Bless Me Ultima Religion Essay

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When reading a book as beautiful as Bless Me, Ultima, it can be easy to get so immersed in the story that one forgets to take a moment and examine the role of different characters and themes throughout the story. Every person, concept, and fleeting idea has a role to play, and Rudolfo Anaya does a fantastic job of weaving these together to shape Antonio’s worldview. For example, religion is one of the driving concepts in this novel, dictating Antonio’s thoughts and behavior. He doesn’t decide his view of religion on his own, though; rather, Antonio’s thoughts about religion are shaped by various people in his life. Specifically, his mother, Cico, and Florence play an important role when it comes to his view of Catholicism, the golden carp, and the …show more content…
When he’s speaking to Cico about visiting the golden carp, he thinks, “The commandment of the Lord said, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (page 112). Despite his curiosity about the golden carp, there is still a part of him that is worried that feeding into his curiosity would result in a sin. If his mother had not taught him Catholicism, or if she was more lenient about its rules, he likely would have followed Cico without a second thought. Instead, he initially denies that the golden carp could be a god because of the teachings of the church. Additionally, due to his mother encouraging him to be a priest, aka a “man of the people,” he wants to save others from eternal damnation. After hearing Narciso’s confession in a very priest-like manner, he has a dream about God, where “[he] cried, it is Narciso that you must forgive! Intercede for him so that he may gain the joys of heaven” (page 181). A priest is meant to hear the confessions of people in order to save them from hell, and because his mother has claimed that he’ll be a priest one day, he already feels as though he has the ability to save
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