Review Of “Bless Me Ultima”
Bless Me Ultimo Essay “The ways of men are strange and hard to learn (peg 8)”. The novel, Bless Me ultimo by Antonio Mare, tells a story of a young boy named Antonio who lives in New Mexico with his family. Throughout the book the author has flashbacks of some of his earliest memories as a child. At the age of six a lady named Ultimo joins the family and becomes one of Notation’s closest companions. Ultimo is a Surrender, or a healer, but is no longer working so the family takes her in. He quickly begins to trust her as she tries her best to explain the hard ways of life to him.
Although Antonio is a young boy, he experiences multiple difficult situations a six year old boy should not have to experience. This causes him to question his faith and his moral reasoning. Notation’s mom is very religious and highly emphasizes Catholicism around the household. This young boy shares this love Of religion with his mother. From a very young age he felt much comfort in believing in a higher power watching over him. Although his faith is strong in the beginning of the novel Antonio witnesses his Father kill a man.
After that moment he becomes fitful of his faith and wonders why events occur the way they do. He seeks reasons to explain why life can be so cruel. His dad is a vaquero with a background of living his life on the llano. His mother believes that he has the capabilities to one day become a priest although his father would love to see his son enjoy the life of a cowboy. These conflicting impressions make Antonio question his future. One day he hears the story of the golden carp from his friend Samuel. The story is about how a group of people angered the gods and they turned all the people into carp.
But one god loved the people so much that he asked to be turned into a carp as well. Because he was a god they made him very big and made him of gold. After the story, Antonio states “The Golden Carp… A new God (peg 129). ” This shows a moment of realization for Antonio because he knows that not everybody is catholic and God has a different meaning to everyone. Quickly his ideas about God and religion start to shift. As the novel continues, numerous moral questions begin to arise as he sees more death and hatred. It is much more than he has every experienced before.
His mom wishes to hide him from the hateful things that occur outside his door, but she realizes she can only do so much to protect him. He will have to figure out the ways of life for himself. He gains wisdom from the people around him and he learns that to gain happiness because he must be at peace with his identity. He will never truly understand the reason evil occurs, he feels it is too complicated for anyone to understand. He concludes that by being the best person he can be, he will obtain the happiness he desires.
