Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
"Bless Me, Ultima" is the debut novel by Rudolfo Anaya and serves as the first installment of a trilogy that explores themes of identity and cultural conflict. The narrative centers on Antonio, a young boy navigating the complexities of his upbringing in the small village of Pasturas and later in Guadalupe, New Mexico. He is caught between the contrasting expectations of his parents—his father, a cattleman of the Márez family, and his mother, who hails from the farming-oriented Luna family. This dichotomy symbolizes the broader struggle Antonio faces as he seeks to reconcile his Catholic upbringing with the mystical influences of his cultural heritage.
A central figure in Antonio's journey is Ultima, a curandera who embodies the spiritual and magical elements of his heritage. She serves as a guide, helping him navigate the challenges posed by his divided world, including the contrasting values of his parents and the spiritual dilemmas that arise. Throughout the story, Antonio confronts profound questions about good and evil, ultimately seeking a new understanding of his place in the cosmos. The narrative culminates in the poignant events surrounding the death of Ultima's owl, a powerful symbol of her spirit and influence, which leads Antonio to a crucial moment of choice regarding his own destiny. The novel, rich in cultural symbolism and psychological depth, invites readers to reflect on the complexities of identity and spirituality.
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Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
First published: 1972
The Work
Bless Me, Ultima is Rudolfo Anaya’s first novel of a trilogy that also includes Heart of Aztlán (1976) and Tortuga (1979). It is a psychological and magical portrait of a quest for identity by a child. In this classic work, Antonio, the protagonist, is subjected to contradicting influences that he must master in order to mature. These influences include symbolic characters and places, the most powerful of which are Ultima, a curandera who evokes the timeless past of a pre-Columbian world, and a golden carp, which swims the river waters of the supernatural and offers a redeeming future.
Antonio is born in Pasturas, a very small village on the Eastern New Mexican plain. Later, the family moves across the river to the small town of Guadalupe, where Antonio spends his childhood. His father belongs to the Márez family and is a cattleman; Antonio’s mother is of the Luna family, whose background is farming. They represent the initial manifestation of the divided world into which Antonio is born. Division is a challenge he must resolve in order to find himself. Antonio’s father wants him to become a horseman of the plain. Antonio’s mother wants him to become a priest to a farming community, which is in the highest tradition of the Luna family.
The parents’ wishes are symptoms of a deeper spiritual challenge facing Antonio involving his Catholic beliefs and those associated with the magical world of a pre-Columbian past. Ultima, the curandera and a creature of both worlds, helps guide Antonio through the ordeal of understanding and dealing with these challenges.
Ultima is a magical character who touches the core of Antonio’s being. She supervised his birth. Later she comes to stay with the family in Guadalupe when Antonio is seven. On several occasions, Antonio is a witness to her power.
Antonio’s adventure takes him beyond the divided world of the farmer and the horseman and beyond the Catholic ritual and its depictions of good and evil. With Ultima’s help, he is able to bridge these opposites and channel them into a new cosmic vision of nature, represented by the river, which stands in the middle of his two worlds, and by the golden carp, which points to a new spiritual covenant.
The novel ends with the killing of Ultima’s owl by one of her enemies. He discovered that the owl carried her spiritual presence. This killing also causes Ultima’s death, but her work is done. Antonio can choose his destiny.
Bibliography
Bruce-Novoa. Portraits of the Chicano Artist as a Young Man: The Making of the “Author” in Three Chicano Novels. Albuquerque, N.Mex.: Pajarito Press, 1977. This important early analysis of Bless Me, Ultima reveals the novel to be “the apprenticeship of a writer who fulfills his training with Ultima by becoming a novelist, the author of his own text.”
Calderón, Héctor. “Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima: A Chicano Romance of the Southwest.” Critica 1, no. 3 (Fall, 1986): 21-47. Argues that the novel is actually a highly crafted romance.
González-T., César A., ed. Rudolfo A. Anaya: Focus on Criticism. La Jolla, Calif.: Lalo Press, 1990.
Gonzalez-T., Cesar A., ed. Rudolfo A. Anaya: Focus on Criticism. La Jolla, Calif.: Lalo Press, 1990. Includes useful essays on Bless Me, Ultima by Roberto Cantu, Jean Cazemajou, and others.
Lamadrid, Enrique R. “The Dynamics of Myth in the Creative Vision of Rudolfo Anaya.” In Paso por aquí: Critical Essays on the New Mexican Literary Tradition, 1542-1988, edited by Erlinda Gonzales-Berry. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989. Shows the ways in which Anaya uses Southwestern myth in his novel.
Saldivar, Ramon. “Romance, the Fantastic, and the Representation of History in Rudolfo Anaya and Ron Arias.” Chapter 5 in Chicano Narrative: The Dialectics of Difference. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. Argues that Anaya’s book “creates a uniquely palatable amalgamation of old and new world symbolic structures.”
Trejo, Arnulfo D. “Bless Me, Ultima: A Novel.” Arizona Quarterly 29 (1973): 95-96.