Loss of Innocence and Quest for Understanding
A central theme in Bless Me, Ultima is the shift from innocence to experience. Initially, Tony, a six-year-old boy, is naive about the world's harsh realities. This innocence is shattered when he witnesses Lupito's murder. Throughout the novel, Tony faces various challenges that transform him from an innocent child into someone with knowledge and experience.

With his newfound awareness, Tony seeks to understand why the terrible events he witnesses occur—he has a deep yearning for comprehension. He hopes that his first Communion will provide him with divine knowledge, but he is let down: “A thousand questions pushed through my mind, but the Voice within me did not answer. There was only silence. . . . The mass was ending, the fleeting mystery was already vanishing.” Disillusioned by the Christian God's silence, Tony turns to the pagan deity—the Golden Carp—and to Ultima’s magic for answers to the evil he has encountered in the world.

Search for Identity
Another significant theme in the novel is Tony’s quest for identity amidst the conflicting expectations of his mother’s and father’s families. Tony’s mother belongs to the Luna family—Luna means “moon.” The Lunas are farmers, and their family’s founder was a priest. On the other hand, Tony’s father’s family is the Marez family, meaning “sea.” The Marez family consists of vaqueros who cherish the freedom to roam. With her three older sons having embraced the wandering lifestyle of their father’s family, Tony’s mother hopes that Tony will become a farmer or, even better, a priest.

Feeling the pressure of his family’s conflicting expectations, Tony longs to find his own identity. He eventually realizes that he might be able to blend both family traditions when his father explains:

We lived two different lives, your mother and I. I came from a people who held the wind as brother, because he is free, and the horse as companion, because he is the living, fleeting wind—and your mother, well, she came from men who hold the earth as brother. They are a steady, settled people. We have been at odds all of our lives, the wind and the earth. Perhaps it is time we gave up the old differences. . . . Every generation, every man is a part of his past. He cannot escape it, but he may reform the old materials, make something new.

Clash of Cultures
When Tony attends school, he is introduced to a new culture: the English-speaking academic world. Although his mother urges him to respect his teachers and become a “man of learning,” Tony does not find the same respect for his home culture at school. The other children mock him for his language and the food he brings for lunch.

Tony discovers that, contrary to what he has learned at home and church, there may be multiple sources of divine knowledge. He learns about the Golden Carp, a pagan deity, which leads him to question his Christian faith. Additionally, he sees Ultima lifting curses that the Catholic priests could not address.

Ultimately, Tony realizes that he can navigate these diverse cultures by creating his own identity, incorporating elements from each to fit his needs.