Anaya s Bless Me, Ultima - 1666 Words

Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima begins with an almost seven-year-old Antonio Juan Mà ¡rez y Luna. His parents, Gabriel and Maria, have just invited Ultima, an old curadera, to live with them. Antonio’s older brothers, Andrew, Eugene, and Leà ³n, are off fighting in World War II, leaving Antonio, his mother and father, and his two sisters, Debora and Teresa, to live in their small farmhouse in Guadalupe, New Mexico. Ultima agrees to stay with the family, and the first night that she is with them, Antonio experiences a dream in which he is present at his own birth. Ultima is the midwife, and his mother’s brothers, the Lunas family, are there and they wish for Antonio to become a religious priest or a farmer like them when he grows up, and this†¦show more content†¦Antonio’s relationships with others, the events that he experiences, and his natural curiosity for the world and religion all lead to the conflicting beliefs and questions of morality t hat he develops throughout the story. Antonio and Ultima become fast friends, as he spends a lot of his time in the llano gathering herbs and learning about the flora with her. Being the youngest son and the only one of his brothers not drafted into the war, he has a youthful innocence that is eventually broken throughout the story. His innocence is first threatened when he witnesses the death of Lupito, a returned World War II soldier who is suffering from post-traumatic delirium. In his crazed state, Lupito murders the town sheriff, and an angry mob, instead of helping the shaken-up man, chases him down and shoots him. Antonio worries about Lupito and whether he will be going to heaven or hell. The fall following the incident, Antonio goes to school for the first time in his life. As he is beginning school, the war ends and his three brothers are allowed to return home. No one is more pleased about the return of the sons than Gabriel, Antonio’s father, who has always had a plan to move to California with his family. This dream was drilled into