...Bless Me, Ultima: A Reflection on Individuality There arrives a time in everyone’s education where they must make the conscious decision to stray away from their childish delusions. From that point forth, choosing between the truth and the safety of familiarity becomes a struggle that numerous people must overcome. Rudolfo Anaya illustrates this concept in his bildungsroman, coming of age novel, Bless Me, Ultima. Bless Me, Ultima, follows the life of six-year-old protagonist Antonio Marez as he attempts to make sense of his life in World War II-era New Mexico. For his whole life, Antonio has lived on the Llano, a barren range of land where plant life is hard to sustain; however, his life changes when Ultima, a curandera, comes to stay with...
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...Austin Matheney Professor Witschi ENGL 2220 4th December 2014 Contrasting Landscapes in Bless Me, Ultima As the pages flip, and the story unfolds, the audience begins to notice that the landscapes in Bless Me, Ultima play a vital role in many different facets of the novel. Throughout the novel, there is an obvious dichotomy between the llano, the land of the main character’s father, and El Puerto de los Lunas, the land of the main character’s mother. As Antonio, who is the focus of the novel, grows older, he is forced to make a decision between the llano and the Luna. This decision is not based upon which land to dwell upon, but rather on which path Antonio should place his life: the dreams of his father or the dreams of his mother. Rudolfo Anaya, the author of the text, also utilizes other simple landscapes, such as the river and the pond, to aid in the coming of age of Antonio. Ultimately, Antonio must choose a path in life, and Anaya implements these different landscapes in order to exemplify Antonio’s struggle and development. The land of both Antonio’s father and of Antonio’s biggest inspiration, Ultima, is the llano; a beautiful landscape of rolling hills and dark plains. At first glance, this is all that the llano holds, but the llano is much more than just a beautiful piece of land to the vaqueros, to Ultima, and to Antonio’s father. The llano represents freedom and embodies the spirit of the vaqueros, or herdsmen, who are a group of people that Antonio’s father...
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...novel Bless Me,Ultima written by rudolfo anaya, Antonio's dream in chapter twenty two explains his dream and the different type of things he saw throughout his dream. This helps convey the idea of confusion between antonios religion and the suffering he's been through. We see this through the use of symbolism and imagery. In the beginning of Antonio's dream, antonio sees some type of “parade” passing with all the men Antonio had seen die. Among them was Lupito, narciso, and florence. “Finally i saw the body of florence, floating motionlessly in the dark water.”(243). THis was an example of imagery. The dark water represented sadness and death. I believe this because dark is usually a very sad color and and in funerals people wear black because of their deep sorrow .This is why the water was black instead of clear. This was also an example of imagery because, it gave so much detail it made us feel like we were part of the dream and staring at the same thing antonio was...
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...“I could not tell him that I wanted the castle of the giants to be forever, that I wanted the goat path and the hill to be for always” (Anaya 143). Symbols of childhood are valuable because they lead to the continuation of a person into adulthood. As a child, one is innocent and oblivious to the wonders of the world around them, but they develop and learn as they age to maturity. Bless Me, Ultima is a novel centered around a young boy named Antonio, who grows and changes throughout the book, going from a boy to a man. Throughout the bildungsroman Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya uses symbolism of the goat path – along with its cohesivity to childhood innocence – to portray that the transition to adulthood is an extensive journey gained through...
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...Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya is a coming of age novel being told by an adult perspective of the main character, Tony. Tony witnessed many things while growing up. For example, he saw many deaths, an exorcism, bullying, and much more. During his childhood, Tony had many dreams that allow the reader to delve into his subconscious and gain insight, that regular dialogue would not be cable of. This insight includes his religious, social, and economic views but also displays many literary devices such as symbolism, foreshadowing, and personification Tony has his first dream in chapter one. He dreams about his birth and this is the first time that Tony exhibits his family conflict. Both his parent wants different occupational paths and Tony...
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...Bless Me, Ultima is a coming of story about a young boy’s journey towards spiritual awakening. Below the surface of this deceptively simple story lie powerful elements of binary opposition and symbolism that the author, Rudolfo Anaya, uses to help provide the backdrop to Antonio’s immersing journey and reveal the “curious mélange of elements” taught to him. Through these literary strategies, Anaya develops the intense conflict between the two sides of Antonio’s family, the mysticism of his surroundings and experiences and glimpses of what lay ahead. Antonio is a six-year-old boy who grows up in a home with conflicting lifestyles. His mother belongs to a devout Catholic family known as the Lunas, who consider themselves masters of the land and skilled farmers. They pride themselves in their humility and strong faith. Contrasting, is the Mares family, from which Antonio’s father was raised. The Mares are a wild bunch of vaqueros, horse-mounted workers, with a burning desire for adventure who take pleasure in handling their own matters without any one else’s authority. This poses a major conflict that is visited through the entirety of the book, between Antonio’s mother and father. While his mother prays incessantly that young Antonio grows up to be a priest and leader of the Lunas community, his father, contrastingly, hopes that his son will follow in the Mares footsteps as Antonio may be his last hope of leaving New Mexico and moving to the wilds of California. This binary opposition...
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...been proven that every person dreams. In Bless me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya the main character, Tony, has many dreams which offer...
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...“No matter the age of parents or the age of children, parents always have tremendous influence over their children”(Kevin Thompson). Mr. Thompson later continues to address in his article, How Parents Influence their Children, that through example, story, and encouragement, parents can unknowingly and purposefully impact their kids. This ideology can be seen in Bless Me Ultima with Antonio’s parents. The Marez parents have different views on the future for Antonio and their words and action contributes to Antonio questioning who he is. Anaya utilizes the symbolism of the moon and sea to represent the two opposing heritages of the Lunas and Marez; this symbol helps to convey that an individual's future cannot be pressured by one's parents, but...
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