Bless Me, Ultima

by Rudolfo Anaya

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Characters Discussed

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Antonio Márez y Luna

Antonio Márez y Luna (MAH-rehs ee LEW-nah), a child at the threshold of a larger world. Although he is only seven, Antonio’s brothers are already fighting in World War II. Before his first day of school, Antonio sees a traumatized veteran killed by an enraged mob. In school, Antonio must master a new language because classes are taught in English. At the end of the year, he is promoted an extra grade. The larger world proves more difficult to master, however. Antonio witnesses the deaths of several people he loves, endures the nauseating fears that beset local children in response to nearby atomic testing, and shares his father’s anguish when his brothers return from the war only to wander away again, their cultural roots severed. Finally, he watches as Ultima, his spiritual mentor, dies, defeated by an opponent who hates her healing powers.

Ultima

Ultima (EWL-tee-mah), an agedcurandera (healer), trained by el Volaré, the flying man from las Pasturas. Ultima is a friend of Antonio’s mother, Maria Luna. In her old age, she is left behind in a village that has lost many members through the war and economic migration. The Márez y Luna family invites Ultima to stay with them. Ultima is loved by a faithful few whom she helped in the past, especially Maria and Narcisco. She is also the object of community mistrust. Even many of those she once healed, including Maria’s brothers, the Lunas, refuse to oppose those who seek to harm her. Through Ultima, Antonio finds a path through the morass of injustice, chaos, and dogma that surrounds him. Ultima accepts her death because she has devoted her life’s energies to life itself. Ultima shows Antonio that even amid the catastrophic social and economic upheavals that have rent their region since the onset of Spanish colonization, one can contribute to healing within one’s community.

Tenorio Trementina

Tenorio Trementina (teh-NOH-ree-oh treh-mehn-TEE-nah), an evil brujo (witch) who seeks to destroy Ultima. Tenorio first comes into conflict with Ultima when his daughters place a curse on Lucas, Maria’s brother. Although Ultima tells Tenorio that she plans to lift the curse and warns that his daughters will be endangered if he does not order them to lift it, Tenorio remains intransigent, denying that his daughters have caused Lucas’ ailment. Tenorio’s pride blinds him to his daughters’ peril. In refusing to acknowledge his daughters’ involvement, Tenorio, in effect, signs their death warrant. When Ultima lifts the curse, the malevolent energies of the Trementina sisters are released, and the sisters are, one by one, consumed by the forces with which they trafficked. As his three daughters sicken and die, Tenorio’s chief concern is for his honor. He organizes three initiatives against Ultima, claiming that she has cursed his daughters. In his first attack, Tenorio’s eye is gouged out by Ultima’s owl. In the second, he kills Narcisco but nearly stands trial for murder. In his third attack, he kills Ultima’s owl, and hence Ultima. In attempting to finish his work against the life force Ultima represents, however, he seeks to kill Antonio, and he is shot dead.

Narcisco

Narcisco (nahr-SEES-koh), the town drunk. He is one of a circle of visionary characters who are conscious of a spiritual realm in which the forces of life struggle against the forces of death. Like the other major characters. Narcisco undergoes a sequence of three transformative events. In a series of confrontations, Narcisco argues for calm in the face of riotous passions. In the first of these, Narcisco is ignored, and the demented veteran Lupito is killed. In the second, a confrontation with drunken witch hunters, Narcisco reasons with an angry mob and exorcises the ugly passions that Tenorio has aroused. In the third confrontation, in which Narcisco is caught between two irrational obsessions—Tenorio’s passion for vengeance and domination and the addiction of Antonio’s brother Andrew to prostitutes—Narcisco gives his life in Ultima’s defense.

Characters

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Cico
Cico is a friend of Samuel who spends most of his days fishing by the river. He takes Antonio to witness the Golden Carp.

Florence
Florence, another friend of Antonio, attends catechism classes at church with him. Despite not believing in God, Florence goes to catechism because his friends are there. His questions unsettle Antonio, who struggles to provide answers. Antonio and Cico decide to show Florence the Golden Carp to give him something to believe in, but Florence drowns before they can reveal the pagan god to him.

Horse
Horse is one of the local boys Antonio befriends at church during the summer before starting school. They attend both school and catechism classes together. Horse is the group's bully and is often described using horse-related imagery: “I could hear the deep sounds a horse makes inside his chest when he is ready to buck”; “He chomped his teeth.”

