Albert D. Saba
Mr. Amoroso
English 12 AP
Period: 3
LAP
Topic: 2
BLESS ME, ULTIMA
The Classic by
Rudolfo Anaya
Saba Page 1.
The powerful force of a Latino family begins with the basis of the strength in a man. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio Márez a six-year-old begins to wonder if his destiny lies in being a vaquero or a priest. Inside Antonio, he has the blood of two different customs streaming through his veins. Is there an outlet to which can help you view your own life or guide you through it? Antonio has several dreams throughout the novel, which portray many of his fears and perceptions of his family and religion. These images control and haunt Antonio.
Through the first sequence of Antonio’s dreams he recollects the scenery of his own birth. “This one will be a Luna, the old man said, he will be a farmer and keep our customs and traditions. Perhaps God will bless our family and make the baby a priest” (Pg.5).
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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
One topic the book “Bless Me Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya talks about is the loss of childhood innocence. Antonio being so young hasn't had many encounters with problems in the world. Children are considered pure because of this. The book takes place in New Mexico, in the 1940’s. The story is based off Antonio Marez.
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. I.Rudolfo Anaya 's novel takes place in New Mexico in a small village called El Puerto. These details are true to Anaya 's life because the main protagonist is Antonio Marez, and he is modeled similarly to his life experiences. The mother comes from a family of farmers and the father comes from a family of vaqueros creating a conflict between the two and their children especially Antonio who is still in search of his own beliefs and identity. A.New Mexico or any Hispanic country has its cultural tradition but in this novel Rudolfo portrays multiple.
He realized that if he could write about his experiences and his family, using the town where he grew up as a setting, he could focus on these early years and create a sense of being liberated. While doing so, he would also come to know himself better and better understand the forces that shaped him as a person yearning to write and yearning to be free. Using his childhood as the subject matter for a novel, Anaya put together a world filled with ideas and activity. Bless Me, Ultima, then, is a work that examines the various forces that shape the life of Antonio, a young Mexican-American boy who is a main character in the
Is there a lack of freedom in stability or a lack of stability in freedom? In the novel Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio’s coming of age is challenged domestically by the father/mother tension of freedom versus stability through their parental expectations. Generally in life, children seek to please their parents in everything they do. It is often conflicting parental expectations that send a child into an overwhelming state of distress wondering why they try so hard to attain the standards of both but inevitably end up disappointing one or the other. Maria and Gabriel are prime examples of parents that are completely disconnected from their family as a whole but most importantly detached from their son due to their unwillingness to compromise.
While there are numerous examples of conflict throughout Bless Me, Ultima, the most prominent examples are the “Man vs. Self” conflicts Antonio faces. One such conflict—a multifaceted struggle that ultimately becomes one of the most prominent in the novel—concerns his religious beliefs. Antonio’s mother is a devout Catholic and raises her children to be followers of the religion as well, but Antonio struggles with the concept of the all-powerful God and the fact that such a God would punish good people while forgiving those whom Antonio deemed “evil,” and at one point thinks that perhaps God does not help him because He is “too busy in heaven to worry or care about” Antonio and his friends and family (187). Antonio also doubts that God truly is all-powerful, as He couldn’t alleviate the Téllez family’s curse, and He could save neither Lupito nor Narciso, and therefore thinks it “doesn’t seem right” that He has “the right to send you to hell or heaven when you died.” (236) Yet despite his doubts, some part of Antonio clings to his upbringing and what his mother taught him, as he is seen desperately clinging to his religious beliefs, such as when he restrains himself from seeking too much knowledge despite his curiosity, for fear that he might commit “the original sin of Adam and Eve” (197).
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 Spirit of the Llano Magical realism is when magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or normal setting. In Bless Me, Ultima there are many elements of magical realism which occur in the sacred town Tony Marez spends his childhood in. Tony is the character Rudolfo Anaya uses to share personal experience he had as a child. From start to finish, the story consistently portrays imagery and personification to give the land of New Mexico a life of its own. Tony describes his magical experience when he first meets Ultima as “her eyes swept the surrounding hills and through them he saw for the first time the wild beauty of their hills and the magic of the green river.
Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, journeys through the life of a young child. Throughout the story, Anotio faces many challenges, and the reader is given insight into Antonio’s thoughts. At the beginning of the book, Ultima comes to live with Tony and his family. The mysteries of the magical Earth are brought to Tony by Ultima, and she teaches Tony the ways of Las Curanderas. Ultima becomes one of Tony’s best friends and their friendship helps to build Tony’s soul.
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 In all conflicts there are always two sides which think they are superior to the condescending opponent. Sometimes in the conflicts they are facing, a force which is intertwined with both sides will have to choose a side in order to declare which side is superior. There are times when the deciding force is confused and not sure which side is actually better, so it must take time to finalize its decision. This deciding force in Bless Me, Ultima is Tony, who is puzzled about whether he should follow the path of a Luna or a Marez.
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
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.
The first time Antonio feels the loss of innocence is through the death of Lupito, a mad man shot by a mob for killing the town’s sheriff. Lupito’s death affected Antonio greatly for it being the first traumatic death he has ever seen, but later triggered the questioning of life after death once you have sinned against
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom,” is a quote by Aristotle, providing a vivid understanding that if someone knows who they are as a person, it is difficult to persuade them into thinking otherwise. However, if one is ignorant of their identity, it is easy to provide them with conflicting thoughts as well as confusion toward their culture, customs, race or anything particularly having to do with their background. In Bless Me, Ultima, the author exhibits the most frequently used cultural conflict from the Chicano culture in rural Mexico in the 1940s and purposely clashes it with Catholicism and the English Language. The book introduces Antonio who can be described as a young boy who is prone to moral questioning, in search for
Marco Pérez Dr. Rony Garrido The short novel, Aura, by Carlos Fuentes creates a mythical reality to reference Mexican history. He uses Aura, Felipe Montero, and Consuelo as a reflection of the past and the present, where for example, Consuelo represents the past and Felipe the present. In this paper I will explain how the love story of Felipe, Aura, and Consuelo represent Mexican history. In addition this paper will explain how myth breaks down into different elements, such as religion, legends, traditions, and beliefs, all of which are manifested in the different characters and their actions within this novel.
Wake up. I’ve noticed many such calls to action left where I would find them. Is Rome going to ... etc. ”(II, i, 46-49) to what he responds accurately expressing this trait, ““Is this asking me to speak and strike? Oh, Rome, I promise you, if you’re meant to receive justice, you’ll receive it by my hand!”