Lost his eye to an owl

It [Ultima's owl] hurled itself on Tenorio, and the sharp talons gouged out one eye from the face of the evil man. (140) - Victoria

Tenorio

"... one of the men scream, I recognized the evil voice of Tenorio" (87) - Marilyn

One-eyed Man

Luna

Mi madre no era mujer de ahi; era hija de un campesino. No podia apreciar la belleza del llano y le era imposible comprender a los hombres todos que se pasaban la mitad de la vida montados a caballo. (_____) Fidel

Freedom

"He cursed the weak-willed men of the town who did not understand the freedom a man of the llano must have," (_____) - Quentin

" Ah, there is no freedom like freedom of the llano" (188) - Marilyn G.

Freedom

"Some how the horse was very close to the spirit of the man, and so the horse was allowed to roam free and no vaquero on that llano would throw a lazo on that horse." (2) - Jessica

"horse shouted and jumped on me" (146) - Marilyn

Ultima vivia sin compañia en la soledad del ancho llano. Mi madre no era mujer de ahi; era hija de un campesino. No podia apreciar la belleza del llano u le era imposible comprender a los hombres toscos que se pasaban la mitad de la vida montados a caballo. (_____) - Fidel

Owl in the Snow

"The snow would melt then the wind would freeze the water into ice" (147) - Marilyn

Preocupado por la seguridad de Ultima y acalenturado por el frio, batalle para no perderlo de vista, porque en la espesa nieve, una persona desaparicia rapidamente. Segui a la silueta que tropezaba frente a mi, y entre las rafagas de viento podia oirlo hablar en voz baja sobre la amenaza de Tenorio y como prevenir a Ultima. Dio vuelta en el camino de la iglesia y fue hacia el puente. Pense que sus intenciones si eran las de ir hasta la casa de mi padre, pero cuando llego a la casa de Rosie, se detuvo frente a la reja llena de nieve. (_____) -  Fidel

Flying Owl

"My heart was pounding and my lungs hurt, but a calmness had come over the moonlit night when I heard he hooting of Ultima's owl" (23). - Jessica

En el enebro grande, donde la loma bajaba hacia el puente, escuché a la lechuza de Ultima. Sabía que era su lechuza porque estaba cantando a la luz del día. (____) - Fidel

Ultima Article by Raymond J. Rodrigues

Raymond J. Rodrigues

SOURCE: Rodrigues, Raymond J. Review of Bless Me, Ultima,by Rudolfo A. Anaya. English Journal 65, no. 1 (January 1976): 63-4.

[In the following review, Rodrigues comments that "Bless Me, Ultima is an important contribution to literature in a pluralistic United States."]

Bless Me, Ultima portrays the conflicts which result from the changes wrought by forces outside one's culture. Ultima, a curandera or healer, living with the boy Antonio Marez and his family, introduces Antonio to mysteries of faith and nature. Antonio's parents each want different futures for their son. His mother, from a family of farmers, wants him to be a priest. His father, who reflects his background of free horsemen or vaqueros,dreams of the time when he and his sons, the oldest three having left to fight in World War II, can move to California and become wealthy. But the father does not count on the influence of war and travel upon those who have left their homes. The novel reveals numerous conflicts: those caused by the differing backgrounds of the parents, the forces of evil vs. those of good, the encroachment of the outside world upon the life of a rural community, organized religion vs. individual beliefs, the dreams of the old vs. those of the young, and Antonio's seeing the world as a beautiful place, yet filled with horrors.

Tuna

The red flower of a cactus.

Working the fields - the Luna family

A community of farmers ruled over by a priest, she firmly believed, was the true way of life. - Quentin

Ultima era curandera, sabia de hierbas y remedios de los antepasados. (______) - Fidel

Balls of fire

In the forest at night, balls of fire, Ultima watching.

The description of the brujas, like that of the curandera,conforms to the traditional pattern for witches in Christian societies. They sell their souls to the devil; they have black masses and a sabbat of sorts; they read the Black Book; they stir up horrible concoctions of such things as blood of bats, entrails of toads, and blood of roosters; they use incantations and magical words; and, of course, they can perform image magic. They can change into animals, especially coyotes, and also into balls of fire—two forms that are found in Southwest Indian beliefs as well as Spanish-American beliefs.
Witches cannot pass by a cross, nor can they stand the sight of it, and the names "Christ" and "Mary" hurt their ears. They can be killed in their own bodies or in their animal shapes by shooting them with bullets etched with a cross.

"You must understand that when anybody, bruja or curandera, preist or sinner, tampers with the fate of a man that sometimes a chain of events is set into motion over which no one will have ultimate control (ch Diez, pg 85) - Erika

1. In chapter 10, Ultima tells the Luna family to not kill the coyotes while she is curing Lucas. - Marielina C.

Ultima

Always wore black. 

As Antonio says, "Ultima was a curandera, a woman who knew the herbs and remedies of the ancients, a miracle-worker who could heal the sick.... And because a curandera had this power she was misunderstood and often suspected of practicing witchcraft herself."

