Bless Me, Ultima

"Life is filled with sadness when a boy grows to be a man. But as you grow into manhood you must not despair life, but gather strength to sustain you, can you understand that." (Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, pg. 245)

One of the main themes of Bless Me, Ultima is the growth of Tony from a boy to a man. Unfortunately for Tony, his growth to a boy began early with dramatic experiences like seeing Lupito, Narcisco and Florence die. 

How Tony became a man reminded me of the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. At one point in the movie James Bond returns to his childhood home, where he had witnessed his parents death as a young boy. There is a scene where his old game keeper shows M, Bonds boss, a secret passage that leads to a church. He says that when Bonds parents died he hid in the passage for several days. He then says that Bond entered the secret passage as a boy, but came out a man. 

A similar experience is lived by Tony in Bless Me, Ultima. It is interesting how Anaya writes about the different deaths that Tony sees. At the beginning of the book he sees Lupito, a man who was crazy and killed the sheriff, get shot near the bridge. Towards the middle of the book he witnesses Narcisco, who was trying to save Ultima, get murdered by Tenorio. At the end of the book he sees Florence, and innocent boy who doesn't believe in God, drown. Because of living these experiences he is shipped off to work at his uncle's farm, where he uses these experiences to become a man.

Tony continually questions why all these things have happened. He seeks the wisdom of his father on the way to the farm. He finally understands Ultimas message for him, quoted above, that he must take all these life experiences and use them to become a man and a better person, a person that can help and care for other people, like Ultima. Tony's father articulated this idea to Tony when he told him:

"Understanding comes with life, as a man grows he sees life and death, he is happy and sad, he works, plays, meets people, sometimes it takes a lifetime to acquire understanding, because in the end understanding simply means having sympathy for people, Ultima has sympathy for people, and it is so complete that with it she can touch their souls and cure them." (Rodulfo Anaya, Bless me, Ultima, pg. 248) 

It is a lesson that everyone could benefit from learning.