What is the theme of the story Bless Me Ultima?
Bless Me, Ultima explores the difficulty of reconciling conflicting cultural traditions. In the end, Anaya suggests that a person can draw from several cultural traditions to forge a more complex and adaptable identity.
What are two themes in Bless Me Ultima?
Themes
- Revenge.
- Fear.
- Identity.
- Men and Masculinity.
- Fate and Free Will.
- Memory and the Past.
- The Supernatural.
- Coming-of-Age.
What does Ultima represent in Bless Me Ultima?
Ultima’s owl represents her life force and the power of her religious mysticism. The owl sings softly outside Antonio’s window at night. Its song symbolizes Ultima’s comforting presence in Antonio’s life and the protective power of her magic.
What does the number 3 symbolize in Bless Me Ultima?
One central, and very important theme is the repetition of the number three. For example, there are three sources of understand for Antonio, three deaths that Antonio witnesses, and Antonio’s three prophetic dreams. These all play crucial roles in both Antonio’s life and serving to further the plot.
What does the atomic bomb symbolize in Bless Me, Ultima?
The mention of the bomb also seems to bring the outside world into the small, isolated communities where the novel takes place, and so symbolizes the ominously encroaching modern world.
What does Ultima tell Tony before she dies?
She tells Antonio that he must burn all of her possessions at sunrise. Tonight, he must bury the owl next to a forked juniper tree. Before she dies, Ultima blesses Antonio “in the name of all that is good and strong and beautiful.” He goes and buries the owl.
What does Antonio learn from Ultima?
For the rest of the novel, Antonio develops from childhood to maturity, as Ultima teaches him to make his own moral choices, to live in harmony with nature, to draw from all the traditions available to him, and to refrain from judging others when their beliefs differ from his own.
How did Ultima remove the curse?
Ultima asks Gabriel to place three bundles on the platform and set it all on fire. Gabriel informs Antonio that his father once told him that the Comanche burned their dead on platforms like this. When the platform is burned completely, Ultima declares that the curse is lifted.
How does Ultima cure Lucas?
Ultima catches it in rags that she stores in a bag. Afterward, Antonio is able to keep down some atole, a gruel made of corn meal. Lucas screams in pain, vomiting a squirming mass of hair. When Lucas successfully eats a bowl of atole, Ultima declares the cure finished.
Why does Ultima keep the three dolls?
The dolls are a reminder of Ultima’s dangerous and sometimes frightening powers, though a moment later she gives up something of herself to protect Antonio. A scapular is usually associated with a religious order, so this is like Ultima giving Antonio her own protective icon.