In Bless Me Ultima, many cultures dovetail to paint the picture of Antonio’s childhood. Ultima comes to stay with Antonio and his family in the summer time and teaches him about the beauty of nature, particularly the llano. “Ultima came to stay with us the summer I was almost seven. When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes…” (1). Christian, Mexican folklore, Paganism and although not clearly stated some Aztec mythology, are all a huge part of Antonio’s combining religious beliefs. Christianity and Paganism are the main religions Antonio most identifies with. Ultima plays a large part of introducing Antonio to Paganism. Before she came, Antonio was largely a Catholic because of his devout Catholic mother, Maria, who wants …show more content…
him to become a priest. Ultima also teaches him to respect nature as well. Even plants have spirits so you have to tell the plant why you were taking it from its home. “You that grow well here in the arroyo by the dampness of the river, we lift you to make good medicine” (39). Christianity and Mexican folklore mix constantly throughout the novel. The most prominent legend is the one of the golden carp. The golden carp has a biblical parallel to the biblical flood that cleansed the earth of sinners. In one of Antonio’s dreams, he sees the golden carp swallow everything and rise into the sky to make a new sun for a new world. “…his golden body burned with such brilliance that he became a new sun in the heavens. A new sun to shine its good light upon a new earth” (176). Antonio’s friends, Samuel and Cico, introduce him to this legend. Tony has doubts and wonder if he and his family have been praying to the wrong god. “If the golden carp was a god, who was the man on the cross? … Was my mother praying to the wrong god” (81). Folklore and Christianity clash internally for Antonio.
On two separate occasions, the magic of Ultima prevailed where God’s power failed. Once when Antonio’s Uncle Lucas was under the curse of the Trementina sisters’ and a second time when brujas from a long time ago put a curse on a bulto, a ghost, and forces it to haunt the Tellez house. This further causes Antonio to question the Christian God. “Why can’t the power of God work against the evils that beset the family of Tellez…” (226).
Although not stated, Aztec mythology is entwined through Bless Me Ultima. Aztec legend states that there are four ages of the world primarily but the fifth age of the world called Nahui-Ollen, which means balance, heavily effects the novel. Ultima and Tenorio both meddle with fate so their deaths are imperative to restore balance. Ultima says as she lays dying, “With the passing away of Tenorio and myself the meddling will be done with, harmony reconstituted…” (260).
After Ultima dies, balance is restored. Antonio learns how to combine ways from Catholicism and Paganism to create a new set of beliefs that guide the rest of his life. Antonio’s combining of the two religions show that both share similarities. All religions borrow idealisms and even practices from others to create new religions. In doing so, many people learn to come together and find peace by practicing religions that they feel will help them be the best person they can grow to be and that is what Antonio
does.
In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, one of the main characters, Ultima is accused many times of being a witch. Ultima is a curandera who uses herbs and medicines to cure people. She goes to live with Antonio Marez, a young boy who lives in the llano with his parents and two sisters due to the fact that she cannot live by herself and had nowhere to stay. Although many people think she is a witch, her use of herbs, medicines, and scapulars show that she is merely just a curandera. With her use of chants and having her spirit in her owl, many are led to believe that she is really a witch.
Bless Me, Ultima enlightens the reader on death and how it can be peaceful. Death is usually seen as a negative or bad situation, in which the novel does well at correcting. The release of a soul should be peaceful and is accepted in many cultures in that sense. In Bless Me, Ultima the juniper tree helps in representing death in harrowing situations. The connection is made when Narciso is found by the juniper tree, dead, while also conveying the peace that the tree represents.
In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, the author uses Tony’s dreams as a way of displaying various symbols. Three symbols that are used often are weather, water, and the Golden Carp. Weather is used to represent conflict. Water represents cleansing, and rejuvenation. The Golden Carp symbolizes religion and Tony’s beliefs. Because dreams are not an exact mirror of reality, they become the perfect tool for introducing symbolism. The author uses the dream as a way to access the recurring themes of the book.
Antonio lives in a magical world that is full deaths and sadness in his life. His dreams represented his inner interpretations of those experiences. The story of the child in Bless Me, Ultima is much more than just an ordinary child living at the time in Santa Rosa. He sees parts of the future, but doesn’t want it to happen. This boy has a grown soul that lives in a child’s body.
After reading the book, Bless Me Ultima, I realized the integral importance of religion and need for religion and answers to life’s questions. At first, while reading this book, I thought it was just about relationships and the meaning in them but as the plot progressed I realized the book, is more than that, it questions the structures that decide the rules, morals and values that society is composed of. There were three types of religion that I identified in the book that young Anthony chose to pursue. The first was the paganistic rituals of Ultima. Ultima came into the life of Tony at a very young age and had great influence n the child. Ultima saved the life of Lucas through Tony’s strength. Physical pain was brought unto Anthony because of Ultima's ritual, showing actual validity of the rituals themselves, that they were had tangibility. She brought torment on the Tenorio’s family (he was the antagonist in the book-the bad guy) saving Lucas though using ritualistic dolls and chants. This showed her magic was not only good but bad as well. Ultima guided Anthony through all of the mental and social torment during his early years of grade school. So in away Ultima was a guide for Tony through his early years to make sense of all of the storms in his early life, but also was an instrument of religion to base his life on. But in the end of the book Ultima ultimately dies and the strength he once found in her is destroyed. She is ...
