Over the years, he has demonstrated a strong commitment to helping new Chicano writers through the difficult and sometimes daunting process of getting their voices heard.
SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Character List Antonio Ultima Gabriel. Themes Motifs Symbols. Important Quotes Explained. Mini Essays Suggested Essay Topics. Suggestions for Further Reading Rudolfo A. Anaya and Bless Me, Ultima Background. It reflects the film's essence. Ultima does and says, and Antonio watches in wide-eyed solemnity.
Franklin films the vomiting moment from a medium side angle, with the camera at a lowish level, the putrid black ball ending in a hollow of the blankets, its tendrils writhing.
Not such a big deal. I imagine a 3-D horror picture spitting the blob into our faces. Antonio was born in rural territory; his father's job was on horseback. When the old life died out, his parents moved into Guadalupe, where now his mother seems a better fit. His older brothers want to keep moving, and for them, the war's draft is an opportunity. We see his favorite brother return, much changed, filled with restlessness and no way to employ it. Antonio attends Catholic school and is absorbed by the teachings of the church.
Ultima seeks to demonstrate that not all answers come from Rome. Antonio is not an active protagonist, striving and deciding. As played by the newcomer Luke Ganalon, his typical role is as a witness, seeing all, saying little, absorbing. That's an unusual approach to hero-construction. Yes, things happen to Antonio when Ultima isn't around.
He attends school, walking the same dusty way every morning across a wooden bridge. Franklin establishes the district with an emphasis on the land. Sun, moon, morning stars, the frenzied twists of cactus against the sky. Here is the desert landscape of Cather's "Death Comes for the Archbishop. But after he meets Ultima, his life experiences a new tidal pull. There isn't one second in this film impossible to understand for anyone old enough to see it.
There are some scenes of adult behavior difficult for children to understand, but that's the story of life. If anyone has trouble understanding "Bless Me, Ultima," it will be the grown-ups, because so many modern movies have trained them not to understand. Some moviegoers are reeling from the way they're bludgeoned by the choices they make. Their movies spell everything out, read it aloud to them, hammer it in, communicate by force. This film respects the deliberate nature of time slipping into the future.
Sometimes Antonio doesn't fully realize what's happened until after it has happened to him. Tenorio's three daughters form an unholy trinity. The curse at the Agua Negra ranch involves the defiled ghosts of three lynched Comanches. One of Antonio's uncles admits he failed to warn Ultima of danger because he was afraid. It is certainly no accident that the character's name is Pedro referencing the apostle Peter who denied association with Christ three times out of fear.
Unfortunately, the book as a whole failed to capture my heart. It is a coming-of-age story about Antonio's understanding of independence through Ultima's courage. However, the flaws of the culture — an acceptance of superstition as knowledge, the dismissive role of women, and the patriarchal assumptions of authority — are never really resolved.
No doubt someone raised in this culture would have a deeper interpretation. Antonio's experiences are obviously meant to resonate with the reality of someone who grew up in this culture. Mar 02, Ed Pattison rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Everyone. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Reaction: I thought that was a wonderfully creative novel.
Also, I felt like I got lucky when I picked this from the A. God's reading list, beacuse it was a very moving book. Usually when I read a novel I tend to not finish them on account of a schedule filled with numerous other things. As for this book, I actually was engaged and determined to finish.
As a whole the book was a rather quick one to finish and easy on the brain in terms of comprehension for following the stroy, plot, etc.
Theme,Plot, etc: The basis for this novel is faith. It is based on the life of a little mexican boy named Antonio, who is surrounded by a strict Spanish Catholic family and lifestyle. But things begin to change in Antnio's life when an old family friend, Ultima the curandera or healer, comes to stay with him and his family. Basically, Antonio has only seen life through the Catholic eye, but then Ultima who is seen as a witch and evil spirit, shows Antonio a different perspective on life.
In a way she lays a grandmother figure role to him and uses her wisdom and knowledge to guide him. Also, when Antonio is going through bad times and violent things around him, Ultima shows him the light to find his way. Overall, the basis of the novel moved me as a reader and inspired me.
