Joseph Campbell's Hero Cycle In Relation To Bless Me, Ultima

It takes time, experiences and lessons until the concept can be grasped. Although it is a simple “who are you?” question, the answer is not given until one can meet their fullest potential and then have it handed to them. Antonio Marez is brought into the novel as the protagonist who seems to have trouble with obtaining the answers he is in search for, concerning his destined future as well his beliefs. Although his parents did not seem to realize it, their conflicting views made it difficult for him to accept either of their frequently expressed belief systems. He is confronted with two paths arranged by his mother, who is of a Catholic descent and by his father, the son of Vaqueros to pursue in which concern being a becoming a priest or roaming the plains, continuing tradition. Because both of his parents believed so strongly in their values and morals, he did not have any certainty which was correct and which he should abide by. In chapter 1 of Bless Me, Ultima, his mother states “You will be like my brothers. You will be a Luna, Antonio. You will be a man of the people, and perhaps a priest” (Anaya 9). This quote providing evidence to the idea that this career was the choice of his mother’s rather than his own. At this point, he realizes his parents beliefs are now in act that could potentially affect his own future and what he does later on. He now second guesses the morals and values he has grown up with, seeing the difference in elements between the

Anaya uses foreshadowing to portray Antonio becoming his own person with ideas and aspirations. The author alludes to the death of Ultima that transpires later in the book. In the beginning, Ultima came to live with Antonio’s family to mentor him. So when “Tenorio captured the nightspirit of Ultima and murdered it” (Anaya 258), it represented the end of Antonio needing Ultima to protect him. Although he was frightened by the idea of Ultima dieing, the foreshadowing in his dream shows he is maturing and becoming an adult who can make his own

Everyone has heard a good hero story, because they are everywhere, in the media, in history, and in even with each other. Tales of action and adventures have been around since humans have known how to tell stories, but every story has a similar journey that they embark on. The tale of the hero has many variations, but they each follow the same basic pattern that Joseph Campbell describes in his book A Hero with a Thousand Faces. Some stories only follow the basic outline of a hero, and others can be traced along the route exactly. An example that follows the outline exactly is The NeverEnding Story (1984) which is a movie based on a German book by Michael Ende. The tale is very interesting because it does not follow the path of only one

Antonio begged God to forgive Andrew (Antonio’s brother) “Your brother has sinned with the whores, and so I condemn him to hell for eternity!”(Pg.173). Antonio’s demeanor portrayed confusion and fear of why he is the chosen one to save his brothers when he is hopeful for their saving of him. “Oh, I cried, forgive me Lord! I have sinned, I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed. My thoughts have trapped me and made me flee from you!”(Pg.173). Antonio believes he has sinned as he questions God for punishing his brothers who in his eyes are great men of intentions as they’ve been through the war. His begging then represents his fear towards God showing that even questioning him may attract consequences. He becomes petrified that he would be punished and eventually fail his family because he wouldn’t fit the criteria being a coming selfish

Being Born into a Family with Two Different Backgrounds: A Conflict in Bless Me Ultima About Tony Being Influenced By Two Opposite Ways of Life

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. He hopes that after taking his First Communion he will be free from all of the questions in his mind, but is disappointed by the lack of answers God gave him. As he questions his belief in God, Antonio is introduced to the consoling pagan god, the Golden Carp.“The Golden Carp,” I whispered in awe. “I could not have been more entranced if i had seen the Virgin, or God himself… I felt my body trembling as I saw the bright golden form disappear. I knew I had witnessed a miraculous thing, the appearance of a pagan god… And I thought, the power of God failed where Ultima’s worked; and then a sudden illumination of beauty and understanding flashed through my mind. This is what I had expected God to do at my first holy communion! (ch. pg. ). The introduction of the Golden Carp makes Antonio aware and open to magic