Le Grande
See Ultima Andrew Marez. Andrew is one of Tony’s older brothers. After returning from World War II, Andrew, Eugene, and Leon feel the wanderlust of their Marez heritage. They soon leave again, telling Tony he must fulfill their mother’s dreams. Andrew stays briefly to return to school, but leaves after refusing to help Narciso warn Ultima, leading to Narciso's death at Tenorio's hands.

Antonio Marez
Antonio (also called “Tony” and “Anthony”), the protagonist of the novel, is a six-year-old boy living with his family near Guadalupe, a small village in New Mexico. An intelligent and reflective child, he feels torn between the legacies of his mother’s Luna family and his father’s Marez family. He is unsure if his destiny is to become a farmer and perhaps a priest, pleasing his mother, or to be a wanderer like the cowboys in his father’s family. Despite his strong Christian faith, Tony starts to question his mother’s religion as he witnesses Ultima’s healing powers and learns about a pagan god from a friend. Throughout the novel, Tony experiences several deaths, faces significant danger, and gains insights that help him understand where he belongs amidst his family’s conflicting expectations.

Eugene Marez
Eugene (Gene) is another of Tony’s older brothers. Like Andrew and Leon, he returns from World War II feeling restless. Eugene leaves Guadalupe with Leon, while Andrew stays for a while to return to school.

Gabriel Marez
Gabriel, Tony’s father, dreams of his sons becoming vaqueros, or cowboys, like their ancestors. He is troubled by the missed chance to move west to California, where he believes freedom still exists. Watching his three older sons return from war only to leave home again deepens his sadness. Bound by family duties and a stable job in highway construction, he feels unable to join them in their wanderings. Despite his disappointments, he remains a loving and dedicated father.

Leon Marez
Leon, one of Tony’s older brothers, leaves town with Eugene shortly after they return from World War II.

Maria Marez
Maria is a devoutly religious woman with high aspirations for her youngest son, Tony. Coming from the Luna family of El Puerto, known for their farming heritage, she hopes Tony will follow in the footsteps of her father and brothers, rather than the wandering ways of the Marez men. Her greatest wish is for Tony to become a priest.

Narciso
Narciso, regarded by the community as the town drunk, warns the Marez family and Ultima when Tenorio seeks revenge for his first daughter’s death. When Tenorio’s second daughter falls ill and he threatens Ultima again, Narciso tries to warn her but is killed by Tenorio on the way to the Marez home, with Antonio witnessing the tragic event.

Samuel
Samuel, a school friend of Antonio’s, shares the legend of the Golden Carp, a pagan god, with him on the last day of school. This story makes Tony question, “If the golden carp was a god, who was the man on the cross? The Virgin? Was my mother praying to the wrong God?” Samuel tells Antonio that during the summer, Cico will come and show him the Golden Carp.

Tellez
Tellez, a man from the Agua Negra ranch, faces a haunting at his home, cursed by Tenorio’s daughters. Ultima successfully lifts the curse from his house.

Tenorio Trementina
Tenorio, the owner of a tavern in El Puerto, has three daughters accused of witchcraft by Tony’s mother’s family. Tony’s uncle claims that Tenorio’s wife “made many people of the valley sick, some died from her curses. She paid for her sins, but not before she delivered three brujas [witches] to carry on her work.” Ultima heals Tony’s uncle from a curse allegedly cast by the Trementina sisters. Following this, Tenorio’s daughters fall ill, two of them die, and Tenorio, believing Ultima is to blame, seeks vengeance.

Ultima
Ultima, also referred to as "Le Grande," is a curandera or healer who combines elements of Catholicism with Native American mysticism in her remedies. She moves in with the Marez family in her old age, having lost all her relatives in her village. While Tony and his family view her as a kind healer, some in the community fear Ultima due to her powers. She becomes a mentor to Tony, aiding him in understanding his dreams and navigating the perilous journey of self-discovery. After curing Tony’s uncle from a malevolent spell, Ultima faces a deadly conflict with Tenorio, whose three daughters are believed by the community to be brujas, or witches.

Vitamin Kid
Vitamin Kid is one of the town boys Antonio befriends at church during the summer before he starts school. They attend both school and catechism classes together. Known as the fastest runner in town, the Vitamin Kid is not identified by any other name, even by the school teachers.