View 2 comments. I found this to be one of those books where the ending was stronger than the beginning. But it could also be argued that the narrator, Tony matured and thus the depth of his storytelling developed as well. A quick trip to New Mexico prompted me to dust-off this shelf sitter. Glad I had it on hand. There's nothing like being able to mesh your reading with your vacation.
Can't say I experienced Tony's culture, but I was certainly able to place myself in the setting and love that child character mo I found this to be one of those books where the ending was stronger than the beginning. Can't say I experienced Tony's culture, but I was certainly able to place myself in the setting and love that child character more.
If only we could all have an elder like Ultima to provide us with their wisdom. And, if only all children were able to absorb their teachings as Tony did. But, no. That's just not the way it is. Tony is his mother's last chance for raising a child of the faith.
The curandura Ultima is his chance to become a man of wisdom, whether religious or secular. And Tony is special. Tony symbolizes the potential in us all. But there are forces at work, forces beyond our control, evil threats that can only be overcome by methods beyond our human understanding.
Only when Tony has grasped his father's hope, that he become a tender of plants, is he able to mature and face his future. To let go of Ultima and trust his own abilities. This book is steeped both in Catholicism and Latino mysticism. It is also a boy's story - pecking order, fights, competition, loyalty, secrecy, etc. I couldn't relate to most of this but I recommend this to anyone who would. Jun 07, Jamie rated it it was ok Shelves: did-not-finish-it , childrens-ya.
Also, it's from the POV of a 7-year old child at first but it is written in a formal and adult voice, and so felt disconnected from his actual experience. Are you a good witch or a bad witch This beautiful book is about rejecting the binaries we cling to, and opening up to the nuanced mystery that is life.
The argument for nuance begins with a bang. When Lupito shoots the sheriff, Antonio's father and Narciso both argue for a more complex, open-ended empathy — or at least due process — for him. But a swift and definitive vigilante justice prevails. We like easy, eye for an eye equations where murderers get what they deserve. But this is Are you a good witch or a bad witch But this is a veteran suffering PTSD.
Is eye for an eye ever really simple? No, says this book, it is not. Our Antonio is pushed and pulled by binary choices a bunch. Or is he to be a rooted-down farmer priest and community leader, like his mother's powerful Luna clan? Antonio's coming of age involves heavy contemplation on ways both can be true.
How we can rue the closing of the west, yearn for adventure, and long to revel in the beauty of the here and now — and at the same time, how we can be motivated to honor tradition, labor to promote health and welfare, and pile up resources against an uncertain future. The moon is a weighty constant. The sea is in constant motion. But the more subtle truth is that one's gravity makes waves in the other. Yin and yang, always parted yet always connected. Ultima begins to show Antonio a way to see through binary traps.
The curandera way walks between worlds of nature and spirituality to embrace a more nuanced truth. To accept the cyclical nature of all things. To recognize the interconnection of all things. She teaches Antonio that what's important is to take responsibility for all you do within the web of life.
When you need a plant's healing power, you take it's life. But in doing so, you recognize the damage you do, consciously articulating your reasons for removing a living thing from the earth. To own the actions you take in the world is to recognize the connectedness of the world — and to ultimately accept that good and bad depend on point of view.
Ultima is a curandera, not a bruja — but the difference may be a matter of perspective. Perspectives change. The "samenesses" we try to create within a changing world are merely anchors of our own invention. We need them, but even as we need them, our needs change. And so, even our anchors must be in motion. In truth, the moon is a huge and solid constant, but even this anchor is in motion — and as it moves, it spurs motion in the sea.
Motion is life. Non-motion is death. Antonio begins to see that things change as you change. The Vitamin Kid never loses a race, until the day he refuses to run. Antonio seems to have to choose between branches of his family, which rests on choosing between the eternal god of the church and the ephemeral beauty of the here and now. But to purport faith in god without question or doubt is to reject motion, to reject life.
In essence, to abdicate your responsibility, your perspective, to the church is to believe in magic — to reject change and worship constants, to fall under the thrall of ALWAYS — and to become inflexible. Whereas to practice natural magic is to accept responsibility for yourself, to grapple with ongoing questions of perspective, to embrace change, and to reject the artifice of human control over destiny. Antonio is a watcher who notices artifice, and questions until he finds his non-binary reality.
