Symbolism of the Number Three in "Bless Me Ultima"

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Through Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, the reader notices many themes. One central, and very important theme is the repetition of the number three. For example, there are three sources of understand for Antonio, three deaths that Antonio witnesses, and Antonio's three prophetic dreams. These all play crucial roles in both Antonio's life and serving to further the plot.

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 next source of understanding for Antonio is the golden carp. When he first hears of the golden c...

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... overall plot. The repetition of three furthers the plot and helps give the reader more of a focus on the little details in Antonio's life. The specific examples of the repetition of threes in this paper were all crucial to Antonio. The three death's that he witnessed made him question everything that he had known, the three prophetic dreams he has foreshadows what is going to happen to him in the rest of the novel, and finally, the three sources of understand for Antonio play crucial parts throughout the novel, even when they are destroyed in the end of the novel. In the end, Antonio decides that there is no fate but what he makes of it, and he is okay with this. He has learned through Ultima, and all of the things that have happened in his life, that you have to have evil in order to have good.

Page number from Rudolpho's Bless Me, Ultima are in parentheses.

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