Themes and Characters

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Bless Me, Ultima is a coming-of-age story that follows Tony's journey toward discovering his personal and cultural identity. A central theme is Tony's developing spiritualism, which becomes a crucial aspect of both his individual and cultural identity. Anaya entrusts this spiritual awakening to Ultima, a wise healer, or curandera, who comes to live with Tony and his family. Upon meeting Ultima, Tony is struck by her abilities. Suddenly, the world becomes vibrant for him, and it becomes clear that Ultima will guide Tony into adulthood.

Tony was aware of Ultima before her arrival because he too possesses spiritual abilities that he would soon learn to harness. He is intuitive and had dreamt of Ultima and her presence at his birth. Anaya uses these dreams to demonstrate Tony's transformation. Traditionally, curanderas often assist during childbirth, and Ultima had been present at Tony's birth. In line with tradition, she buried the placenta after Tony's birth, which symbolically held the key to his destiny.

Ultima's spirit has always been with Tony, even before she moved in with his family. Although not a blood relative, the family embraces her as one of their own, calling her Grande, meaning "large," to signify their deep respect for her. Despite her small stature, Ultima seems larger than life. Tony observes, "there was a nobility to her walk that lent a grace to the small figure." To him, she seemed part of the landscape, connected to the spirit of the earth. He notes that when he mimicked her walk, he no longer felt lost in the vast landscape of hills and sky but felt "a very important part of the teeming life of the llano and the river." Ultima exudes confidence and inner peace, commands respect, and radiates power. Many in the Chicano culture recognize the magical powers of curanderismo, but Tony can actually feel the magic. He is enchanted by Ultima, describing the "clear bright power in her eyes [that] held [him] spellbound." When he first shakes hands with Ultima, he feels "the power of a whirlwind sweep around [him]."

Ultima understands the secrets of the earth, and we recognize that she will help Tony achieve a sense of completeness and resolve his inner turmoil. A unique, spiritual connection binds Tony to Ultima, leading Tony to express that he "felt more attached to [her] than to his own mother." Both Ultima and Tony possess perceptive abilities that others lack. As Tony begins to discern the spirit in nature, Ultima becomes both his protector and mentor. She not only aids him in recognizing this spirit but also shares the stories and legends of his people, instilling in him a sense of belonging and appreciation for his heritage and culture. Under Ultima's guidance, Tony spends countless hours absorbing her stories and wisdom, and it is evident that her influence will enable him to feel the earth's spirit just as she does.

One of the central themes in Bless Me, Ultima is spirituality and healing. Ultima serves as a shaman, a spiritual mentor who helps Tony understand God and nature, and uses this understanding to perceive the spirit in his world. The presence of shaman-like figures as mentors is significant in many traditional beliefs, and Anaya integrates this theme deeply into his works. Many of Anaya's protagonists are guided by spiritual mentors, and Tony thrives under the guidance of his. Ultima has always been with Tony in spirit, and when she physically moves in with his family, she assists him in finding the answers he seeks and sorting out his confusion. In various traditional cultures, folk healing is closely linked to the reverence for nature. Curanderismo, an ancient Mexican American folk healing system, relies on rituals and the power of herbs derived from the land. Curanderas are reputed to heal both body and soul, and to Tony, it seems they possess earth magic. Anaya tells us that "for Ultima, even the plants had a spirit," and everything in nature embodies a life force. Ultima instills in Tony a profound respect for nature, teaching him that spirit is omnipresent and that his spirit "[shares] in the spirit of all things."

Tony has a deep connection to the land, but his parents' differing perspectives complicate his understanding. Should he follow in his father's footsteps as a rancher or embrace his mother's preference for farming? Should he adopt his father's wandering lifestyle or stay rooted like his mother? Can he simultaneously believe in the Virgin and the Golden Carp? Throughout much of the novel, Tony grapples with the need to choose between his father's nomadic ways and his mother's farming traditions. His parents are starkly different. His mother is a devout Catholic, while his father is anti-religious. His father mocks priests, yet his mother hopes he will become one. These contrasts between Tony's parents highlight some of the novel's central themes, and Ultima helps Tony navigate these complexities. Tony's struggle with his faith becomes the novel's main focus, and it becomes clear that he will find his faith once he comprehends Ultima's spiritual world.

