Bless Me Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

Tristen Toledo 3/22/24 English IV Mr. Armijo Culture and Identity in “Bless Me, Ultima” Rudolfo Anaya dives into the deeper meaning of what it truly means to be human and what kind of values a person holds no matter the age or background. The protagonist of the story, Antonio, experiences many new things and witnesses multiple events that change his mind on how he perceives the world around him. Cultural experiences play a major role as they influence personal growth, beliefs, and moral development. “Bless Me Ultima” crosses between the worlds of good and evil in which Antonio fights to know the truth of who he is and where he comes from in his faith and the culture of his village and family if he must choose to be a Marez or a Luna. Rudolfo

Throughout Antonio’s journey, he encounters the evils and goodness that have been introduced to him through different events and through different characters. In Anaya’s writing, he emphasizes the lawlessness that happens in the secluded area, “There are violent fights and deaths. The technique and calculated effects of certain scenes seem deliberately to have been drawn from popular literature and movies that reflect a legendary "wild" west”(Testa 1) which helps narrate the story and the environment that is evil to Antonio such as the death of Lupo. There is much good in the book as well, such as Ultima coming into Antonio’s life helping him with his thoughts and what he should know in his environment to overcome such evil that is enacted upon him. “Ultima's influence, which is natural and unimposed, slowly wins out because her way of life blends with the feelings of concreteness and of the closeness of the forces of nature, which Antonio comes to realize is so much a part of him and his world”(Testa 7). As said by Testa, Antonio begins his new found life learning the goodness Ultima brings to

In the quote, “In principle, this change can occur in either group, but it is more common for one of the groups to dominate and thus be able to force its culture upon the weaker group.”(Black 1) shows how if one group is more dominant of the other there is more than likely going to be a force on others to that side rather than the other side of the parents. In Chicano culture, "the emphasis on familism is such that it includes not only the immediate family and extended relatives but fictive relations" (Mirande 107) as they accepted Ultima into their home as she had no relations with her but only that they knew her as she was apart of the family. Antonio’s culture in the town was both farming and being a vaquero, as his father once was. Knowing what his background was and where he came from made him want to understand what took place at school to help others and his fascination with the