Bless me, Ultima Essay What is faith? Does everyone have faith? Is faith believing in something you haven’t seen but you think is true? All of these questions have an answer and in Bless me, Ultima by Rodolfo Anaya these questions are important. In fact, many people question their faith because they are confused about what they see or hear.
In Bless me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya shows that on this world there are many types of faith one believes in. The author uses imagery, folklore, and dream sequences to convey the meaning of Bless me, Ultima. Anaya uses imagery to show how Christianity and witchcraft are two different beliefs, and they are in conflict with each other. The imagery provides a picture of Tony’s conflict of Ultima dying. For example, When Tony was next to Ultima he knew she was going to die. As Ultima was dying, “Her voice very weak, her eyes already glazed with death.” 260 Anaya makes that imagery for us to see what Tony was seeing. Second, Anaya uses dream sequences to show that Tony has conflicts with himself about his beliefs. He questions his belief in this dream because he is afraid of what he might find out.
In his dream Tony says, “Everything I believe in was destroyed. A painful wrenching in my heart made me cry aloud, why God? my God, why have you forsaken me!” 243 Tony cannot accept what is happening. Why do all good people have to die?
In fact, Anaya uses folklore in this story to show that every language there is folklore about religions that believes in. Therefore, in this part it says ”
The Agua Negra was the land of the Commanche Indians. Three Commanche raided the flock of one. So grandfather Tellez hanged them and left them strung on a tree.
Now their souls wandered around the ranch.” 227 This is one folklore from the story. Many are passed down from generation to generation.
In conclusion, Anaya showed how Tony had many conflicts with himself about religion and beliefs. Any beliefs that one has are going to be different from someone else’s.
In Bless me, Ultima Rodolfo Anaya shows that this earth are many types of faiths. Yet, one has a freedom to choose one’s path in life. Whether is to believe in a god or not.