In Miguel de Unamuno’s novella San Manuel Bueno, Martyr, readers learn about the life of Don Manuel, a Catholic priest secretly holding atheist beliefs and doubts in the afterlife. Despite these disbeliefs, Don Manuel works tirelessly to help his community and is regarded as a saint by all who meet him, hence the handle “San Manuel,” which literally translates to “Saint Manuel.” Don Manuel’s struggle and affiliation with sainthood receives further analysis and context from Francisco LaRubia-Prado, who parallels Unamuno’s novella to elements of Greek Tragedy and heroism. Drawing from Unamuno’s background with Ancient Greek playwriting and Sigmund Freud’s Totem and Taboo, LaRubia-Prado argues that Don Manuel should be seen as a representation of Christ and must suffer in silence in order to play the role of the dying, tragic hero that saves the
Although he is always trying to understand new beliefs, the Goddess, the Virgin Mary, remains in the most special part of Antonio’s heart. She represents Meeting the Goddess, as Antonio is now seeing her through mature eyes: “I fastened my eyes on the statue of the Virgin until I thought that I was looking at a real person, the mother of God, the last relief of all sinners” (Anaya 47). As he begins to discover the meaning in both his old and new beliefs, he begins to accept his spiritual questions. By understanding the fact that they cannot always be simply answered, he enters his Apotheosis and ascends as he achieves wisdom and self-acceptance.
In the novel, Bless Me Ultima, written by Rudolfo Anaya, two different religions are introduced. The religion of Catholicism is the religion originally practiced by the novel’s main character, Antonio. Throughout the novel, the religion of the Golden Carp is introduced and causes a crisis of faith for Antonio. Antonio must learn to choose between the conventional values of the Church and the modern beliefs of the Golden Carp by comparing and contrasting the two religions.
In the book “Bless Me Ultima”, by Rudolpho Anaya, there were two families represented, the Marez family and the Lunas family. These two families were very different, but were brought together by the marriage of Gabriel Marez and Maria Lunas. Through the eyes of their son Antonio one may see the comparison of the two. The differentiation of these two families is very clearly noticeable, such as in their personalities, the expression of their religion, and their everyday ways of life.
... and Florence shows that he is open to the idea that there can be different beliefs.
The growing practice of Neo-Paganism in America has caused many to turn their heads. The misunderstanding of the religion has caused many to equate the practitioners with the popular conception of typical "witches," that perform black magic rituals, satanic sacrifices, and engage in devil-inspired orgies. After many years, the Neo-Pagan community has cleared up many misconceptions through the showing that many of them do not engage in activities, and are rather participating in a religion, just as those would that participate in a Christian community. It's unacceptance continues, perhaps due to its non-conformity to the ideal of worshipping a Christian God. Through the use of ethnography, anthropologists and sociologists are able to present the public with a much different view than what we are bombarded with in popular media.
Religion has had a profound effect on human culture; unfortunately, the trouble with it is faith, which creates skepticism in many individuals. In order to accommodate the issue of faith, religions have regulations, values, and ceremonies, making religion a belief system, hence creating clarity to support faith. Catholicism has become a belief system that feeds its follower with answers; however, these answers are only assumptions. There are no factual answers, and as a result, religious leaders have created an expectation in which religion is supposed to fit; nonetheless, its accuracy is unknown. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings,” the values of religion are the center of criticism. A man with enormous wings, the protagonist of the story, is never strictly classified as man or angel. He is a rejected by society because he goes against the society’s expectation of what a true angel should be, an expectation taught to them by religion. The ambiguity of the old man with enormous wings tests the true faith of the followers of Catholicism, symbolizing an archetypical Christ figure. Both the priest and society’s foul response to him demonstrates the society’s understanding of religion to be superficial. As a result, the story argues, followers of religion must not rely on the assumptions their religion has created but believe instead, with faith.
There are many different religions in the world but they are all capable of doing similar things. Religion plays a significant role in the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. In this book religion is important to the people of Umuofia ,which is the village where the protagonist, Okonkwo lives. The people of the village believed there was only one religion ,and when another religion was introduced to them they would not believe in it. This religion was Christianity. During the novel the power of religion both guides and destroys the society of Umuofia.
God performs his divine acts in many ways. Jesus could perform miracles of healing and create food from nothing. These are the more conventional ways we see divine intervention at work. Almighty God, however, does not prefer these standard methods. Instead, he prefers to act in ways we humans can only begin to understand. This is very much true for the short story “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Within the story, a winged man falls from the sky with no meaning or purpose. The man is shrouded in mystery. Nameless and unable to communicate with the native villagers, he lives among them. His intentions are never truly known to either the reader or to the villagers. However, the biblical parallels throughout the story help us unravel the mysteries behind this strange old man. By analyzing the significance of these allegories, we can better understand the old man’s purpose while, at the same time, learning more about hidden moral teachings and criticisms in the story.
The act of redemption that Mendoza committed is one example of religious study presented in the film. Another act of religious study is the forgiveness that the Guarini tribe showed Mendoza even after he gave them so much sorrow. Christianity was both a blessing and a curse for the tribe. It is a blessing in which they learned to be civilized people and had a new view to life with a higher power; a curse for which their views on their new life did not correlate with the Portuguese laws. This mix caused a war between the natives, the Jesuits and the Portuguese which ended in a blood bath. As Father Gabriel stated in the film, “If might is right, love has no place in the world.” Instead of fighting, Father Gabriel remained at peace because he believed that God would protect him. On the other hand, Mendoza fought till the very end even though Father Gabriel did not give him his