The Orange and Gold Sun

A  satisfying feat of storytelling, "Bless Me, Ultima" makes a difficult task look easy. It combines innocence and experience, the darkness and wonder of life, in a way that is not easy to categorize.

Though its protagonist is a very young boy, what he observes of life is not exclusively kindhearted. The story has the honesty of emotion you'd associate with having a 6-year-old as protagonist, but likely material for a Disney film this is not.

More than that, "Bless Me, Ultima," set in the New Mexico of 1944, posits an age of wonders and miracles where magic realism informs young Antonio Marez's sense of how strange and unfathomable the world can seem. This story believes in powers beyond the rational (which has at times gotten the book into trouble with local school boards) and insists that we believe as well. By Kenneth T. 

The Goat Path

"We called the path from our home to the bridge the goat path because when we ran to meet our father after his day's work he said we looked like goats." (Chapter Tres)

The Path that Led to the Bridge

"... it was too late. The truck was bouncing down the goat path that led to the bridge and the highway." (Chapter Uno)

Gathering Herbs

"In the mornings, before it was too hot, Ultima and I walked in the hills of the llano, gathering the wild herbs and roots for her medicines." (Chapter Cuatro)

"We wandered on and found some oregano." (Chapter Cuatro) - Andrew

Candle

The Souls

 The souls in purgatory

Luna/Mares

The union of the father and the mother

Among the many conflicts Antonio seeks to resolve, the tension between his parents ranks foremost. A devout Catholic, María Luna Márez is the daughter of farmers, and she desperately wants Antonio to become a priest. But his father, Gabriel Márez, is a former vaquero, or cowboy, whose wandering spirit has not settled despite marriage and six children. 

"the white sun reflected off his bright orange scales and glistening glorious light blinded us and filled us with the rapture true beauty brings" (237) - Marilyn G.

La Luna

María Luna is from El Puerto

"It is the blood of the Lunas to be quiet, for only a quiet man can learn the secrets of the earth that are necessary for planting -- They are quiet like the moon." (Chapter Cuatro)

“He must come to El Puerto and rule over the Lunas of the valley.” (Chapter Uno) - Marilyn

Ultima

Ultima wore a shawl over her head

Despite her reliance on the natural spirit world in her healing, Ultima is a devout Catholic who stubbornly disregards the belief that Christian faith and mysticism are mutually exclusive.

Ultima

Her face was old and wrinkled (12)

"I stepped forward and took Ultima's hand. I looked up into her clear brown eyes and shivered. Her face was old and wrinkled, but her eyes were clear and sparkling, like the eyes of a young child." (Uno 12) - Erika

Antonio -dijo el sencillamente. Di un paso al frente y le tome la mano a Ultima. Mire hacia arriba para ver sus claros ojos cafes y me estremeci. Su cara vieja estaba arrugada, pero sus ojos eran claros y brillantes, como los ojos eran claros y brillantes, como los ojos de una niña. (___) - Fidel

The Owl

"And with Ultima came the owl" (13) "At the big juniper tree where the hill sloped to the bridge I heard Ultima's owl sing." (Chapter 6) - Andrew

Writing Assignment 5

Subject: Writing Assignment 5

Writing assignment 5 is in the form of a competition. All students will develop the same topic.

The winner of the competition is the student:

• who makes the best arguments
• who is the most convincing
• who expresses his or herself with the most clarity and 
• who employs the most sophisticated language

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