Bless Me Ultima Death Analysis

Francis Nosike 09/24/16

AP Literature Mr. Amoroso

Death cannot be explained because it’s not a living entity; it’s the transformation from a physical state to dust. In the novel Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya; Antonio, the protagonist, witnessed three deaths that fostered his religious ambivalence. Therefore, the three deaths formulated a cycle of inquiries that lead to the constant statement, ‘anyone could die.’ No living soul on this plain could ever explain how death operates. The abstract conception of death itself is challenging, but with time, we slowly begin to comprehend the ‘true’ nature of death and what it brings to us. In Bless Me Ultima, Antonio is continually having internal ambivalences as his mother and father bolster his confliction. That’s until a woman named Ultima enters his family life. With her entering Antonio’s family life and his own, he begins to have a deeper connection with the curandera. As his relationship develops with Ultima, Antonio begins to gain more insight on Gabriel Marez (his father) and Maria Luna (his mother), as they are complete opposites of each other. In the first chapter of this book, Antonio had a vision of his birth that later foreshadow the death of someone. In his vision, Antonio witnessed his mother, her brothers, his father, and the vaqueros

births. The implication Narciso was making about the juniper not only implied of his death being inevitable, but implores to Antonio that in death a new life begins to take shape. A question that was formulated after Narciso death was, ‘Why must the good die?’ Anyone could die. Let that individual be a man, woman, child, an elder, a priest, or a family member… anyone could die; the ‘true’ nature of death is the transformation from a physical state to