Bless Me Ultima Analysis

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The United States has been labelled a melting pot and bestowed the title “A Nation of Immigrants” due to the fact that various kinds of people with different cultures and backgrounds have immigrated and resided in the United States. Everybody, regardless of their origins, wields a unique identity and personality. Because of the diversity and uniqueness that has transpired throughout the American timeline, becoming a “successful” American represents having the ability to be open, non-judgmental, and understanding towards all people of different cultures. Therefore, one cannot be considered a successful American without exhibiting the trait of empathy towards other people. Being empathetic unfolds the opportunity to meet and understand new people,…show more content…
His mother, Maria Marez, was a Luna, wanting Antonio to become a Catholic priest, whereas his father, Gabriel Marez, was a vaquero, or cowboy, wanting Antonio to follow his traditions of roaming around the plains. Although Antonio initially believed in the Catholic ways, a plethora of events occurred, such as the death of Lupito, Narciso, and Florence, leading him to doubt his religious beliefs and stripping him away of his innocence. Eventually, after Antonio matured extensively throughout the novel, Tenario, the father of the Trementinas, attacked and killed Ultima by shooting her owl, which was explained to be connected to Ultima’s life force. This meant that if the owl died, Ultima would die as…show more content…
Gabriel’s explanation was that “most of the things we call evil are not evil at all; it is just that we don’t understand those things and so we call them evil. And we fear evil only because we do not understand it…understanding comes with life, in the end understanding simply means having a sympathy for people… (Anaya 248).” This mirrors Ultima’s isolation from the community on how she was misunderstood. Since the community was not open to Ultima’s powers, they labelled her as an evil witch, sought out to curse those against her. However, Ultima’s powers were simply the ability to be empathetic towards people and cure them when in need. If Antonio was not empathetic towards Ultima, he would not discover the answers to his questions and learn to search and create for his own identity by accepting the ways of both a Luna and a Marez. While Bless Me, Ultima highlights the journey of self-discovery in identity, Takiki’s article showcases the opposition side of judging a person merely from his or her outward appearance, like how the community shallowly judged Ultima and deemed her of being a
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