Bless Me Ultima Essay

“Salvador, late or early, sooner or later arrives with the string of younger brother’s ready” Poverty stricken Salvador is plagued daily with the responsibility of his brother’s, seen as an invisible nobody at school, and aches with not having a break from this endless cycle, but none of it breaks Salvador’s spirit. He is an engine that keeps running, despite being mistreated, uncared for, and beaten. It’s amazing that Salvador, with his “geography of scars,” and “history of hurt,” hasn’t lost hope. He hasn’t lost hope because he thinks not of how difficult his situation is at the moment, but of the better future soon to come. A future where Salvador’s mama isn’t so busy, a future where they won’t eat corn flakes from a tin cup, a future where his crayons aren’t “little fingers of red, green, yellow, blue” or “nubs of black sticks that tumble,” He remains going everyday with his hopes that keep him going locked inside deep somewhere as he fulfills his responsibilities day to day. Salvador is also kept going by the love he gets from his brothers. Salvador’s name literally means ‘Savior’ and to his little brothers, he is their savior. He provides them with everything his mother can’t give them and with the love they give back to Salvador, he finds strength and keeps pushing forward. “Helps his mama with the business of the baby” Mature Salvador is. Salvador did learn to adapt to his life and became quite mature

Kanoza writes therefore that it is when Anaya's protagonist “comes to comprehend the kinship of the golden carp and Christ and he realizes the obvious-that as the offspring of his mismatched parents he is living proof that opposites can integrate” (Kenzo, 166). In this sense the myth of the golden carp serves simultaneously to embody and also eventually to overcome the contradictions within the novel as a whole. The capacity of myth to provide the ground for reconciliation is made clear in the final passages of the novel, in which Anaya's protagonist reflects on his capacity to use the story of the golden carp as one element of new religion. This religion would be that is capable of containing but also of potentially sublimating religions that have come before it. One reads him asking himself asking whether not “take the llano and the river valley, the moon and the sea, God and the golden carp-and make something new” and coming to the conclusion that “that is what Ultima meant by building strength from life” (Anyata, 1994, 248). The most important realization of the novel is that contradictions may be overcome through an interaction with the myths of the past, but only in the sense that such an interaction enables a synthesis from which something new may emerge. It is the realization of the capacity for this synthesis which marks out the most important aspect of Antonio's self knowledge at the end of the

Throughout Rudolfo Anaya’s book, “Bless Me Ultima”, the main character Antonio has several vivid, detailed and sometimes graphic dreams. In one of these dreams (on pages 243-244), Antonio bears witness to blood, violence, and death. In this dream, Anaya uses imagery, symbolism, similes, and specific diction to indicate that Antonio is losing faith in his religion and god. Notes: Need to adjust the words used towards the end.

Many of Antonio’s dreams foretell future incidents. In the first dream, the night before the arrival of Ultima, Antonio is born and both sides of his family gather together for the arrival of the baby boy. The two families express their hopes and desires for the

Through Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, the reader notices many themes. One central, and very important theme is the repetition of the number three. For example, there are three sources of understand for Antonio, three deaths that Antonio witnesses, and Antonio's three prophetic dreams. These all play crucial roles in both Antonio's life and serving to further the plot.

The moon that represents the Luna family, and sea which connects to the Marez, are forces which push Antonio to make his final decision about family. In the beginning, Antonio tries his hardest to please both of his parents by combining their dissimilar ideas about his future. Although Antonio begins his life thinking he is a mixture of both parents’ heritage, the juxtaposition of the symbols in the book changes his mind on that, “It is the blood of the Lunas to be quiet... They are quiet like the moon – And it is the blood of the Márez to be wild, like the ocean from which they take their name” (Anaya 41). Aside from the obvious fact that the Spanish word for moon is, in fact, Luna, that family represents the moon. The calmness of said moon contrasts with the wild men of the sea. Maria is controlling of her family, similar to how the moon controls the sea. Each contrasting idea propels Antonio in separate directions- either towards the Luna priests or the Marez vaqueros. Despite the fact that his mother wants to make a priest out of Antonio, the other side of his family thinks in their own unique way, “He is a Marez… His forefathers were conquistadors, men as restless as the seas they sailed” (Anaya 6). Once again, the contrary sides of Antonio’s family pull him to the sea instead of the moon. The true struggle Antonio goes through is choosing his own destiny, even with the strong influences of both the moon and sea. Suddenly he has a moment of realization and tells his uncle, “‘I am Marez,’… ‘That is right, you are a Marez first, then Luna” (Anaya 250). Even though he may think he is Marez first, he still lives with Luna blood coursing through his veins. After all, he skipped a grade, which makes him a boy of learning. Then again, his adoration of nature proves

