Scott Gordon 4th hour Antonio’s Culture 11/4/14 Antonio is the main character and narrator of “Bless me, Ultima”, a book written by Rudolfo Anaya. Antonio is a six year old boy who is very curious about many of the mysteries of life such as religion and the world around him. He is often a spectator of terrible things that he doesn’t understand. Antonio is able to find out about his own culture through seeing the cultures of his friends and family, his encounters with good and evil, and his own curiosity. At the beginning of the book, “Bless me ,Ultima”, Antonio is a seemingly normal little boy from a primarily Mexican family. Antonio's mother is caring loving mother that is very religious and pushes Antonio to be a priest. …show more content…
The first time Antonio witnesses death is when a murderer named Lupito is killed by a mob of people, that included his father. Antonio as opposed to being afraid, begins to ask questions such as “...where was Lupito's soul winging to?”. Though Lupito was a murderer and his death may have been justified it is still a traumatizing affect on anyone especially a small child. Throughout the book Antonio witnesses four deaths, two of which were murders. Antonio witnesses the deaths of Lupito, Narciso, Florence, and Ultima. Narciso was the second murder that Antonio observed. Narciso was murdered trying to protect Ultima from the owner of a saloon owner named Tenorio. Narciso's death made Antonio angry and made him question other things like justice and what made Narciso deserve to die. This is shown in the book right after the death of Narciso when he is left to think about it and thinks to himself "I could not understand why Narciso, who did good in trying to help Ultima, had lost his life; and why Tenorio, who was evil and had taken a life, was free and unpunished". Antonio had many encounters with forces of good and evil that helped shape his personal
Ultima goes to stay with Antonio Marez, a young boy who lives in the llano with his parents, two sister, and three brothers. This is because Ultima is too old to live on her own. Antonio and Ultima grow very close. Antonio helps Ultima cure his uncle Lucas and lift the curse on the Tellez home. Ultima collects herbs from the mountains and uses these to make remedies and medicines. She used remedies and medicines to cure Antonio’s uncle, Lucas.
Antonio’s mother, Maria Márez, says that "growing into manhood is a sin" because she believes that the pure quality that is bestowed on to children from god is lost when a boy becomes a man. She fears that Antonio will lose his pureness, so she constantly urges him to become a priest because she believe that God is the only one to “save” him from the destructive ways of manhood.
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.
As a young child, Rodriguez finds comfort and safety in his noisy home full of Spanish sounds. Spanish, is his family's' intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is conveyed using the Spanish language. "I recognize you as someone close, like no one outside. You belong with us, in the family, Ricardo.? When the nuns came to the Rodriquez?s house one Saturday morning, the nuns informed the parents that it would be best if they spoke English. Torn with a new since of confusion, his home is turned upside down. His sacred family language, now banished from the home, transforms his web into isolation from his parents. "There was a new silence in the home.? Rodriguez is resentful that it is quiet at the dinner table, or that he can't communicate with his parents about his day as clearly as before. He is heartbroken when he overhears his mother and father speaking Spanish together but suddenly stop when they see Rodriguez. Thi...
Throughout the novel Bless Me,Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio’s Parents had an adamant ideal of how they wanted their children to live their lives. Maria, his mother, wanted her children to follow the way of her Luna family. Gabriel, his father, wanted his children to travel to California with him. Maria wanted Antonio to become a priest. “Her own dream was that I should grow up and become a priest” (Anaya 5). His father had a dream to move to California. “My father’s dream was to gather his sons around him and move westward to the land of the the setting sun, to the vineyards of California”(Anaya 14). His parents had two different ideas on what they wanted their children to do which stirred up the pot in the house because of it. As a young child growing up he was very conflicted on how he wanted to live his life especially because he didn't want to disappoint his parents. This made a confliction within Antonio’s Identity. Another dream of his mother is that Antonio gets
In the novel, Bless Me Ultima, written by Rudolfo Anaya, two different religions are introduced. The religion of Catholicism is the religion originally practiced by the novel’s main character, Antonio. Throughout the novel, the religion of the Golden Carp is introduced and causes a crisis of faith for Antonio. Antonio must learn to choose between the conventional values of the Church and the modern beliefs of the Golden Carp by comparing and contrasting the two religions.
Antonio also learns to see how powerful Ultima's healing can be for others in the community, even more powerful than the church. "The priest came. It did not help" (239). Antonio learns how much his mother and many others respect and value Ultima in their minds. Ultima learned from the best and therefore, her powers have been seen far and wide. Antonio's mother believes that even though she goes to church and prays like everyone else, sh...
