Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima

Report on Bless Me, Ultima
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Report on Bless Me, Ultima
Introduction
Conflict plays an essential role in literature by driving the narrative, revealing deeper meaning, and shaping characters while highlighting their values, desires, motivations, and frustrations. In Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, conflict is among the essential building blocks of the story through the eyes and thoughts of Antonio, the protagonist. The novel's setting is in rural Mexico in the 1940s, immediately after World War II, characterized by a rapidly changing American landscape where political, religious, and cultural conflicts loom. These changes are responsible for the internal conflicts experienced by Antonio as he strives to find his identity.
Novel Summary
Antonio was seven years old when an old healer, Ultima, was taken in by his family. Ultima's healing powers, rich knowledge of plant lore, and ability to use folk magic to assist the community with spiritual needs underpinned the family's reason for taking her in. When she arrives, and as the story develops, Antonio is caught between external and internal conflict. In terms of external conflict, many changes are taking place in Antonio's world, including the arrival of settler ranches, overreaching American mainstream culture, and intra-family differences. For instance, Antonio struggles to reconcile the cultural differences between his mother and father, even though both are of Mexican origin.
The conflict between Antonio's parents has everything to do with Antonio's future. While both parents share the Spanish settler origin, their familial differences characterize how each views Antonio's future. The boy's father grew up as a cowboy on the prairie and still holds onto his cultural inheritance in the cowboy trade. Even after reluctantly moving to Guadalupe, he still makes his living off the trade, always longing to whip his horse and roam freely in the grasslands. The father, Gabriel Marez, embodies the fleeting vaquero notion of self-determination and freedom. He describes himself as "wild, like the ocean and spaces of the Ilano that have since become their home" (Anaya, 1972, p. 45). This kind of freedom and self-determination shapes his desires for Antonio's future. On the other hand, Antonio's mother comes from a conservative family of religious farmers with a predetermined destiny of working on the farm. In her view, she desires Antonio to become a priest, in contrast with the free-spirited life that her husband desires for the boy.
These differences are immediately apparent in the first chapter when Antonio slips into a dream focusing on the moment he is born. The first ones to visit were the Lunas, the mother's side, who are humble farmers who cherish the presence of land and desire peace and calm. Their gifts are mainly farm products, including ripe peaches & apples, fresh green chile & corn, green beans, and pumpkins. Traditionally, they smear the toddler with the "dark earth of the river valley on the forehead" (p. 5). They aim to sway the child so that he grows into a farmer. But the calm and peace brought about by the Lunas w...