To find one's identity can be a struggle for many; however author Rudolfo Anaya takes on that struggle to explain what it means to find yourself in his Mexican-American literature, Bless Me, Ultima. Rudolfo Anaya uses the theme of Identity and enlightenment and many other themes through the young protagonist Antonio Marez. Anaya is able to illustrate the journey and hardships of finding out who you are through the eyes of a child. Using the personal development of character and plot, he is able to build connection with the reader and story of the main character's coming of age. The novel is also based on the Anaya's actual childhood. At the same time, the novel shows many elements of fantasy and magic, with the myth of the Golden Carp, the

     Furthermore, the golden carp is also a in a form a religion. He believes the myth of the golden carp and that it is sacred because it saved mankind. Tony and Cico go to a thicket where the carp emerges from under the water. There it is explained of the story of the carp and even more importantly another belief that Tony holds important. The lakes are remnant of when at one times the sea

Blood becomes the river. The human race dies and only the “she-goats and the he-goats” (109) remain. The lake “cracked with laughter of madness” and the “ghosts stood and walked upon the shore”.(109) Who dares dream such gruesome images? Antonio Marez. He questions God, he communicates with the dead, the dead ask him for blessings. Just who is this Tony? Tony is only a seven year boy who lives in small town of El Puerto. But he is no ordinary boy, he is the hero of Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me Ultima. The novel guides you through Tony’s life. From childhood to adulthood. It tells you about the experiences Tony has in life. The difficult tasks he has to overcome. Tony being only seven years old has to go through a lot.

The loss of innocence in life is an inevitable process. Losing one’s innocence comes merely by growing up. The philosophy of the loss of one’s innocence is a definite theme in the book Bless Me, Ultima. This theme is displayed throughout the entire story and plot of the novel. There is loss of innocence all around the main character, Tony, with his brothers and the people he meets. Tony also loses a great deal of his own innocence to the harsh realities of the world which marks his transition from a boy to a man.

Throughout the context of “Bless Me Ultima,” it is evident that there are many motifs and examples of dichotomy. I believe that Anaya uses the previously mentioned elements of literature in order to provoke his readers’ thinking and help embody a struggle of understanding the world we live in. Motifs in this novel include: family, dreams, religion, education, and the list continues. For examples of dichotomy, the idea of good versus evil is the most vivid in this novel.

He kills Narciso in cold blood. He is a true coward and he hides behind others instead of facing those who he seeks to fight.

While his mom argued it would be best for him to become a Luna and be connected to the Earth, his father’s side argued that the Marez blood inside of him would compel him to become a vaquero, free to roam the grassy plains and not being shackled by anything. His dream encapsulated the idea of his thinking and identity being imposed on him literally from birth. A child’s mind is like clay that can be molded in an infinite amount of directions. The absolutely worst thing a person could do to this flower of growth is to put it in a box that restricts it from germinating on its own. The only saving grace that Tonie found in this dream was Ultima, who eloquently scolded both sides of the family in saying that only she knows what Antonio will become in life. This concept of Antonio’s parents tearing him apart from either side and Ultima giving him the peace of mind of his own critical thinking is a recurring theme. As Antonio’s mother and father were simultaneously attempting to pull him to completely opposite shores of happiness, they created a chasm of uncertainty that Antonio had become very susceptible to crashing through.

	In Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, the author uses Tony's dreams as a way of displaying various symbols. Three symbols that are used often are weather, water, and the Golden Carp. Weather is used to represent conflict. Water represents cleansing, and rejuvenation. The Golden Carp symbolizes religion and Tony's beliefs. Because dreams are a not an exact mirror of reality, they become the perfect tool for introducing symbolism. The author uses the dream as a way to access the recurring themes of the book.

Antonio learns about the golden carp from Cico, a friend of his. According to Cico, the golden carp was once a god who loved the people of Antonio's town, Guadalupe. The people were not allowed to fish for the brown carp that lived in the river that flowed around the town. These fish were sacred to the gods. However, because of a drought and no food, the people had to eat the carp to survive. This angered the gods. They wanted to punish all the people by death but "they relented from killing the people. Instead, they turned the people into carp and made them live forever in the waters of the river-". The god who loved the people wished to become a carp like them to protect them from the dangers of the river. The gods agreed and "because he was a god they made him very big and colored him the color gold". Antonio cannot believe there is a new god and seeks answers from Ultima. Ultima is pleased that he has learned so much, but says she cannot tell him what to believe for he must decide for himself. The Golden Carp represents all the questions Tony has about religion and morality. Tony’s confusion is due to conflicting forces in both these aspects of life. When Cico first introduces the Carp to Tony, he is forced to make a tough decision, “Do you believe the Golden Carp is a god?” which he skillfully evades until he has the information he wants to make his decision. After the emergence of the Carp, Tony begins to question his