Family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person’s life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems may arise when an individual’s belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family standards. Consequently, individuals may be forced to repress their emotions or avoid acting in ways that that are not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with a story about a matriarchal family that deals with various conflicts. One major internal conflict is repression. Throughout the novel the characters act in strange ways and many of the family members have internal “monsters” that represent the past that they are repressing. In his article, “The Historical Imagination in Arturo Islas’s The Rain God and Migrant Souls”, Antonio C. Marquez’s implicitly asserts a true idea that The Rain God is a story about repression. Marquez’s idea can be supported from an analysis of secondary sources and a reading of the primary text.
Catholicism glorifies and represents mothers as the main foundation of the family through the example of the passive and unconditional loving Mary, the mother of Jesus Crist. This idea of the mother as unconditional lover beings has been passed on and reproduced in the Chicana/o community. Gil Cuadros and Reyna Grande through their autobiographical work testify against this predominate idea of the mothers being caring and loving persons. Even though most mothers fall into the norm of a normal mother, normality is subjective, therefore Cuadros and Grande’s work represent the complexities of reality. Grande’s The Distance Between Us and Cuadro’s City of God are autobiographical narratives that incorporate reality as a form of testimonial of existence, an act of healing and resilience. Given that these author’s life experiences can be
The story uses many motifs, symbols and themes. First the motif is Antonio’s dreams. In the beginning of the book his dreams are about what he will become when he grows up; the choice between priest or a vaquero. Later on his dreams change to more important matters, such as family questions and his duty in life. The second motif regards Antonio’s family. He has many family members such
“Maturity is a high price to pay for growing up.” This quote distinctly describes Rudolph Anaya’s spell-binding and spine-tingling bildungsroman novel Bless Me, Ultima.Set in the backdrop of Guadalupe, New Mexico and followed by World War II this page-turner novel skillfully unravels the artistic maturation of a six-year-old Chicano protagonist, Antonio.Having parents with contentious backgrounds and confusing religious beliefs Antonio came across with the death of Narciso, his father’s friend and due to the certain circumstances was forced to bless him as a priest.This pivotal moment marks his growth which led to his social, moral and mental development.Rudolfo Anaya’s bildungsroman novel, Bless Me, Ultima presents the most crucial moment
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya is a coming of age story about a young boy named Antonio Marez. The novel takes place in New Mexico where Antonio tries to fulfill his parent’s expectations while struggling with religion. Through Antonio, Anaya defies the some of the principles in religion and expresses her interpretation on the system of beliefs. Antonio’s religious confusion suggests that man should be able to choose his own religion and destiny. In the Bless me, Ultima, Antonio experiences conflict in his religious beliefs because of the deaths he witnesses, the new ideas that he learns, and his open-minded mentality.
In the novel, Bless me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, a boy goes through many more experiences than any child in the hot summer days in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. He witnesses the deaths of his close friends and family. This boy expresses his emotions and grief through his dreams, only to wake up with fear and confusion in his mind. Antonio’s life is filled with dreams that foreshadow future incidents, as well as influences Antonio’s beliefs of religion and ideas of innocence.
His mother, Maria, introduces him to Catholicism by sending him to catechism and church. Maria dreams that he will assume a role in her family and become a farmer and even a priest to lead her people. However, his father, Gabriel, expects him to become a vaquero and hopes this free spirited persona will travel with him to California. Ultima is Antonio’s most influential role model. She is a medicine woman who guides and teaches him tolerance and the importance of making his own decisions.
The lines selected for analysis are Act II, Scene I, lines 277-291, when Antonio is trying to reassure Sebastian that killing his brother—the King of Naples—is a good idea and well worth the effort. As the reader knows, Antonio usurped his brother, Prospero, and became the Duke of Milan. This sets the stage for his attitude towards Sebastian’s wanting to kill his brother, King Alonso. Because of Antonio’s past actions he sees nothing wrong with getting rid of a family member for personal gain, but his reasons for doing so began at a young age and have been etched into his brain. Antonio’s psychological depth reveals that he is a man jealous of his brother’s rightful power, and stemming from that is his insecurity and lust for power wherever he may find it (in this case, having power over Sebastian). Antonio is not a good person, has few conscientious thoughts, and is now trying to convince his companion to follow his lead. If Antonio’s brother, Prospero, was to hear the selected lines, he would say that the only time Antonio thinks about performing acts that will get him power, by eliminating those who currently have it, is when it is to his advantage. He would say that Antonio devises plans to get rid of leaders when they are at a disadvantage, and he at an advantage, because he doesn’t feel that he could succeed otherwise—his insecurities kicking in. I don’t think Shakespeare agrees with Antonio, and there are two examples in the play to support that.