Assignment On Bless Me Ultima

Kristin Farney

Mrs. Dolch

PDP English 2 – Period 2

31, August 2015

Bless Me Ultima Summer Assignment

1. A Curandera is a Native healer, usually found in the United States and Mexico who uses folk remedies and herbs to heal. Curandera comes from the Latin word curar, which means to cure. Her role in the community consisted of helping others who truly need and deserve her help and the giving of her guidance to the ones who need it most.

2. In the beginning of the story, everyone was convinced that Antonio was fixed on becoming a priest just like his mother had wanted. Later in the story, when Ultima came and stayed with Antonio’s family he started questioning what his true purpose on this Earth was. In the end he trusted and followed Ultima more than he did his own parents. Even though his mother dreamed of her son becoming a priest and his father dreamed of his son becoming a Vaquero, Antonio always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his one true love, Ultima. Doing so, Antonio began to learn her ways.

3.

Antonio was intimidated by English at school because he came from a Spanish speaking family. Spanish was all that he knew and to him that was normal but to the other kids and teachers at school it was weird and abnormal. There are many examples of dichotomy in the book. For example the vaquero’s and the farmers had different lifestyles and there was constant fighting. With Antonio’s dad being a vaquero and his mom being a farmer, he grew up listening to the constant bickering about who was better and how they should raise their kids. Another example is God vs the golden carp. Antonio was raised as a catholic by a very religious mother. Antonio always believed in God and always had a respect for him but one day he introduced to The Golden Carp. The Golden Carp was the lord of the waters and when Antonio was given the opportunity to witness his beauty, he fell in love. Since then he was always confused about whether or not there was actually a