Just then, Ultima claims only she will know Antonio’s destiny and the dream terminates. The morning of his first day of school, Maria reminds him that he is a Luna and his father adds that he is also a Marez. With everything going on, Antonio is fortunate enough to have Ultima. Ultima guides Antonio and allows him to be exposed to different aspects of life. When Antonio’s uncle became ill, the priest, and the best doctor in town has failed to cure him.
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.
Antonio struggles with questions about his destiny and the destiny of others, Ultima teaches him how to cope with the challenges in his life. He is concerned about what he is meant to be in the future. There is conflict between his mother’s family and his father’s about what they believe his destiny is. Antonio becomes distracted with questions about his destiny, life and death,and loss of innocence. Ultima guides him through his questions and he becomes filled with even more respect for the lessons she has taught him.
This idea crosses Antonio’s mind in this moment, causing him to consider what his mother has told him about Ultima, which was all good things, and what he is thinking when he feels the whirlwind’s power again. He does not know if he should consider her magic holy or evil anymore. Antonio’s revelation of the connection between Ultima’s magic and what he considers to be the devil’s magic changes him. It challenges his existing belief of God, given to him by his mother’s culture, with the culture of magic. This greatly impacts him by making him more open minded about religion in the future, which does impinge on his
Introduction Paragraph 1 Lead In: Looking at Rudolfo Anaya’s, Bless Me, Ultima, the readers notice a growth in the main protagonist’s mind and spirit. Anaya incorporates both American and Hispanic culture into the novel as a means of relating to Mexican American people that grew up in a relatively similar fashion to the novel. The main character, Antonio, is just a child in the novel, but he must deal with loss, major life decisions, and the questioning of his own God. All this through the span of several years, Antonio experiences the challenges that should have been experienced in a lifetime. Introduction Paragraph II Overview and Background: In an article from “The English Journal”, the author, Dianne Klein, goes into detail about how Anaya
Bless me, Ultima Author- Rudolfo A. Anaya Published date- 1972 Genre- Coming of age Setting • Place-Guadalupe, New Mexico • Time – 1940’s • Atmosphere- Major Characters- • Antonio Márez- Protagonist in the story, in beginning of book is six years’ old, some personality traits of his are deep thinker, curios, and very direct. • Gabriel and María Márez- Antonio’s mom and dad, have different views and want different things for Antonio. Maria wants him to be a priest because its tradition in the Catholic religion. Gabriel wants him to follow his family traditions and wonder around the plains restlessly. • Ultima- A wise elderly women who has healing abilities.
As a little boy, Antonio Marez Luna faces many challenging events in the process of growing up. He lives with parents who constantly argue because they have contradicting opinions on whether Antonio should be a priest or a vaquero (Rudolfo 2004). The protagonist shows characteristics of a hero since his parents are both absent because they do not listen to his needs. During his call to adventure, Antonio experiences many dreams (Rudolfo 2004) which allow him to build the courage to pursue answers to his questions; highlighting him as a hero because the initiation of his dreams enable him to fulfill his heroic journey and search for answers. Also, during his departure, he crosses a threshold as he excitedly awaits the day of his first communion.
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. The presence of Ultima has a positive effect on Antonio,
His parents’ constant disagreement about Antonio’s destiny causes an internal conflict that wreaks havoc on him throughout the book. In this dream, we see antonio break free from his destiny and become his own man. In the dream on chapter 22, in Bless Me Ultima, Anaya uses foreshadowing, juxtaposition, and symbolism to illustrate Antonio becoming less dependent on others to guide him, which leads to him forsaking his parents’ expectations and molding his own path in life. Anaya feels this change in Antonio is a positive pivotal step in growing up.
Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle In Relation to Bless Me, Ultima From the moment Anaya wrote Antonio Marez into existence his character mirrors the departure in Joseph Campbell's’ hero chart. Even during his birth, his parents argue over what path he will follow. Consequential to their obsession of molding Tony in their image, his parents are absent throughout his devastating experiences, despite the fact they are quite overbearing. With his parents’ desperate attempt to vicariously live through Antonio, and all their other children also “having lived with the dreams of their father and mother haunting them,” Tony assumes the role as the leader of his family (Anaya 67). Joseph Campbell's call to adventure, or what triggers a hero’s journey, applies to Antonio when he witnesses Lupito’s death.