He makes his family proud during a visit to the Lunas farms, and is invited back to labor with them, anytime. He can participate in both worlds, eternal vows not required.
Somehow, he evades the fear that if he doesn't commit, the Lunas' way will die out. He is able to accept that it will certainly change over time, but believe that it will never truly die. Just as Ultima tells him that she will die, and yet be with him. This is the ultimate human reality. Our lives are finite, but our interconnections are infinite. Our impacts on others let us live on beyond physical life. No matter if we are good, evil, or somewhere in between, our actions will influence those lives that we touch — and those we touch directly will in turn mark those who come after.
This is how we weave the web of life. The only question is what ripples, rents, or strong weavings will we leave for others?
The best answer may be an ability to appreciate the eternal non-binary mystery of this world. Acceptance of life's mysteries leads to optimism, ongoing attempts to foster more flexible connections, and celebration of those connections that endure despite life's waves. Despair leads to over-reaching attempts to control the flow of life, of destiny — to come out always on top.
This is the way of imbalance, and imbalance is the only thing truly against god. The closing of the west brought near total destruction of vaquero culture, but not total. The free flow of life can never be fully subverted. As well, it also created longstanding new cultures and communities, like those that empower the Lunas. Forget whether Antonio will be a vaquero or a farmer-priest.
Will he remain a child of the Llano, or will he become an American? What is right and who is wrong? And is Ultima a witch or not? I generally don't like women being condemned as witches. Here, we didn't want Ultima to be judged a witch and killed for it.
I struggled with this. Why is their act evil and Ultima's good? What inspired the Trementino witchery? Maybe they had their reasons. I get that Ultima's nature-knowledge could be used to enhance life, to sustain health, to maintain connection. This is the curandera way. But Ultima says that if her powers are used to subvert destiny — the bruja way — then the "balance" becomes off kilter and will need to be redressed.
Turning and returning. Change is the only constant. The fact of our being caught up in, and vulnerable to, the web of life is the only truth.
So, when Ultima saved the Uncle's life, that was messing with destiny. The Uncle purportedly went into a grove of trees, an evil place, where the Trementino sisters were practicing their weird craft, dancing with the devil. But were they? Did he, in fact, wrong them or rape them or something? It seems to me that if his destiny was to suffer at their hands, then it must be because he did something wrong that made him deserve his destiny.
But, but, but! Deserving a destiny is a church god concept, not a fish god one. A bruja concept, not a curandera one. We don't get what we deserve. We do what we do based on our perspective on the world, and we must take responsibility for our perspectives. The Trementino clan practiced as inflexible a bid for control over human destiny as the most devout church member — they wanted to keep themselves always on top, to guarantee eternal reward.
Whereas Ultima rejects the entire concept of eternity, unless it is the eternity of natural cycles. She acted in consciousness of her responsibility, remaining open to the need for balance. We swim our way through a constantly changing array of nuances, gravitational pulls, and growth opportunities. All we can hope to be is mindful of our motivations, conscious of the ways our actions serve our needs and impact the needs of others — in ways both good and bad.
There is no good witch or bad witch. There is only the mysterious interconnection of all things and all beings for all time. Jul 29, Irene rated it liked it. This is the story of a young, first-generation Mexican boy in the mids. I think I would have enjoyed this more had I read it as a young adolescent. Mar 10, L. Because man plants in the earth he believes in the miracle of birth, and he provides a home for his family, and he builds a church to preserve his faith and the soul that is bound to his flesh, his clay.
But from my father and Ultima I had learned that the greater immortality is in the fr "From my mother I had learned that man is of the earth, that his clay feet are part of the ground that nourishes him, and that this is the inextricable mixture that gives man his measure of safety and security. But from my father and Ultima I had learned that the greater immortality is in the freedom of man, and that freedom is best nourished by the noble experience of land and air and pure, white sky.
