Bless Me, Ultima

Bibliographic Information

Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley: TQS Publications, 1972. Print. 

Summary

Bless Me, Ultima tells the story of young Antonio Márez y Luna’s coming of age. It is the recollections of his adult self on the time when Ultima, a curandera (native healer) came to live with his family. During this time Tony begins school, learns English, witnesses three murders, and becomes a true adolescent. Adult Antonio reflects on the struggles he experienced about who he was to become. His mother’s family, the Luna clan, works the land and cares for crops and the earth. They are stalwart, quiet men who follow the ways of the moon. His mother hopes that Tony will become either a farmer or a priest. His father, on the other hand, comes from the Márez clan, a tribe of men committed to wandering as vaqueros and seeking adventures. Antonio himself cannot decide which path to follow and begins to question his own Catholic faith as he takes his First Communion and realizes God does not always work in as blatant and mystical ways as one may hope. Ultima guides Tony along his path, helping him grow and understand that sometimes life is much more complicated than just choosing one way or the other.  

Analysis

Bless Me, Ultima’s strength comes from Anaya’s own experiences as a young child in New Mexico. He wrote this novel specifically to share the history of a culture and area that was (and continues to be) underrepresented in literature. As one reads the story, they can see the passion and commitment he has to his culture and his own history. The magical elements blend well without pulling a reader out of the story itself. Antonio’s own questions and doubts are also very understandable and real. They are questions most people grapple with at some point, though some of his questioning does seem early for his age. The greatest weakness is definitely Anaya’s tendency to romanticize the time. Much of the story strays into dreamy descriptions and recollections. He does give readers a clear view of some of the down sides to the melding cultures, but much of it is still overly romantic.

It would probably appeal most strongly to youth with a connection to either New Mexico or Chicano history and culture. It is an interesting bildungsroman and the historical commentary is very different than most other novels for this age, though I found the story itself to be somewhat lacking in interest. There is also a good deal of violence and just general “boys being boys” that gets tedious and may bother some readers. It is developmentally appropriate, especially in Antonio’s struggle with his faith and trust, though the violence and some language may bother younger readers. Despite my misgivings about some of the elements of the story, it absolutely deserves its place in the canon of YA lit. Bless Me, Ultima was one of the first YA novels to approach Chicano history and culture in the English canon and needs to be recognized as such. 

Activity

This book would link in really well to a unit on Chicano culture and history. Even in a public library, it could be grouped with books on the history of New Mexico or other Chicano authors. As part of this display, youth involved in the library could create art in a traditional new Mexican style, write their own experiences as Chicano youth, or create other expressions of the culture as they learn about it. 

Related Resources

Doing a reading promotion on banned books would surely benefit from the inclusion of Bless Me, Ultima. This could also encourage young adults to ask about what other banned books they could read. I’d encourage continuing to read about American history and culture with books such as Their Eyes Were Watching God or even The Grapes of Wrath. These both embody an older America and both bring their respective time periods to life in a very real way. 

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. Reprint. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print. 

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1939. Reprint. New York: Penguin, 2002. 

For older readers, I’d recommend delving into magical realism, which is largely prominent in modern Latin American literature. Two of the most prominent authors in this genre are Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges. I would encourage students to find these elements that are also present (and perhaps a little too blatant) in Bless Me, Ultima. There are a number of other authors that are influenced by or writing magical realism, both in Latin America and in other cultures. 

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. One Hundred Years of Solitude. 1967. Reprint. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. Print. 

Borges, Jorge Luis. Ficciones. 1956. Reprint. New York: Grove, 1994. Print. 

Published Review

Rose, David James. "Reviews: Books." Hispanic, vol. 7, no. 8, Sept. 1994, p. 90. EBSCOhost, ezp.twu.edu/login?url=http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2060/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9409227690&site=ehost-live&scope=site.