Bless Me, Ultima

Antonio’s communion is a disappointment, failing to provide the promised knowledge, and his doubts about the church increase as he realizes that he may never receive answers to his questions. He is horrified by the cruelty of eternal damnation, and when Father Byrnes humiliates Florence, he’s upset by the vindictiveness displayed by someone who is supposed to be a trusted spiritual authority. Anaya sets up Florence as a Christ figure, an angelic-looking boy on an invisible cross quietly bearing his persecution.

Florence is a mouthpiece for of all Antonio’s doubts about God. Because he doesn’t fear eternal punishment, he is free to openly proclaims his belief that “it is God that has sinned against [him]” (213). Antonio’s friendship with Florence is his first encounter with someone who lives completely outside the influence of the church and is impervious to the fear and guilt of sin. Florence’s open atheism feeds into Antonio’s increasing alienation from Catholicism as he encourages Antonio to question why a fair God would allow tragedies like Narciso’s murder.

When goading Florence, the local boys use their religion as justification for their brutality, an experience that erodes Antonio’s faith even further. He realizes that some people twist religious principles to fit selfish agendas and that the distinction between good and evil cannot be drawn along religious lines.

Antonio decides that he can’t be a priest for the likes of the town boys. He won’t blindly punish nonbelievers and forgive all sinners through confession. He separates his sense of morality from the rules of the church, an indication of his character development and increased capacity for independent thought. The confrontation with Florence and the town boys sparks his realization that the way a person interprets the world is a deeply personal choice, with no right or wrong answer. It also opens his mind to another one of Ultima’s lessons, the wisdom of forgiveness over vengeance.

Though Antonio can accept Florence’s atheism, he wants to show him the golden carp to imbue his life with meaning. Here, Antonio shows the juvenile limits of his empathy by not quite making the connection that Florence’s life can be meaningful without religion. He has matured considerably, but he is still a child.

At the start of Chapter 18, Antonio contextualizes his life as a mere blip in a vast eternity. He describes how “the body becomes dust and trees and exploding fire […] and still there is eternity” (203). He’s starting to recognize his place in the endless cycle of time, a selfless perspective that will help him accept moments of change and violence as necessary parts of a greater universal harmony.

In Chapter 17, Anaya briefly touches on the coming Cold War, referencing the nuclear bomb tests performed in rural New Mexico in 1945. The different reactions to the bomb highlight elements of Chicanx culture; old ladies in town whisper that the bomb is competing with God, representing the religious ideal that too much worldly knowledge is sinful. Gabriel attributes the changes in weather to human interference with the land, reflecting a belief system that values connection to the land, following in the footsteps of the Indigenous peoples of North America.

All of the events in these chapters fall under the trials section of the hero’s journey. Antonio is tested when he confronts harsh truths about his worldview, resists temptation, and has his morals challenged. His character is transforming as he prepares for the final step of the journey, the symbolic return home.