grounded in Ultima, an aged and wise member of the community who is highly respected by Tony's parents. Tony has a very special relationship with her, as she was the midwife at his birth. Throughout the story she passes on her wisdom and knowledge to Tony. The novel begins as Tony's parents, Gabriel and Maria, invite Ultima to come and live with them when Tony is about to turn seven—just reaching the age of reason. As Tony, with Ultima's guidance, searches for his true identity and his rightful destiny, he witnesses several deaths, assists Ultima in purging his uncle Lucas of an evil spell, experiences a crisis of faith in the Catholic tradition, embraces the myth of the golden carp, discovers the sordidness of his older brother, survives a harrowing illness and realizes that he may be the only heir to the cultural and spiritual legacy that was Ultima, for Ultima is the last of her kind. Throughout the novel Tony struggles with his identity. Antonio realizes at the end of the novel that the temsion he feels as he is pulled between the free, open landscape of the llano, and the circumscribed river valley of the town, between the Márez's way of being and that of the Lunas, and between Catholicism and the indigenous religion of the golden carp, does not require him to choose one over the other. He can bring both together to form a new identity and a new religion that is made up of both.
2. One of the major themes of the novel is Antonio’s loss of innocence. At the opening of the novel, Antonio is an innocent boy, unaware of the dangers and tragedy of life. As the novel progresses, Antonio becomes more and more cognizant of the good and evil present in the world. By the end of the book, Antonio no longer possesses his innocence but has replaced it with wisdom and maturity.
Anaya uses his novel to introduce the reader to several conflicting cultures in Antonio’s childhood. First of all, Antonio’s early life is defined by the conflict between the Luna and the Marez, the two sides of his family. While the Luna are devout farmers who worship the earth and the moon, the Marez are free-spirited cowboys who are devoted to horses and the sun. Because Antonio’s three older brothers have already chosen the roaming life of the Marez, Antonio is expected to follow the path of the Luna and become a priest. However, Antonio is unwilling to make a decision either way and feels a great deal of pressure weighing on his destiny. Eventually, Ultima teaches Antonio that identity can be a combination of cultures and that he does not have to pick one side of the family to follow.
The conflict between good and evil in the novel is characterized through the relationship between Ultima and Tenorio. From the start, Ultima is described as the moral compass for the novel, protecting her community from the curses of evil witches. Tenorio, on the other hand, takes his place as Ultima’s arch-nemesis who shares his wicked daughters’ penchant for cruelty and evil. The battle between these two characters perpetuates the majority of the plot in the novel and, although both characters die at the end, Ultima’s goodness and Tenorio’s evilness are maintained.
3. Tone
1) "Ultima came to stay with us the summer I was almost seven. When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth. The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood." Pg. 1
-The tone is very enlightening and innocent, knowing Tony is still very young, without any wisdom or maturity, and Ultima's aura just blows his mind away.
2) "I had been afraid of the awful presence of the river, which was the soul of the river, but through her I learned that my spirit shared in the spirit of all things" pg.15
-Throughout the novel, the significance of nature is very clear, there is innocence and purity in nature, but something is there to impure the presences.
3) "The sun was good. The men of the llano were men of the sun. The men of the farms along the river were men of the moon. But we were all children of the white sun" pg. 27
-This specific quote, I feel like it really expresses pride and honor of the men of the llano and the farmers. Leaving determination to see what young children will become.
4) "The orange of the golden carp appeared at the edge of the pond. As he came out of the darkness of the pond the sun caught his shiny scales and the light reflected orange and yellow and red. He swam very close to our feet. His body was round and smooth in the clear water. We watched in silence at the beauty and grandeur of the great fish" pg. 115
-I really like this part of the novel. The whole idea of the golden carp is so majestic and gives hope, and thoughts of what it may symbolize. The beauty and its existence made the tone more warmer, happier and brighter.
5) "There are so many dreams to be fulfilled, but Ultima says a man's destiny must unfold itself like a flower, with only the sun and the earth and water making it blossom, and no one else meddling in it-" pg. 223
-I enjoyed reading this, actually I read it a few times, but the tone has honor and determination of what you may become.
4. Symbolism is a great aspect of the whole novel. Nature is a prominent factor in which Ultima connects with to do the things she does and teach Tony the reasons for life. There is always good and evil, right and wrong, but there are ways in life to make even the wrongs and evil, right and good. You can't always avoid the bad things and embrace only the good things. As Tony matures, he gets a greater understanding of life's meaning and his duty as an individual.
"'Take the llano and the river valley, the moon and the sea, God and the golden carp-and make something new,' I said to myself"
"Around me the moonlight glittered on the pebbles of the llano, and in the night sky a million stars sparkled. Across the river I could see the twinkling lights of the town. In a week I would be returning to school, and as always I would be running up the goat path and crossing the bridge to go to church. Sometime in the future I would have to build my own dream out of those things that were so much a part of my childhood"
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