“Good is always stronger than evil. Always remember that Antonio” (Anaya 102). These are words that heavily apply in the book Bless Me, Ultima and they summarize a common theme of good and evil in the novel. In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, juxtaposition is used to convey a sense of good and evil in various characters and it portrays that the goodness in each and every person is determined through their actions. Throughout the book, the relationship between Ultima and Tenorio depicts good and evil through the development of juxtaposition.
Growing up is a journey and overcoming society’s principles and beliefs are a part of it. These actions mark a rite of passage for some people leaving them to explore their own culture and views. The journey of growing up is like climbing a mountain, it 's not about what is at top, it 's about how the top is reached, the climb. People can either chose their journey or let others chose is for them. For example, parents enrolling their son into a war, such as World War II, without hearing his feelings towards everything.
Throughout the novel Anaya uses juxtaposition of God and the Virgin. Antonio has just witnessed the death of Lupito in the novel and is wondering , would “God forgive him and grant him Purgatory?”(Anaya 27). This quote highlights one of the main characteristics of God depicted in the book and that is unforgiving. This quote also defines a point in the book where Antonio has already started to question God. In accordance, Antonio describes God as “not always forgiving while he talks about the Virgin as “always [forgiving]” (Anaya 44).
Gabriel, a vaquero, who exposes the love of the llano, expresses his way of life and freedom. Their kids, three eldest sons, two daughters, and youngest son Antonio, the protagonist, become
First of all, Anaya used juxtaposition while Uncle Lucas was cursed to demonstrate the absence of God’s power and the presence of Ultima’s powers in times of need; therefore, causing Antonio to question the religion he was born with. Specifically, when "the holy priest at El Puerto had been asked to exorcise el encanto, the curse, and he had failed" after Uncle Lucas got cursed by brujas in the forest (Anaya 84). Uncle Lucas was on his deathbed, dying from the curse inflicted on him for interrupting the brujas ' dance for el Diablo. He attempted to defend God by punishing the sinful, non-Christian actions of the brujas. However, when the Christian priest attempted to heal Uncle Lucas, he did not have the ability. This event exposes the lack of God’s power because Uncle Lucas tried to help god and the church by punishing the brujas, but god’s workers, the Christian priests, did not have powers from God to heal; therefore, leaving Uncle Lucas to die. While Uncle Lucas had only been trying to support the church, God was not there for him;
Thesis: Antonio Marez should become a priest for the family but in doing so should break the traditional Catholicism tradition barriers and be able to incorporate his own life experiences. I.Rudolfo Anaya 's novel takes place in New Mexico in a small village called El Puerto. These details are true to Anaya 's life because the main protagonist is Antonio Marez, and he is modeled similarly to his life experiences. The mother comes from a family of farmers and the father comes from a family of vaqueros creating a conflict between the two and their children especially Antonio who is still in search of his own beliefs and identity. A.New Mexico or any Hispanic country has its cultural tradition but in this novel Rudolfo portrays multiple.
The Spirit of the Llano Magical realism is when magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or normal setting. In Bless Me, Ultima there are many elements of magical realism which occur in the sacred town Tony Marez spends his childhood in. Tony is the character Rudolfo Anaya uses to share personal experience he had as a child. From start to finish, the story consistently portrays imagery and personification to give the land of New Mexico a life of its own. Tony describes his magical experience when he first meets Ultima as “her eyes swept the surrounding hills and through them he saw for the first time the wild beauty of their hills and the magic of the green river.
A certain loss in Antonio’s life is his late friend , Florence, a classmate sincerely against God. Antonio is saddened and worried about Florence and attempts to let Florence at least believes in something, like the Golden Carp. Before Antonio can introduce Florence to the peaceful pagan god and make him realize that not all gods are powerful and intimidating, Florence dies drowning. After the drowning of Florence, Antonio is forced to question the restriction of Catholicism, once again. Antonio looks in the direction of religion for help as he can feel the innocence fading.
In Bless Me Ultima, Antonio is continually having internal ambivalences as his mother and father bolster his confliction. That’s until a woman named Ultima enters his family life. With her entering Antonio’s family life and his own, he begins to have a deeper connection with the curandera. As his relationship develops with Ultima, Antonio begins to gain more insight on Gabriel Marez (his father) and Maria Luna (his mother), as they are complete opposites of each other.
This becomes an issue for Antonio because he wasn’t really taught as a child growing up in a catholic home with catholic idealism that he had choice to decide who he was going to become in the future. Anaya tries to structure his argument that noticing different identies Antonio becomes confused around his childhood and how he was raised as catholic. The author implies that once an induvial is taught a set of idealism that certain individual will in the future follow those idealisms and keep the sacred. This ties into ethics and values stating that they structucted at a very young. Implying the 1st couple are the most crucial to make a person identity and what type of person they will add to
In this part of the novel magical realism is present with certain situation that happen thought out this chapter. We can relate these movements to Mexico’s mythological believe. Jacqueline Fotes de Leff and Emma Espejel Aco wrote an article “Cultural Myths and Social Relationships in Mexico: A Context for Therapy” in this article the authors explain how myths influence family ideology, the authors states, “Myths develop from universal idea related to life, death and links in general, like union and separation. They can also be constructed based on historic elements that can be ambiguous or painful (Levy-strauss, 1968, 1969) or around missing elements in the history of individuals (Andolfi 1989).
Religion is something that we teach ourselves or someone will teach it to us. When we start to grow up, we figure out ourselves and what we like to do. We don’t have people teaching us about our favorite things. Our favorite things come to us naturally and that is when we start to get compassion for it. We start developing compassion when we are born and with religion we start to learn that when we are old enough to understand the concept of our religion.
As a literary genre, Magical Realism stands with its own methodology. Not adhering to a set of certain rules, realities appear distorted, demonstrating that this style of literature strays from conventional standards of writing. With this, reality conforms to a degree wherein characters behave naturally amidst their environment, despite exposure to the seemingly surreal. Within the genre of Magical Realism, one finds that a variety of elements constitute it, each warping the text in a way of its own. By exploiting this aspect of Magical Realism, authors communicate a broader message than what is written in the text.
Gabriel and Maria’s arguments are portrayed through the lens of Antonio. Gabriel Marez, Antonio’s father, was a vaquero all his life. His last name signifies
People who disobeyed the bible were executed or forced to leave their village. To them God was everything and they lived to please