Analysis Of Bless Me Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

Children are the most vulnerable to outside perspectives and ideas when they are still developing their sense of reality. Most importantly, children are vulnerable when they are still learning the extent to which the boundary between possible and impossible exists. As children learn, they realize that the world that once seemed limitless has limited capabilities. Their entire world is put into perspective based on their personal experiences. In “Bless Me Ultima”, a novel by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio Marez experiences this progression firsthand. While Antonio navigates the separation between his desires and his parents’, he is exposed to situations that stretch or limit his concept of what is possible. Throughout the novel, Antonio is presented

Within the novel, Antonio is presented with many binary opposites, such as the contrast between his mother’s people, the Lunas, and his father’s, the Marez. The Lunas are shown as a people concerned with agriculture and connection between man and the earth. The Marez are shown as a free spirited group of people. This contrast is once described by Ultima, saying, “It is the blood of the Lunas to be quiet, for only a quiet man can learn the secrets of the earth that are necessary for planting--They are quiet like the moon--And it is the blood of the Marez to be wild, like the ocean from which they take their name, and the spaces of the llano that have become their home,” (Anaya, 41). By describing the Lunas first as quiet, then tying that to learning the secrets, specifically, of the earth, the author emphasizes the significance of both being quiet and having an intimate relationship with the earth. They describe

Late in the novel, Antonio states, “For Ultima personified goodness,” (Anaya, 255). Such a broad, wholehearted topic such as good is associated with Ultima in his mind, and yet she is labeled by many as a witch. He sees her, a being of magic, as a force of good, and places trust in her despite the words of others. This causes Antonio to question the characteristics given to magic by the society he lives in, especially after witnessing the dark side of magic when his uncle, Lucas, is cursed by a witch. The demonstration of the same force for two separate motives allows him to consider the capacity of such a force that could be used for both good and evil. However, much of Ultima’s identity is left ambiguous and uncertain, as is shown when Ultima is put through a test to determine if she is truly a witch. This test consists of Ultima walking through a doorway with holy needles in the shape of a cross above it. Ultima manages to pass the test, but Antonio is uncertain of whether or not Ultima truly did pass. “I bent down and picked up the two needles that had been stuck to the top of the door frame. Whether someone had broken the cross they made or whether they had fallen, I would never know,” (Anaya, 135). Antonio is shown here how thin the boundary between what he believes to be a good force and an evil one actually is. The