Reader's Notebook 1 Bless Me, Ultima By Rudolfo Anaya

Reader Response and Passage

This story was intriguing, beautiful and yet confusing in an odd manner. The characters were complex and the customs of the people were different from what I had expected. Ultima's character was strong yet she played a motherly role in directing Antonio's faith. Antonio's conflict with faith and religion was somewhat of a burden to understand. Throughout the novel Antonio struggled with his beliefs and his future and he was entirely open to understanding both sides. During his younger years his mother dreamt of him being a Priest while his father's family wanted him to be a farmer and intertwined with the land.

Early in the novel, Antonio dreams of his birth, this dream leads on to many dreams that tell the future or past experiences, or warns him of oncoming events. His dreams are beautiful and very descriptive. The motif of his dreams is apparent throughout the novel. Antonio’s dreams signify that he has great power and that he is well aware of his surroundings, past, and maybe even his future. They are full of mystery and poetry, my favorite one is when he dreams of his brothers. In chapter seven he dreams of his brothers after his family falls asleep at the foot of the Virgin’s statue. Tony dreams of the Marez sons afraid of the river and he knows when they come back they wouldn’t stay long.
In chapter nine he dreams of them again:

“The three dark figures silently beckoned me to follow them. They led me over to the goat path, across the bridge, to the house of the sinful women. We walked across the well-worn path in silence. The door to Rosie’s house opened and I caught a glimpse of the women who lived there. There was smoke in the air, sweet from the fragrance of perfume, and there was laughing. My brothers pointed for me to enter… Andrew, I begged to the last figure, do not enter. Andrew laughed. He paused at the gaily lit door and said, I will make a deal with you my little brother, I will wait and not enter until you lose your innocence. But innocence is forever, I cried.” (70-71)

This dream describes the ways of his brothers and the innocence that Tony possesses. Yet is innocence truly forever? Antonio’s mother and priest tell him that you are only innocent when you do not know; innocence is lost with the arrival of understanding.

In chapter 16 Antonio arrives at his knowledge. During their catechism, Florence turns away from religion leaving Antonio to arrive at one of his crossroads. Tony explains that the apple contains knowledge that would make them posses knowledge, but would the knowledge of the answers make him share the original sin of Adam and Eve? This is Tony’s struggle, the question that he must answer for himself, his parents and even Ultima. Would knowledge ultimately lead him to religion or faith? Would he be a priest or a free Marez man?

In his last dream Antonio dreams of three dark figures, Tony believes that these are his brothers, yet to his dismay it is the three people that he witnessed the deaths of, Narciso, Lupito and Florence. He sees Ultima’s death and is left with the constant question of religion.

He comes to the conclusion that man is of the earth, that his clay feet are party of the ground that nourishes him, and that it is this inextricable mixture that gives man his measure of safety and security…the greater immortality is in the freedom of man, and that freedom is best nourished by the noble expanse of land and air and pure, white sky. He dreaded to think of a time when he could not walk upon the llano and feel like the eagle that floats on it’s skies: free, immortal, limitless.