Bless Me Ultima

This lyrical book captures the magial surrealism of a forgotten age. Here are some questions for reflection:

1) Why does Antonio say "but then...who wil hear my confession?" when his mother suggests that he will be a priest?

2) Please comment on the syncretism in the following passage:

"I dreamed about the owl that night, and my dream was good. La Virgen de Guadalupe was the patron saint of our town. The town was named after her. In my dream I saw Ultima's owl lift la Virgen on her wide wings and fly her to heaven. Then the owl returned and gathered up all the babes of Limbo and flew them up to the clouds of heaven."

Does the owl most resemble the Holy Spirit of the Gospels or the Breath of God of the Hebrew Scriptures?

3) Have you seen "the beauty in the time of day and in the time of night?" Have you known the "peace in the river and the hills?" Have you listened to the mystery of the groaning earth or felt complete in the fullness of its time?

4) Anaya paints a realistic picture of post traumatic stress disorder in his portrayal of Lupito by the banks of the river, hidden in the darkness below the bridge, waving a pistol and screaming like a hunted animal. Why does he cry "bless me" as the second volley of shots finds its mark?

5) Please share your understandingof the Act of Contrition. Does it match Antonio's?

"Over and over through my mind ran the words of the Act of Contrition. I had not yet been to catechism, nor had I made my first holy communion, but my mother had taught me the Act of Contrition. It was said after one made his confession to the priest, and as the last prayer before death. (p.23)

6) What do you make of Antonio's transformation within the vision on p.26?

7) How do you interpret Antonio's words on p.27

"Where was Lupito's soul? He had killed the sheriff and so had died with a mortal sin on his soul. He would go to hell. Or would od forgive him and grant him Purgatory, the lonely, hopeless resting place of those who were neither saved nor damned. But God didn't forgive anyone."

Is his theology a hybrid of his mother's piety and his father's anti-clericalism?

Does he believe La Grande when she says " you must never judge who God forgives and who He doesn't"

Contrast this with the passage on p.44 that reads

"God was not always forgiving. He made laws to follow and if you broke them you were punished. The Virgin always forgave. God had power. He spoke and the thunder echoed through the skies. The Virgin was fullof a quiet, peaceful love."

8)Please comment on the following passage

"Then Abel, who had been pissing against the church wall, called outthat mass wasstarting and we all rushed to get the premium pews at the very back of the church"(p.38)

9) How would you describe " la tristeza de la vida" (p.59)?

10) Please comment on the stories of the golden carp and the Trementina sisters? What is Anaya's understanding of forgiveness and redemption?

11) What does Ultima mean when she says "I must work the magic beyond evil, the magic that endures forever." "Life is never beyond hope." " The smallest bit of good can stand against all te powers of evil in the world and it will emerge triumphant

12) Is there something bittersweet in the Nativity play that Anaya recounts on pp.151-157?

13) Please coment on the folowing passage

The townpeople had killed Lupito at the bridge and desecrated the river. Then Tenorio and his men had come upon the hill with hate in their hearts. My father had tried to keep his land holy and pure, but perhaps it was impossible. Perhaps the llano was like me, as I grew the innocence was gone, and so too the land changed." (pp167-8)

14) Please comment on the voice Antonio hears in his delirium: " You would have a God who forgives all , but when it comes to your personal whims you seek punishment for your vengeance."

15) How would you answer Florence's questions on pp. 196-7? Do you agree with Antonio that God comes in cycles?

16) Is Father Byrnes description of eternity convincing? (pp.201-2)

17) Why does Antonio agree to hear the children's confessions? Why do the penitents give him the Indian torture? (pp.212-215)

18) How do you explain the dream that Antonio has after Florence's tragic death? (pp.243-44)

19) Please comment on Gabriel's description of Ultima

"Ultima has sympathy for people, and it is so complete that with it she can touch their souls and cure them...no greater magic can exist."

Contrast it with Antonio's description

"For us Ultima personified goodness, and any risk in defense of goodness was right. She was the only person I had ever seen defeat evil where all else had failed."

20) What does Antonio mean when he says " I ran to save Ultima and I ran to preserve those moments when beauty mingled with sadness and flowed through my soul like the stream of time." (p.257)