Bless Me Ultima Literary Analysis

Zora Neale Hurston once wrote, “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by time. That is the life of men.” In Rudolfo Anaya’s novel Bless Me, Ultima, the old curandera, Ultima, comes to live with a very conflicted boy, Antonio. Torn between the legacy of the church, the wishes of his mother, and the challenges that face children as they mature, he seeks a friend and a teacher in Ultima. She gladly obliges, spending the last of her life showing Antonio how to live his without letting his dreams go to sail away into the horizon of …show more content…
Since Ultima has been endowed with this gift, she utilizes it as much as possible. In one instance, Antonio witnesses the violent death of the former soldier, Lupito. As Lupito was shot, he reached out to Antonio, asking for his blessing. He runs as fast as he can, abrasions from tree branches whipping him in the face; He cannot get the blood soaked sand out of his head. Traumatized as he enters his home, he feels “a warm hand,” taking his. He recognizes it to be Ultima, and upon his realization, questions her knowledge on the matter. “They killed Lupito,” Antonio remarks, and Ultima utters a simple “I know,” as she makes a medicine to treat small injuries he sustained at the murder. She then goes on to describe the ways of men as Antonio will understand (26). Antonio is vexed by the fact that Ultima, who was not present at the scene of the murder, knows about the events that transpired. Despite this, Ultima is able to successfully care and comfort Antonio after the violent altercation. Her sensitivity to the situation allows Antonio to understand the complexities of life, of death. In lieu of Lupito’s death, Antonio is plunged into an almost two year journey. In this duration of time he witnesses many people die, including his family’s friend, Narciso. After Ultima cured Lucas, Tenorio vowed to see Ultima dead, and had many fights with Narciso over it. After what …show more content…
Readers see this as she walks through the hills gathering herbs, sending her condolences to the plants that she plucks from the earth, as she heals people only to be repaid with scowls and harsh whispers. She enacts this kindness without being prompted, her heart and hands, full of medicine and remedies, out to all who seek it. It is demonstrated again as a frantic friend of Antonio’s father desperately seeks Ultima’s help. A curse has been placed upon his home, making rocks fall from the sky and that renders his family starving and burned. Ultima readily accepts, and has the curse lifted by the time the sun has risen the next day. The man insists on paying her heavily in silver, but Ultima declines, stating that no silver is to be paid, but that “Instead of... silver... you can bring us a nice lamb the next time you come to Guadalupe,” (234) the man quickly retorts by vowing that Ultima will have forty lambs by the next time he sees her. A lamb seems a small price to pay for the salvation of his family, who has been plagued by a harmful and threatening curse. But in the moment, the man is so thankful that he promises her forty lambs, despite her request for a smaller sum of payment. She could have requested any amount of money, any kind of item she wished to be payed with and this man, so thankful that his family

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