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Religion in bless me ultima
Loss of innocence in bless me ultima
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Innocence is like a new pair of shoes; everyone has one, but as one age it starts to lose its significance and at some point in one’s life it must be thrown away. Antonio, a young boy grown up on the land of the llano, starts out as an innocent child, unaware of the dangers and tragedies of life. As the novel, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya unravels, he becomes more and more conscious of the good and evil in the world. Throughout the novel, Antonio encounters many obstacles that chip away at his innocence which forces him to question God’s authority and the injustice in the world, such as the death of Lupito, the introduction of the Golden Carp, and the death of Florence.
While still a young boy who is just beginning to understand the world, Antonio’s encounter of Lupito’s death begins a transformation in which Antonio’s understanding of the world changes drastically. In the novel, World War II has already begun and in the valley of the llano many parents’ children are dragged off to war. Lupito is a war veteran who has a severe case of “war sickness” and due to the extremity of it; it causes him to murder the sheriff of Guadalupe. That resulted in a standoff by the bridge which Antonio secretly watches, staying hidden by the tall grassy reeds. In the end, Lupito shoots the air to draw the men’s fire and dies a tragic death. Antonio witnesses all this first hand and due to that his mind becomes preoccupied with sin, punishment and loss of innocence. As he deals with the ideas of good and evil behind Lupito’s death, he turns to religion to help him solve the matters at hand. As the book says, “Over and over through my mind ran the words of the Act of Contrition” (Anaya 24) Antonio begins to recite the Act of Contrition repea...
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...not answering him. Feeling God’s betrayal he turns to other sources such as the Golden Carp and Ulitma. In the end, Antonio discovers that God is merciless, and the world is an unjust place, innocent people and evil people are given the same punishment. The last of Antonio’s innocence disappears as he understands the injustice and tragedies in the world.
The novel can be related to many events in our lives. Sometimes it’s not always the bad people that get punished. Florence and Narciso are examples of that. As Antonio learns this, his innocence level starts from childlike but rises to maturity. Three events that helped augment the loss of innocence and to the rise independent thinking for Antonio are, the death of Lupito, introduction of the Golden Carp, and Florence’s death. As the book ends, Antonio realizes loss of innocence is a vital part in growing up.
Antonio, the young boy, wants answers to the questions that have been nagging at him since he was introduced to religious ideology. He does not understand why Ultima, a close elderly friend and a healer, can save his dying uncle from the curses of evil while the priest from El Puerto with his holy water and the power of God can not lift the curse from him. He wonders whether God really exists or if the “Cico's” story of the golden carp is true. Bless Me, Ultima, is a compelling story that deals with Antonio's family, beliefs, and dreams.
When Antonio first became homeless, an older man tried to steal one of his belongings, which was a simple hot plate. His first instinct was to attack the man and take back his property. While doing so, Antonio thought, “We have almost nothing, and this man wants to take it from us” (43). In addition, he mentions how, “It felt good to hit this man… For a moment, he felt strong and free; fury was a much better drug than self-pity.” (43). When Antonio discusses about the old man and his crimes, he may be alluding to Longoria and what he did to Antonio’s family. The man who tried to take away part of Antonio’s possessions is referring to Longoria and how he took away Antonio’s family. The act of beating the old man refers Antonio’s eventual act of revenge against Longoria and the satisfaction he experiences afterwards. Both acts demonstrate Antonio’s willingness to sacrifice and harm other in certain scenarios where it is necessary. The significant difference between Longoria and Antonio is the intention behind their actions. Longoria killed hundreds in cold blood for his own selfish desires and beliefs, while Antonio only harmed a total of two people to get revenge and to enforce justice in the only way he could. As mentioned before, Longoria’s actions are evil because he commits them for selfish reasons and without remorse. In contrast, Antonio’s actions are seen as necessary evils. A necessary evil is defined as an act of evil (as perceived by society) that is committed in a certain scenario where it follows a utilitarian approach; an approach in which the action does more good than harm. When Antonio beat up the old man, he was merely protecting his belongings and enforcing the law. More importantly, when Antonio killed Longoria, it was for his wife, his son, and the hundreds of other innocent lives that Longoria had claimed; Antonio did an act of
Exploring the minds of six-year-olds can be a very interesting experience. Gary Soto narrates this story as a young boy at a time when he seems to be young and foolish. Soto does a great job of showing the contrast between right and wrong through a child’s eyes. He successfully conveys the guilt of the boy through his use of imagery, repetition and contrast. He uses these tools to get the reader into the mind of the boy so that they can explore his guilt and thoughts.
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima is a magical-realism novel about Antonio, a young boy at the mere age of six turning seven, realizing the many cruelties the world has to offer. As he matures, Antonio is conflicted while trying to choose between the career expectations from his two divergent families and attempting to figure out a true religion. Anaya depicts hidden messages to help the reader comprehend a perceptive insight of Antonio’s inner schism through symbolism.
