Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Essay - 1880 Words

Bless Me Ultima - A Religious Struggle Only a few books dare to discuss the confusion surrounded by a religious awakening. In Bless Me Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya, Premio Quinto Sol national Chicano literary award recipient, challenges standard religion and brings in different ideas through the perspective of a young and confused boy. Due to the new ideas that he is introduced to, the events that occurs especially deaths, and his eagerness for knowledge all leads Antonio to question his religious beliefs. At the end of his struggle to understand, the boy reaches the peace of mind he was seeking. Throughout the book Antonio is introduced to many new ideas. The first is the experiences he has with Ultima. Ultima is a healer who learned†¦show more content†¦Antonio learns about the golden carp from Cico, a friend of his. According to Cico, the golden carp was once a god who loved the people of Antonios town, Guadalupe. The people were not allowed to fish for the brown carp that lived in the river that flowed around the town. These fish were sacred to the gods. However, because of a drought and no food, the people had to eat the carp to survive. This angered the gods. They wanted to punish all the people by death but they relented from killing the people. Instead, they turned the people into carp and made them live forever in the waters of the river-. The god who loved the people wished to become a carp like them to protect them from the dangers of the river. The gods agreed and because he was a god they made him very big and colored him the color gold. Antonio cann ot believe there is a new god and seeks answers from Ultima. Ultima is pleased that he has learned so much, but says she cannot tell him what to believe for he must decide for himself. The Golden Carp represents all the questions Tony has about religion and morality. Tony’s confusion is due to conflicting forces in both these aspects of life. When Cico first introduces the Carp to Tony, he is forced to make a tough decision, â€Å"Do you believe the Golden Carp is a god?† which he skillfully evades until he has the information he wants to make his decision. After the emergence of the Carp, Tony begins to question hisShow MoreRelated`` Bless Me, Ultima `` By Rudolfo Anaya983 Words   |  4 PagesRudolfo Anaya, author of â€Å"Bless Me, Ultima†, uses countless examples of folk-lore all throughout his novel. In doing so, he gives his readers great insight to the Mexican-American culture of the 1940’s during World War II, and how different the culture is th an how most people are raised. The folk-lore Anaya used most effectively throughout â€Å"Bless Me, Ultima† is; the whole idea of growing up and becoming a man, beliefs of witchcraft, children losing their innocence and the characters religious beliefsRead MoreBless Me Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya1463 Words   |  6 PagesB. Reyes 1 Bless Me Ultima Rudolfo Anaya L.A.P. Topic #4 Bairon Reyes Luna Mr. Amoroso Pd. 3 A.P. Literature 09/25/17 B. Reyes 2 In our hesitant humanly efforts to accept the ultimate fate, we find a painful truth, an agonizing indisputable fact that our lives must end, the way good days ends with peaceful sleep. Wistfully, we fail to discern the ironic beauty that is hidden, as we scramble to understand the superficial. This logical desire to understand its existence, and its necessity in our realityRead MoreBless Me Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya1730 Words   |  7 PagesBless Me Ultima Rudolfo Anaya Shaleah Mayo Topic 4 AP Literature Mr. Amoroso Period 1  What do you want to be when you grow up? 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Similarly, this is ever-present with Antonio and his family in the book Bless Me Ultima byRead MoreBless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya1002 Words   |  5 PagesIn the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio matures a great deal for his age due to the violent actions he is surrounded by.   Ã‚  Ã‚   In the beginning of the novel the main character Antonio Marez, who was just six years old at the time, lives in a small town located in New Mexico. He lives with his parents, Maria and Gabriel, and two sisters, Deborah and Theresa. Tony also has three older brothers, but they are off fighting at War. During this time an older women by the name o f La GrandeRead MoreBless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya1361 Words   |  6 Pagescan expand our thoughts to a multitude of different subjects and force us to be a slave to our dreams, such as facing parental pressure, religious ambivalence and the loss of one s innocence. This is true of Antonio Marez in the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. Antonio has lost control and begins to succumb to his dreams and loses control of himself. He battles his expectations given to him by his parents and also at the same time has another battle within himself. He is confused in whereRead More`` Bless Me Ultima `` By Rudolfo Anaya1109 Words   |  5 Pagesare, were and are destined to be. You re mind creates illusions that either further enhance your knowledge on what your purpose in life is or could make you fear it. Dreams are essentially part of the foundation of a persons life. Rudolfo Anaya in the novel Bless me ultima uses the concept of dreams to demonstrate the growth and the loss o f innocence Antonio faces from beginning to end. The dreams Antonio has throughout the novel symbolize parts of himself he has to let go of in order to understandRead MoreBless Me Ultima, By Rudolfo Anaya1646 Words   |  7 Pages Bless Me Ultima Bless Me Ultima Author: Rudolfo Anaya LAP Topic 5 Written by : Jason Gutierrez Personal ideologies provide an aspiration for a fools paradise. That endeavor contrived a blindness that makes their perfect world, someone else’s ordeal. Individuals might convoke others for guidance to an explicit ambit to discover their own dogma. However, humanity has a type of ignorance in a sense that compels them to force their own beliefs onto others. Distinct mentalities collideRead MoreBless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya Essay1338 Words   |  6 PagesMiguel de Unamuno once said, â€Å"Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.† This quote embodies a key element that is explored in the novel Bless Me, Ultima written by Rudolfo Anaya. While reading the Chicano novel Bless Me, Ultima, the reader may begin to question Tony’s reliance on this faith. Tony spends most of the novel questioning God’s reasoning. He also takes a very keen interest in the complexities of the world that surrounds him. While this novel does revolve around the theme of soul-sea rchingRead MoreBless Me Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya1477 Words   |  6 Pagesbrought us into this world? Parents have a tendency to be extremely involved in every step of our lives as they have the right to do so but is it in their jurisdiction to control who we are and who we want to become? In the novel Bless Me Ultima by the author Rudolfo Anaya the debate of how much jurisdiction a parent has over their children is brought up within the reader. In the novel which is told from the perspective of the character Antonio, Antonio’s parents known as Maria and Gabriel have set