Bless Me, Ultima

Antonio is the protagonist of Bless Me, Ultima. His character is based on Anaya as a child and embodies the complex experience of growing up Chicanx in America. At the start of the novel, Antonio is six years old and already torn between the conflicting dreams of his mother and father. He is a fearful and passive boy, dreading the change from the familiar world of childhood to adolescence.

For much of the novel, Antonio thinks in absolutes. He believes he must choose one way of life over all others: one dream, one God, one way of being a man. Because he is raised in a Mexican Catholic community, he defaults to believing in the Catholic God, but as he experiences more of life, he begins to doubt the church’s unforgiving doctrine. Characters like Ultima, Cico, and Florence open Antonio’s mind to the existence of other modes of spirituality, including Indigenous beliefs based in nature.

Under Ultima’s guidance, Antonio undergoes spiritual maturation and moves past his absolutist perspective. He realizes that he can synthesize the seemingly contradictory parts of his life and finds his identity at the center of this harmony. Antonio’s experiences of