But the message he writes is good, I think, and follows the environmentalist ethics surprisingly closely. As demonstrated by the above quotation, Anaya's approach to the earth is as an inclusive, ecosystem-based approach, with emphasis on the inclusion of humanity as natural element. However, Anaya clearly believes in the value of wilderness, separate from and perhaps above civilized communion with the land through farming and religion.
Wilderness, "the noble expanse," is what fuels imagination, and sparks spirituality outside the confines of the eternally hovering threat of personal damnation. This wild inspiration, it seems, is what allows humans to look outside of their own selfish lives and share true communion with the world around them, as Ultima does. Both civilization and wilderness are necessary, each supporting and enriching the other, the way both the Lunas and the Marez are necessary to come together to create and raise Antonio, the culminating element and hero of the novel.
This is a beautifully written coming of age story that I listened to as an unabridged audiobook. I regret reading many a book but my only regret here is that it took me a full year to actually take the time to listen to Bless Me, Ultima.
It tells the story of a young boy named Antonio Tony whose family takes in an elder named Ultima, as This is a beautifully written coming of age story that I listened to as an unabridged audiobook. It tells the story of a young boy named Antonio Tony whose family takes in an elder named Ultima, as is their tradition.
Ultima takes young Tony under her wing and shares with him all of her knowledge about herbs and healing and introduces to him a world of mysticism that is at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church. Every now and then I need a break from all of the horror and romance and this book was the perfect choice.
The writing is very descriptive, even slightly poetic at times, and the lovely prose lends itself to audio quite nicely. I highly recommend this version read by Robert Ramirez.
His narration is fantastic and adds so much depth to the experience. View all 8 comments. Nov 09, Amy rated it it was ok. The novel is also semiautobiographical. In his teens, Anaya suffered a serious swimming injury that left him temporarily paralyzed. As a naturalist, I enjoyed the natural thread that runs through the book. As Tony ages, he witnesses several tragic events and is forced to deal with complicated moral issues. He also must choose between the agrarian, devout heritage of his mother and the largely lawless, violent "cowboy" ways of his father's family.
Along the way, young Tony meets Ultima, a "curandera" or herbal healer, who is accompanied by an all-seeing owl. Through his relationship with Ultima and others, Tony discovers simplicity, a oneness with nature, free of value judgments and the beauty of not living in the past, but in the here and now.
Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson would have applauded his choice. Aug 19, Magen rated it liked it Shelves: protagonist-of-color , author-of-color , book-club , cultural , pbs-great-american-reads.
I was incredibly excited to read this book as it was purported to be a classic novel depicting Chicano culture on PBS Great American Reads. There was so much beauty in this novel and there were parts that were incredible. But there were so many pieces I wanted to understand in more detail.
Or at the very least, I wanted this to be a story of Ultima instead of a rather flat incredibly precocious young boy who simply is witness to too many unexpected things.
A fellow book club reader stated she would have liked to have read this in a class with a professor to fill in some of the things she may have missed due to cultural or time period differences and I heartily agree with that sentiment.
Regardless, I do recommend this book. It is a beautiful story. Jun 26, Kecia rated it really liked it Recommends it for: any one who has ever questioned their faith. What a stunningly beautiful book!
I hope to reread this someday just for the descriptions of the natural world. Ultima may now be one of my most favorite fictional characters In many ways she reminded me of my own grandmother. I love the way she listened to the earth and I loved her for her quiet strength. Antonio reminded me so much of myself and the questions I began asking a young age, the questions I still ask. I loved Antonio for his awe in th Wow!
I loved Antonio for his awe in the face of beauty. Why does evil exist? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God let children suffer? I'm glad that Anaya posed these questions, but did not attempt to answer them. Oct 08, Sue K H rated it really liked it. I liked this quite a bit. On the show, a young Latino woman talked about how important it was for her reading something that mirrored her experience as a Latino growing up in New Mexico.
I like reading about other cultures so I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed it. It was pretty deep for a young adult book. However, unlike TKaM, Bless Me, Ultima feels almost postmodernistically unfinished, without the arc of a completed cycle which has been executed beautifully in similar books. Readers also enjoyed. Magical Realism. Young Adult.
About Rudolfo Anaya.
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