First, and probably most important are the three sources of understanding for Antonio. First, there is Ultima, who serves as a neutral source of understanding and comforter for Antonio. The next source of understanding for Antonio is God. Antonio constantly struggles to understand good and evil through the eyes of the Catholic God. The final source of understanding for Antonio is the golden carp. The golden carp seems to be the alternative to believing in God throughout this novel. Antonio is constantly conflicted between God and the golden carp. When this conflict gets to be too much for Antonio, he goes to see Ultima. "I felt more attached to Ultima than to my own mother. Ultima told me the stories and legends of my ancestors. From her I learned the glory and the tragedy of the history of my people, and I came to understand how that history stirred in my blood" (128). This quote illustrates the point that Ultima serves as a crucial part of Antonio's learning and understanding experiences. Antonio feels closer to Ultima than to his own mother, so naturally she is going to have a key hand in influencing him. Just as she serves to mediate his conflicts between the golden carp and God, she mediates between his Luna and Márez blood.
The themes explored in the novel illustrate a life of a peasant in Mexico during the post-revolution, important themes in the story are: lack of a father’s role model, death and revenge. Additionally, the author Juan Rulfo became an orphan after he lost
Over the course of the novel, Anaya places important people, symbols, and moments that define Antonio’s personal religion and show how the novel represents his spiritual growth. At the beginning of Antonio’s life, Ultima has him “choose” the objects that will define his future and he chooses “the pen and paper” (Anaya 54). Since the old Luna priest was a scholar, this key moment represents the beginning of Antonio’s spiritual journey because it shows his initial position: aspiring priest. Antonio assumes the mindset that his family puts on him and believes that he will “hear the confessions” of the people in his town (Anaya 9). These
The life and experiences often encountered by most 6 year old kids are for the most part joyful and fun, but Tony’s childhood was like no other due to the hardships he had to experience at such a young age. Rodolfo Anaya’s “Bless Me, Ultima” is about the development of Tony’s moral independence while dealing with culture and religion as he is introduced to Ultima, a well known “curandera”, who also becomes his confidant, which helps the reader develop a better understanding of Tony’s struggles. One of the main focuses in Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis is the use of the “unconscious” to express a character’s true desires and anxieties as well as the author’s psyche. This can apply to Tony throughout the novel. Tony witnesses
In “The Secret Lion,” Alberto Alvaro Rios establishes the theme as loss of innocence in a young boy. The narrator brings to life a boy who must leave behind his youthful perceptions about girls, the arroyo, and his green haven. All preconceptions are shattered, and each glimpse of bliss is taken away. Through this the boy gains perspective, and begins to see the world with a new awareness. Rios ingrains the loss of innocence theme through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy who exhibits maturity, autonomy, and disillusionment.
The loss of innocence is an occurrence that happens in every life, and it is so easily taken. A traumatic moment is often the thief of innocence, leaving the victim scarred from the experience. Events like these are often the process of paving the road into adulthood, and aid in the metamorphosis of a child to an adult. In “My Father’s Noose” by Grace Talusan, “Dothead” by Amit Majmudar, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, each of the characters do not understand the concept of negligent personages. Once the protagonist knows that society is not composed of perfect people, their character and personality changes, as it forces them to take a look at their own morals. This prepares the protagonist for the lives
In response to Sebastian’s question about whether his conscience would bother him after committing fratricide, Antonio replies, “Ay, sir, where lies that? If `twere a kibe / `Twould put me to my slipper…” meaning that if his conscience was a small sore on the heel of his foot (a kibe), it would drive him to wear comfortable shoes but it would certainly not disrupt his life or stop him from doing what he’s doing. This shows Antonio to be a cold-hearted man, one who is able to quiet that little voice inside his head and push it to the back of his brain and continue with his terrible acts. In the next thought, he says, “…but I feel not this deity in my bosom,” admitting he doesn’t feel the tug of a conscience in his heart.
This haiku is meant to represent the pull from both is mother and father, but Antonio doesn’t want his parents to choose how he goes about his future. He wants to pick for himself, and it frustrates him. As Antonio moves from childhood to adolescence, he tries to reconcile his parents’ and his community’s conflicting cultural traditions; Antonio’s goal is independent thought and action; he strives to make his own moral decisions and to accept responsibility for their consequences. Antonio’s parents, whose frequently conflicting views make it difficult for Antonio to accept either of their belief systems. María, the devoutly Catholic wife, wants Antonio to follow her Luna family tradition by becoming a priest. Gabriel is the son of vaqueros
Antonio 's remorseless and unforgiving nature upon the arrival of the harpy in Act 3 Scene 3 is ultimately what results in despair. Had Antonio merely admitted he was wrong, he would have reaped a significantly better ending to his tale from the merciful Prospero. Sebastian stubborn and easily manipulated personality also meets the same fate as Antonio. On the other hand, many characters are rewarded for their forgiveness. Alonso gets his son back as a reward for his remorseful mentality towards what he did to Prospero, something that definitely reflects the good people receive for forgiving or asking to be forgiven. Another great example of this is Ferdinand, who is threatened with enslavement in Act 1, Scene 2 but remains content. Ferdinand simply proclaims "“Might I but through my prison once a day behold this maid: all corners else o ' the earth let liberty make use of; space enough have I in such a prison,” (1.2.495-499) thus forgiving Prospero for enslaving him merely out of love for Miranda. This shows huge love and compassion and a great sense of goodness. Appropriately, this goodness does reap its rewards, as Ferdinand
In the novel The Poor Christ of Bomba by Mongo Beti, several themes are present in the novel that were also presented through articles we talked about in class. These themes include the colonial establishment of European rule, role of women and cultural differences between the white Europeans trying to convert the natives and the native people themselves. Within this analysis, I will demonstrate how the characters process and manifest the issues and problems within the novel as well as how the themes reflect the particular ideas discussed in class.