Is there one real god? Are all gods ideally perfect? The main character Antonio in Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima is torn between which god he must choose. On one hand there is the Virgin, a forgiving god, or God, a wrathful and critical god. In Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima he uses juxtaposition to reveal the differences between God and the Virgin to show the two halves of Antonio’s personality thus revealing that in life people need to be critical and caring towards others.
A renaissance man is a person with many talents or areas of knowledge. Shakespeare was an outstanding writer. The author might have an interest in Renaissance men. This might be the reason for the writer to be interested in this topic. Shakespeare was a renaissance man. He was very talented and knowledgeable. Even though there isn’t much known about him, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t write the famous works.
Antonio, a character from Bless Me, Ultima written by Rudolfo Anaya, witnesses the demise of Lupito, as a six year old this causes him to mature. A reason that leads to him becoming mature is when Lupito is dying Antonio is unable to help him. Lupito is near the river bank, and above him are the men who plan to finish him. Lupito mutters, “Bless me─” (22). When Antonio fails, he believes he cannot be a priest, like his mother wishes. It is traumatic not only because Lupito dies right in front of him, but because Antonio isn’t able to help in anyway. Beside that, another reason that leads to him becoming mature is where Lupito died. Under the bridge, Lupito dies next to where Antonio was hiding observing the confrontation. The llano and the
Lead In: A child will usually grow up hidden away from adult problems, and then learn the way of the world as he or she get older. However, in the novel Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio Marez, a child who has grown up with the weight of the world on his shoulders, while striving to fulfil his parents’ expectations and also struggling with the loss of many people around him, has learned to mature faster to deal with the problems he has endured in a short life time. For Antonio, his development begins not with his birth or with his first days of school, but with the arrival of Ultima, the curandera who moves in with his family because of old age. It is with Ultima’s arrival that Antonio is first exposed to the magic of the world and
The character of Othello transforms during the course of the play from a respected and revered general to a fallen and easily fooled man, due to the unfortunate sequence of events that transpire through both coincidence and Iago’s evil designs. He said that he wouldn’t be the jealous type unless he had seen it happen right in front of him, but with the help of Iago and a lot of coincidences it had happened in front of him. His judgment of the coincidence over ruled facts that could have changed the way it had ended drastically (Nwabueze, 167).
One of the many themes in the novel, Bless me, Ultima is Antonio’s “loss of innocence” throughout the months upon the arrival of Ultima, the curandera. At the beginning of the novel, Antonio is an innocent boy, protected from reality thanks to his age and parents. As the novel progresses, Antonio becomes aware of the bad and the good in life. Antonio’s transition from innocence to experience is shown through particular events.
The following passage is significant to the play ‘Othello’ in retrospect to the plot progression, as it reiterates themes and introduces important facets to the plot development. Through Iago’s cunning manipulation and Shakespeare’s crafting of language, this passage is constructed as a pivotal point of the play, marking the transition of Othello’s personality and revealing his deepest insecurities that eventually lead to his downfall and tragic ending.
In life, people tend to classify ideas into good and evil based on their views and beliefs. The novel, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, portrays the life a six-year old boy named Antonio living around the time of World War II. Antonio faces many challenges in life as he grows into adulthood. In order to see what is good and evil, Antonio sees things as good if it agrees with his beliefs and sees things as evil if something threatens his beliefs. Many people in life think like Antonio, if people’s beliefs are agreed upon, they see it as good and if people beliefs are contradicted, it is seen as evil. The reality is that good and evil cannot be divided due to a difference of beliefs. This means that a person may see something as evil that another person see as good.
Despite the title of the book, “My Antonia” is very much centered on Jim Burden. The story begins with an outlook on Jim’s adult life, and we are then catapulted into his Nebraskan childhood. As the book progresses, we witness the mental and emotional development of Jim as he has new experiences and meets numerous people. The book then concludes with Jim again as an adult. As a reader, I have observed him complete a cycle (going from point a, to point b and arriving at point a again). Throughout the course of this cycle Jim relished the best days of his youth and endured the tribulations of life. The Virgil quotation “Optima dies… prima fugit” (the best days are the first to flee) is inserted at two points, prior to the introduction and prior
In the beginning of the play, Othello is a good upstanding man. I know this because the Duke regards to Othello as Valiant (I,iii,56). Then as Iago manipulates him, he starts to become more aggressive and impulsive. For example, in act 3, scene 4, lines 103-114, Othello constantly calls for the handkerchief, until he storms out of the scene enraged. This shows how Othello starts to lose his calm and composure. Finally, By the end of the play, Iago has changed Othello so much, that he starts to display multiple personalities at the same time. For example when Ohello says, “I would not kill thy unprepared spirit. No, (heaven) forfend! I would not kill thy soul”.(VI,ii, 35) This quote shows the mix of personalities that Othello is displaying by the end of the
When you are young you are taught what is generally right or wrong. You are not given a chance to choose what you believe in since you are only a baby, and can not fully comprehend the concept of things such as religion. Once you are old enough you are exposed to the variety of cultures that may fascinate you, and will help influence how you think. The majority of individuals tend to follow their own beliefs when they are well into their adult life, since they were taught to believe what their parents believed in. In Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio a young Catholic is left to question his beliefs when a curandera named Ultima exposes him to her own beliefs. Thus introducing Antonio to Ultimas paganistic ways which is causing him to not only explore more of his beliefs, but Antonio is discovering many ideas that go against the Catholic religion. This causes him to not only question his beliefs but to explore other cultures as well as determine which religious ideas he decides to pursue.
In life we face conflicts on a daily basis and usually find a resolution to them, but what happens when you're conflicted between the unknown and known? In religion we believe and have faith in what we can't see and are usually in a battle with believing what we can see. Rudolfo Anaya presents us Antonio Marez, son of a Catholic mother and a skeptic vaquero father in a tale known as Bless Me, Ultima. With faith in what he believes, Antonio goes through a resurrecting encounter with the last; Ultima.
Act 3, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Othello embodies a pivotal point in the play, as it is a transition act that grounds the foundation of Iago’s development as an antagonist and the play’s development as a tragedy. In fact, Othello is written by William Shakespeare in the early 17th century. In Act 3 Scene 3, Iago begins his insinuations of an affair between Cassio and Desdemona, which petition Othello to consider the likelihood of Desdemona’s infidelity and Cassio’s disloyalty. In this particular scene, Shakespeare makes meticulous use of linguistic and dramatic techniques to characterise Iago as an scheming, deceptive and hypocritical antagonist.
In the story, “The Merchant of Venice,” there is a character named Shylock. Shylock is a Jewish citizen who lives in Venice, a place where Jewish people are one of the lowest class of citizens. This piece by Shakespeare creates this controversial character that can be viewed as a villain or victim. In this play, through the archetypal lense, we can see that Shylock is a villain because of his hatred and his desire for revenge.
Numerous events and conflicts from Twelfth Night are dependant on Viola’s disguise, as she is caught in between Olivia and Orsino’s affection due to her disguise. In the beginning of the play, she dresses up as a male in order to conceal her identity and to get a job at Orsino’s court. In doing so, she is able to gain more of his trust than she would have if she was a female. By disguising herself as a man Viola is able attract his attention and appreciation to ultimately prove her worth to him as a woman. Moreover, Viola's disguise also allows Orsino to respect her intelligence which causes her to win his love. First, her disguise represents her wit since she is able to adapt in a new environment quickly and excel at her job as well. Not only does this disguise prove Viola’s quick-thinking but also proves some of Orsino’s thoughts.