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Bless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

1185 Words5 Pages

In Rudolfo Anaya's "Bless Me, Ultima", the young Antonio Márez goes through hardships during World War II. His journey of self-discovery and inner peace comes to light in the end. Antonio’s journey symbolizes his development of morals and spirituality, in his self-discovery journey. With having a difficult time finding his true self, with the guidance of his mysterious mentor, the Curandera Ultima, his spiritual awakening starts to grow. He finally dares to challenge the strict morals, and traditions of his community. While crossing the path to find his purpose and following his fate with understanding and acceptance, he also begins to embrace religion, culture, and background. Antonio's journey and experiences in Bless Me, Ultima has shaped …show more content…

Lupito’s death traumatized and marked the beginning of Antonio’s journey to self-discovery, which shows how big of an impact it had on Antonio’s life. This led him to question his Catholic faith and the Creator for the first time. After losing his innocence, seeing a person die before him. Antonio was lost in thoughts wondering where Lupito’s soul would reside, and if God would ever forgive him, even after committing a mortal sin. "I was learning that everything made sense" (120). Antonio initiates his spirituality and self-discovery journey after he begins confronting reality with questions, instead of blindly following his parents withhold thinking. While exploring and questioning, attempting to find his inner peace, being raised in a religious Catholic home with parents of different backgrounds makes it difficult as he navigates through his discovery …show more content…

He thinks that rather than accepting things as they are without doubt, the only way to truly know anything is to think critically and ask questions. Antonio pushes the limits of what is deemed feasible and plausible to upend the current status quo and free himself from the confines of conventional thinking. The importance Antonio places on individual accountability and self-sufficiency is another component of his worldview. He feels that people should develop their own inner strength and moral compass, rather than depending on others for direction and approval. "Ultima had said that my destiny awaited me, and I walked with the knowledge that my people and my family would have to understand and accept the destiny I made for myself." 124. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. This shows how he is striving to carve his own path and continue to be determined, even if that causes his family disapproval. The determination he has instead of obediently following other people's instructions, he encourages people to think independently and oversee their own lives, making their own

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Bless Me, Ultima In the story Bless Me, Ultima, by, Rudolfo Anaya, Anaya uses imagery and symbolism to tells us readers that making your own choices as you grow up can be very hard. In the book, Anaya adds a series of Antonio’s dreams while he sleeps to give us a better understanding of how Antonio thinks and feels. In Antonio’s dream on pages 5 and Anaya writes about Antonio’s birth he, writes about how his parents had different dreams for him and how each side of the family supported each.

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“As you grow into manhood, you must find your own truths.” This is the overall message Rudolfo Anaya conveys regarding a hero’s journey and myth in his Chicano novel Bless Me, Ultima. The protagonist of the novel, Antonio, is not the typical hero that readers expect to encounter in a novel; perhaps, this novel’s quest does not fit the typical mold since Antonio embarks on a quest of self discovery and spiritual enlightenment to new levels of understanding. As noted, Antonio hears the call to adventure which comes in the form of Ultima who serves as a mentor and key factor to provide him with the tools necessary for his mysterious future path.

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Antonio, a character from Bless Me, Ultima written by Rudolfo Anaya, witnesses the demise of Lupito, as a six year old this causes him to mature. A reason that leads to him becoming mature is when Lupito is dying Antonio is unable to help him. Lupito is near the river bank, and above him are the men who plan to finish him. Lupito mutters, “Bless me─” (22). When Antonio fails, he believes he cannot be a priest, like his mother wishes.

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Antonio has been given choices in life and it's up to destiny to decide what he is going to do. Bless Me Ultima, written by Rudolfo Anaya is a coming of age novel. A little boy named Antonio has two completely different parents, they have different cultures and want different thing for Antonio. Antonio's parents fight about his destiny when Ultima, a magical person, comes to live with them for the summer. He starts to get interested with the magical world.

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Rudolfo Anaya's novel "Bless Me, Ultima" is a coming-of-age story that traces Antonio Marez's early years in a remote area of New Mexico. When we first see Antonio in Chapter 1, he is a small child who is looking forward to Ultima, a curandera (healer), coming to live with his family. The family relationships of Antonio are introduced in Chapters 2 and 3, as with his contacts with Ultima, who ends up serving as his spiritual mentor. In Chapter 4, Ultima introduces Antonio to her spiritual practices and assists him in coming to terms with a man's death. Chapter 5 explores Antonio's struggle with his Catholic upbringing and the indigenous beliefs he encounters through Ultima.

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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

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When Narciso died, Ultima showed Antonio the harsh reality that comes with every human life. "Do not worry about Tenorio's threats, he has no manly strength to carry them out. He murdered Narciso because he ambushed him in cold blood, but he will not find me easy to ambush-" (189). Antonio understood her words and learned to avoid Tenorio no matter the struggle he went through. He never went against her words because he her words had powerful meaning behind them was pure truth.

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Developing one’s own ideas amidst tradition and self-discovery presents a challenge in Mexican culture. In the novel Bless me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio, the protagonist, grapples with personal beliefs while growing up in his traditional New Mexican household. When Ultima, a curandera, moves in with his family, she becomes instrumental in guiding Antonio through childhood trials and complex adult concepts, leading him to maturity. Anaya expresses the difficulty of approaching maturity through the conflicting ideas of magical realism and religion. Christian belief is strict because of it’s practices in reward and punishment.

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Always have the strength to live. Love life, and if despair enters your heart, look for me in the evening when the wind is gentle and the owls sing in the hills. I shall be with you--” (ch. pg. ). Ultima says to Antonio that he must develop his own value system and to define his own identity.

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In the novel Bless Me, Ultima, the author Rodolfo Anaya presents the theme that growing up involves the loss of innocence. The novel is a coming of age story, in which the main character, Antonio Márez, struggles with the conflicting ideas of religion versus culture. The different variations of the conflict throughout the novel lead to his growth and his maturity. The author uses occurrences such as Lupito’s death, the Golden Carp, and the arrival of Ultima to demonstrate Tony being able to set aside his idealism and begin to lose his spiritual innocence.

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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.

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Antonio watches as a priest defiles and altar by pouring pigeon blood on it, Cico defiles the river by spearing the golden carp, and Tenorio murders Ultima by killing her “night-spirit.’ Antonio must learn to accept that violence brings change, and in fact, that change is a kind of violence. This supports the novel’s argument that the transition into adulthood requires a person to develop the kind of faith that can accept doubt, contradiction, and loss in the absence of absolute answers. Ultima reiterates the novel’s concern with violence as a part of change when, before Antonio leaves, she advises him that he must learn to accept change and make it a part of his strength. Antonio begins to understand the spiritual value that Ultima places on harmony.

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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

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Since Oscar was young he seemed to be battling with the idea of being a “ True Dominican man”, constantly trying to mold himself into something he simply was not. This idea was something in which haunted him through the entirety of his brief life. Many people in his life pressured him, trying to make him this true

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Maria puts pressure on Antonio to be a priest while Antonio feels an inner peace when he's with Ultima but this does come with a crucial realization. It could be argued that by having glimpses of Ultimas lifestyle Antonio has realized he has been within sin and that he lost his innocence a long time ago. His mind and beliefs are not confined to the thought of religion as they used to. This all ties with the idea of wisdom being an interpretation of experiences; the idea of being ascertained to sin and realizing he was no longer innocent made Antonios struggle between secular and spiritual thoughts even more gargantuan than it already was. A harbinger of Ultimas role in a relentless

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