Through his bond with Ultima, Tony learns that spirit drives our existence. Christianity and pagan mysticism don't have to clash; instead, they both reveal a greater power in the world. Tony's love for the land and its myths affirms God's power. Traditional ideologies attributed natural forces to divine power. People from traditional cultures believed that gods manifested through natural phenomena. Tony speaks of dust devils as carrying the devil's spirit and of feeling the river's soul. His parents refer to the "spirit" of the sea and the moon. Major influences in Tony's life are rooted in ancient myths and symbols. His father's name, Marez, means sea, and his people are as restless as the sea, descended from Spanish Conquistadors who long to roam the open plains. His mother's name, Luna, means moon, and her people are Pueblo farmers who settle in one place and plant by moonlight. Antonio inherits blood from both these peoples, leading him to struggle with reconciling native and conqueror, land and sea, Catholic and pagan.

Due to these conflicts, Tony struggles significantly with growing up. Anaya aids his protagonist's journey by weaving historical legends into the narrative that mirror biblical teachings. These cuentos are rich with witchcraft and mysticism, captivating Tony's attention. He believes in brujas (witches) and the formidable power of Ultima. He witnesses this power firsthand when the Trementina sisters use their "magic" to make Tio Lucas ill and when Ultima uses her magic to heal him. Anaya emphasizes this "magic" by employing myths and legends to elucidate nature's forces, focusing particularly on the Legend of the Golden Carp. The river in the town teems with carp, and Tony learns from his friend that a golden carp swims in the river as an embodiment of a pagan deity.

If gods can manifest as magical carp, then surely spirits are omnipresent. Only Cico, Ultima, Tony, the Indian, and Narciso can see the Golden Carp, likely because they are attuned to earth magic. Throughout the novel, Tony frequently questions God, prompting Anaya to introduce more legends to address his doubts. The Golden Carp warned the people that the "land cannot bear the weight of the sins and will sink." This deity has the power to punish wrongdoers by flooding the town and drowning its inhabitants. This theme is echoed in Deluge myths found in cultures around the globe.

Bless Me, Ultima centers on faith—its significance, the inevitability of losing it, and the hope of rediscovering it. The Legend of the Golden Carp symbolizes a powerful force in the world, revitalizing Tony's faith. He realizes that pagan legends can complement Catholic beliefs, providing clarity. Tony also learns about the pervasive nature of duality. The river's water can both purify and destroy, and God can punish as well as provide. Anaya's plot is driven by the theme of good versus evil. The Trementina sisters, daughters of Tenorio, practice black magic and cause Tio Lucas to fall ill, but Ultima heals him. However, the deaths of two of Tenorio's daughters trigger a series of events leading to Ultima's demise. When the Trementina sisters die due to Ultima's "magic," Tenorio accuses her of witchcraft and vows to kill her. He tests Ultima by making her walk through a doorway with needles pinned in the shape of a cross, believing that witches cannot pass through. Ultima successfully walks through, but only Tony notices that the needles fell afterward. We understand that Ultima's power is benevolent, yet the Trementina sisters possess an equally potent force. Good and evil coexist in the world, and Tony gradually learns to see beyond the simplistic division between them.

Tony's experiences in Guadalupe test his resilience and challenge his spiritual perception. He matures rapidly as he deals with family turmoil, discrimination from classmates, the impacts of war, and the deaths of several townspeople. Throughout the novel, Tony witnesses the deaths of five individuals: his father's brother and the town sheriff, Lupito, a troubled World War II veteran who killed the sheriff, Narciso, his father's drinking companion, Florence, Tony's non-believing friend, and finally, Ultima. Death is a prominent theme in the novel, possibly symbolizing Tony's loss of innocence. Anaya presents life and death as another form of duality rather than opposing forces.

Anaya employs the death scenes to juxtapose the brutality of life in Guadalupe with the tranquility of nature, while also highlighting Tony's evolving awareness of the soul. Tony becomes fixated on the fate of the soul. He worries about the destiny of Lupito's soul since Lupito died without confessing his mortal sin of killing the sheriff. Similarly, he is troubled about Florence's soul because Florence died without understanding God. Throughout the novel, Tony grapples with questions about God. However, by the end, he achieves a profound understanding of the soul. When Ultima passes away, he realizes her spirit will continue to be with him. On her deathbed, Ultima tells him, "Love life, and if despair enters your heart, look for me in the evenings when the wind is gentle and the owls sing in the hills. I shall be with you. . . ." This assurance allows Tony to face Ultima's death with resilience, having learned to recognize the spirit. He understands that good and evil coexist, and this realization makes life and death two aspects of the same reality. "What Ultima tried to teach me," Tony reflects, "[is] that the tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength that resides in the human heart." Despite being only nine years old by the end of the novel, Tony has attained a level of insight that many adults never reach.

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