"She wrapped the black shawl around her hair and shoulders" (chapter uno) - Andrew

"…I learned contained all of Ultima's earthly possessions, the black dresses and the shawls she wore, and the magic of her sweet smelling herbs." (13) - Erika

Mujer milagrasa que curaba a los enfermos. Se oia el rumor que ultima era capaz de liberar a la gente de las maldiciones de las brujas, y exorcizar a las personas poseidas por el mal. Y puesto que una curandera tiene tales poderes, habia la sospecha de que ella misma practicaba la brujeria. (_____) - Fidel

She carried only her small black satchel. She was dressed in black and her head scarf crossed over her face so that only her bright eyes shone. (93) - Victoria

Witches in the forest

"And I had heard that Ultima could lift the curses laid by brujas, that she could exorcise the evil the witches planted in people to make them sick (4) - Marilyn G.

 One of the Trementia sisters.

Trementina Sisters

Dancing in the forest at night.

Art by Matisse

Up ahead we saw a fire burst out. It was Ultima burning the evil load of the sack exactly where the three witches had danced where my uncle saw them. A trace of the smell of sulfur touched the foul, damp air. (110) - Victoria

Railroad Bridge

"Shoot! Shoot!" someone on the bridge called. (Chapter 2) - Andrew

"He's firing! He's firing!" another voice shouted. He's crazy!" (____) - Jessica

Donde esta? pregunte. Apunto hacia el rio, al noroeste, mas alla de las vias del ferrocarril, a los montes oscuros. El rio pasaba por esos montes donde habia antiguas tierras indias, tierras sagradas para enterrar a los muertos, me habia contado Jason. (___) - Fidel

Bridge

The link between one world and the other.

Rosie's House

I knew that Rosie was evil, not evil like a witch, but evil in other ways. once the priest had preached in Spanish against the women who lived in Rosie's house and so I knew that her place was bad. Also, my mother admonished us to bow our heads when we passed in front of the house. (37) - Victoria

Rosie's House

The house hung off the side of a cliff.

The Bridge

The bridge linked Antonio's house to the center of town.

"She pointed towards the river, northwest, past the railroad track to the dark hill" (p. 10) - Marilyn G.

House

"We have to get the hell out'a here," Eugene said nervously, "this hick town is killing me!" (chapter ocho) - Andrew

By the river

"A low, sad mournful cry tore itself from his throat and mixed into the lapping sound of the waters of the river." (Chapter Dos) - Andrew



"I had been afraid of the awful presence of the river, which was the soul of the river...But the innocence which our isolation sheltered could not last forever..." (15) - Erika








"The river was silent and brooding. The presence was watching over us. I wondered about Lupito's soul." (41) - Jessica

Railroad Bridge

Working the earth

María Luna Márez
Antonio's mother is a devout Catholic from a family of farmers who wants her youngest son, Antonio, to bring honor to the family by becoming a priest. 

The sun was only a dot in the sky

En mi sueño volaba sobre los ondulados montes del llano. Mi alma recorria el campo oscuro hasta llegar a un grupo de casas de adobe. Reconoci el pueblito de Las Pasturas y mi carazon se alegro. Una de las chozas de lodo tenia una ventana iluminada, mi sueño me atrajo o hacia ahi y vi que nocia un niño. (____) - Fidel




 

Grandfather's house

"At the end of the dusty road was my grandfather's house." (chapter cinco) - Andrew

"My grandfather's house was the biggest one in the village, and it was rightly so, because after all the village had been largely settled by the Lunas." (48) - Jessica

Jenny

Jenny followed us on her bike as I shoved the kids in front of me toward the house. "You're not their mother. You can't tell them what to do!" she cried. (___) - Quentin

Jenny and her new bike

"Jenny followed us on her new bike as I shoved the kids in front of me towards the house" (___) - Laila

The road to Las Pasturas

The novel is set in rural Guadalupe, New Mexico, shortly after the end of World War II, during which Antonio's three older brothers served as soldiers in the United States Armed Forces.

Rooster

 

Sentia tristeza y temor cuando estaba solo. Recogi tres huevos en el gallinero y regrese a desayunar. Antonio --sonrio mi madre y tomo los huevos y la leche. Ven a desayunar. (____) - Fidel.

 

How to eat a guava

I had my last guava the day we left Puerto Rico. It was large and juicy, almost red in the center, and so fragrant that I didn't want to eat it because I would lose the smell. (4) - Quentin

"When you bite into a ripe guava, your teeth must grip the bumpy surface and sink into the thick edible skin without hitting the center" (___) - Laila

The kitchen

Antonio could see his mother and Ultima in the kitchen from the top of the stairs. 

Lupito

He had the war disease. 

"He is an animal! He has to be shot!" (Chapter Dos) - Andrew

Pedro

"Of all my uncles I loved my uncle Pedro the most. " (Chapter Cinco)

 

El Mangle

"When we first came to El Mangle, I wouldn't drink, and I didn't take a bath because I thought the water come from the lagoon." (141) - Marilyn

When I was ...