What is the significance of the main character's dreams in Bless Me, Ultima?

Antonio has been through a lot of trauma in his short life and lacks the maturity to deal with it effectively. The only way he can begin to get a handle on the trauma is through the numerous vivid, symbol-laden dreams he has throughout the novel. Dreams are used by Anaya to help the reader understand precisely what Antonio is going through and the various internal conflicts he has to face. One of those conflicts, arguably the most important, is that between the rival faiths of paganism and Christianity. Antonio feels torn between them, and his dreams reflect this.

His dreams also foreshadow important events in the story. For example, Antonio dreams about visiting a brothel with his brothers. In the dream, Antonio pleads with his brothers not to enter this den of iniquity, warning them that they will lose their souls to hell if they do. Andrew responds by saying that he will only enter the brothel once Antonio has lost his innocence. Later on in the story, Antonio does indeed see Andrew in a brothel—in real-life, this time—indicating that he, Antonio, has lost his innocence as foreshadowed in the dream.

Antonio's dreams are his subconscious/spiritual attempt to comprehend what he witnesses/experiences in his waking moments. For example, his first dream is of his birth. The struggle between the Lunas and the Marezes is highlighted here, as the two families fight over gifts and Antonio's ultimate destiny. This reflects the struggle between the values of his father and the values of his mother, which tear him i two directions throughout the novel. At the end, Ultima declares that only she knows his destiny, & Antonio recognizes that she is the key to discovering his true identity.

Other dreams, such as the one of his brothers returning from war, foreshadow events that will shatter the family, & threaten the lives of those he loves. In his dream, his brothers are changed, & eventually break their mother down. In reality, two brothers leave soon after they come home, tired of the small town life & unable to carry on the traditions of their family. Overall, Antonio's dreams are his widow to the truth of what he experiences, guiding him toward his destiny.

What quotes from Bless Me, Ultima highlight the significance of dreams?

We believe the region (New Mexico) is a spiritual corridor; the earth nurtures us, and our deities can be invoked for the good of the community. - Rudolfo Anaya

Dreams play an important role in Rudlofo Anaya's 1972 spiritual bildungsroman, set in New Mexico. The protagonist, Antonio, is influenced by the title character, who comes to stay with him and his family. Her spirituality, which lead some to think of her as a witch, contrasts with the more strict Catholicism that he is raised in, and part of the novel's conflict is the tension between these two spiritual traditions.

In the 1999 reissue of the novel, published by Grand Central Publishing, I found dream sequences on pages 5, 27, 48, 64, 72, 125, 181, 241, and 257. The dreams are significant both for their content, which include visions of his brothers, water, women, and freedom, and for what they say about Antonio, who is a devout Catholic but is also interested in the wisdom of Ultima and his father, who is not a believer. While there are dreams in the Bible, they often have more meaning in indigenous and non-Western religions. Antonio is on a sort of spiritual quest to reconcile these various strands of belief. Ultima believes in the power of dreams, and Antonio is encouraged to examine his dreams for meaning. The dreams also show what Anaya sees as a porous boundary between the "real" world and the supernatural or spiritual world.