Cultural Dissonance In Bless Me, Ultima By Anaya

In the book Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya wrote his novel to introduce the reader to several conflicting cultures in Antonio’s childhood. “Intergenerational cultural dissonance (ICD) is a clash between parents and children over cultural value, which occurs so commonly in the book because the among immigrant family, in which the parents are regarded as a normative experience” (Yoonsun Choi, Michael He, and Tracy W. Harachi). The parents who are named María and Gabriel are immigrant parents adhering to their traditional cultural beliefs while their children endorses Southwestern values and clash. The main character is a seven year named Antonio or for short Tony. He has two sisters and three brothers, but his brother left the house after War II. The major theme of the novel is Antonio’s loss of innocence. The Lunas are farmers who have faith for the Earth and the moon, but the Maréz are cowboys who have worships to horses and the sun. The brothers don’t want to follow the same and old steps as the parents, so instead of staying home with the family and take their

His family learned only to speak Spanish, but Antonio goes to school, he is forced to experience the English-speaking to interact with children who are not from the same culture as he is. Antonio’s mother is extremely proud of his opportunity to learn English. Antonio finds that his schoolmates are less accepting of his own culture. Antonio learns that he is able to accept portions of every culture when he creates his own identity and follows his own path to adulthood. Ultima assures him that not every type of faith is expected to be kept in mind, in which Antonio is able to use the same lesson in dealing with the conflicting cultures in his