Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
1- The story is about a little boy named Antonio Marez. The setting is Guadalupe, New Mexico around the 1940's. During WWII. Antonio is the third child following his two older brothers who are away at war. The towns curandera, Ultima, moves in with the family with the mothers beliefs that Antonio will value the ideas of her ways and the Catholic ways. Antonio falls in love with the type of person Ultima is and how she helps heals people from evil or any illnesses. He enjoys all the time he can spend with her. Antonio's parents are pressuring him to follow either in his fathers footsteps, to become a vaquero, or a priest which is what his mother wants him to be. There is some evil that is going through the town because the town drunk is a crazy and his three daughters are believed to associate themselves with witchcraft, so they have brought evil upon they're family. It is believed that the sisters have placed a cursed on Antonio's uncle and it is up to Ultima and Antonio to help replenish him from the curse. Antonio is offered plenty of information and different belief paths of life. He feels pressured whether to follow His mothers or his fathers, friends, and he basically is just finding himself and what he wants to personally believe in. He is molding his life and his beliefs, does not want to follow or feed off the beliefs of others. In the end Antonio is left with so much knowledge to continue the ways of a curandero and he can be there for the people just like Ultima was there for everyone who asked for her help.
2. One important theme throughout this novel is the importance of your identity. Antonio is trying to discover who he really is. But he is influenced by so much, through language barriers, vaqueros vs. priest, and his culture. He is so determined to find one solid answer to the questions he has, about who is, what his purpose in the future is. But what Ultima tries to advice him with is that whether he has so many influences around him, that he should take advantage of it all and just let it all teach him to be a better person. He doesn't need a title but he should just be the better person in cases when he is needed and just in general.
3.-The author held a very mysterious feel to the story. Was a bit eerie and left the reader in suspense.
"The orange of the golden carp appeared at the end of the pond... Out of the corner
of my eyes I saw Cico hold his hand over his breast as the golden carp glided by.
Then with a switch of his powerful tail the golden carp disappeared in the
shadowy water under the thicket."
- He also claims how the characters need to be mindful about things that are going on. The authors tone is very humble. Especially when he explains Ultima and her ways of doing things. She is a very patient and humble lady who is very wise about life.
" The tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength
that resides in the human heart."
- There is the tone of honoring the wise. Feeling proud and thankful for what good they have done. Honoring the dead and appreciating them.
"In two days we would celebrate the mass of the dead, and after mass we would
take her body to the cemetery of Las Pasturas, for burial."
4.- Throughout the novel the author used personification to help convey what his meaning behind the story was. And to help the reader have a better understanding of things.
"The sun was good. The men of the llano were men of the sun. The men of the farms along the rivers
were men of the moon. But we were all children of the white sun."
"There are so many dreams to be fulfilled, but Ultima says a man's destiny must unfold itself like a flower, with only the sun and the earth and water making it blossom, and no one else meddling in it."
- Anaya uses a lot of imagery. With this element he is able to help paint a picture in the readers mind.
"Around me the moonlight glittered on the pebbles of the llano, and in the night sky a million stars sparkled. Across the river I could see the twinkling lights of the town.
- Metaphors were used through out the writing to help compare and explain in detail a picture to the readers mind. Antonio is explaining what amazing things Ultima has done for him and how much she has opened his eyes too.
"Ultima came to stay with us the summer I was almost seven. When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth. The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood."