The forced manhood results in an immediate loss of innocence. Considering innocence is usually associated with youth, his struggle with aging renders him feeling hopeless at times as if he has no one to turn to apart from Ultima, the curandera. For example, after Antonio witnesses the death of Lupito and runs home, Anaya states, “I felt dizzy, and very weary and six,. I ran the last of the way and slipped quietly into the house. I groped for the stair railing in the dark and felt a warm hand take mine. Startled, I looked up into Ultima’s brown, wrinkled face (Anaya 24).” The loss of innocence ties in with the mythical aspects of the novel because when Antonio feels saddened by an event that will eventually reflect on him, he turns to Ultima as a saving grace to treat him and make him feel better. The loss of innocence is an important theme in the novel considering it is a major issue that Antonio has to face upon aging, and Ultima acting as the supernatural force brings light to the hard-to-face

The concept of “The Hero’s Journey” plays a major role in nearly every piece of fiction humanity has created since its inception, from epic poems to blockbuster movies. In many ways, works of fiction and some pieces of nonfiction could not exist and would not make sense without the concept of a Hero’s Journey; it allows the reader to comprehend and follow the progression of characters over the course of the story. While Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road may not display most of the archetypal qualities found in classic Hero’s Journeys such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit or Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad, it most clearly exemplifies the qualities of a Hero’s Journey through the Boy’s character in relation to the mentor, tests and enemies, and the

Antonio’s first encounter with the golden carp tests his Catholic faith in which he learns from this experience. “I could not have been more entranced if I had seen the Virgin, or God himself. The golden carp had seen me.”(pg 114) Antonio’s Catholic faith is being tested for the first time. He has encountered another god, a pagan god, other than his Catholic God. He learns that there are other gods other than God himself but he learns from this and later becomes a more devout Catholic when he takes catechism classes which starts to solidify his faith in God. Antonio accepts that there are other gods, but he still continues to strengthen his Catholic faith. Another example of religious coming-of-age is his when Antonio has his First Communion. Antonio has his First Communion and believes that when he has taken it he knows the answers to his questions about God. “I flooded the sticky piece of bread with hot saliva and swallowed it. Now I would know the answers! I bowed my head and waited for him to speak to me.” (pg 220) Antonio believes that all his questions about God and life are answered after he takes communion, which is not the case. Soon after he takes his communion, he waits for the answers from God to enter his mind but nothing happens. Antonio matures religiously by accepting that God cannot answer all his questions about life all at once. Antonio felt he had given his hopes up in

The first dream Anaya presented is the dream of Antonio’s birth. The dream that is the beginning of the internal conflict that is aimed to Antonio. In his dream an argument breaks out on the concern of which life style will Antonio follow. The Luna’s crave for Antonio to become a priest while the Marez‘s would love for him to become a Vaquero. 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. To his astonishment, Ultima has cured him with

The pressures he faced from his family were no longer relevant to the ideas of a future that he had conjured up for himself. Having questioned ideals that seemed imperative he was able to uncover his true feelings toward the subject of independent thinking. And after the life changing events that took place, Tony no longer relied on others and came into his own. Considering the timeline of Antonio’s adolescence it is clear he grew to a point of maturity and independence that allowed him to prepare in choosing his own path in

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.

Pieces of writing are often viewed as a product of their origin time period, even in the modern day it is not uncommon to view our time plane as independent to what preceded as if we were somehow separate from every moment that came before. Instead every aspect of a story is ingrained with the message of millenniums before it, so much so the effect that the present has pales in comparison. This is present throughout Dante’s inferno written by Dante Alighieri as it is not merely a representation of the time period it originated from, rather the present represents the top of an iceberg whose very existence and stature are fully dependent on the times that preceded. This phenomenon of the past is fully present in Dante’s epic hero cycle.

In his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell discovered a basic pattern that can be found in all stories portraying a hero. In his hero’s monomyth, the main character is called to an adventure into a foreign land and the skills obtained during the journey are later tested to defeat their toughest challenge. An example of a heroic monomyth can be illustrated in Marissa Meyer’s fantasy novel, Cinder, because the heroine is called to an adventure that she at first refuses, explores an unfamiliar landscape, the castle, where she learns more about her tragic past, and soon comes face to face with her greatest adversary.

Gilgamesh, just like any other heroes, receives a vision from the gods pertaining to his fate, “The father of the gods has given you kingship, such is your destiny, everlasting life is not your destiny.” It makes no sense at first but as the story progress, we found out that Gilgamesh was never meant to live eternal life.