Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya - MonkeyNotes by PinkMonkey.com. Bless Me, Ultima. Rudolfo Anaya. MonkeyNotes by TheBestNotes Staff

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1 PinkMonkey Literature Notes on... Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya - MonkeyNotes by PinkMonkey.com Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya MonkeyNotes by TheBestNotes Staff Reprinted with permission from TheBestNotes.com Copyright 2003, All Rights Reserved Distribution without the written consent of TheBestNotes.com is strictly prohibited. 1

2 KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING The present setting of the novel is Guadalupe, New Mexico. Two surrounding villages that have a strong influence on the people of Guadalupe are Las Pasturas, New Mexico, the land of the llano where the vaqueros or llaneros (cowboys) used to run their livestock and El Puerto de los Lunas, New Mexico, a village ten miles away from Guadalupe in the valley. It is the farmland of the Lunas. It is set during the time of World War II ( ) and after. In a deeper sense, the novel s setting is in its cultural history. The land and the people are marked by the history of place. The spirit and lore of Native Americans, specifically Comanches, is present in the place and the people. They were displaced by the Spanish conquistadors who brought two kinds of people: the vaqueros (cowboys) of the llano (prairie) and the priests and farmers of the land. The traces of Mexican past are also in the land. New Mexico belonged to Mexico before it was taken by the U.S. in the Mexican War of The ancient religion of the Aztecs also persists in the customs of the people who presently inhabit New Mexico. LIST OF CHARACTERS Major Characters Antonio Juan Márez y Luna (Anthony, Tony, Tonio) - the boy who is the subject of the story and man who is the present-day narrator. Ultima - la Grande, a curandera; Antonio's mentor in curandismo. María Luna - Antonio's mother, a devout Catholic from a farming family descended from a priest. Gabriel Márez - Antonio's father, a llanero who has moved to the town to satisfy his wife. Minor Characters Deborah - Antonio's sister. Theresa - Antonio's sister. Her mother says she has too much Márez in her when she speaks only English. Benito Campos - Marez's vaquero friend to whom he gives his horse when he leaves the llano. Bonney - vaquero friend of Márez. The Gonzales brothers - vaquero friends of Márez. Eugene Márez - the youngest of Antonio's older brothers. Father Byrnes - the Catholic priest in Guadalupe. Jasón - Antonio's friend. Jasón's Indian - an old man who lives in a cave near the Indian burial grounds on the river. Chávez - man whose brother is killed by Lupito. Lupito - a man who kills the sheriff of Guadalupe. He has just come home from war. Vigil - a state policeman who patrols Guadalupe. León - Antonio's eldest brother. 2

3 Andrew - Antonio's second eldest brother. Antonio is closest to Andrew, but finally rejects him when he sees Andrew betray his responsibility to Narciso so he can stay at a house of prostitution. Rosie - woman who owns a brothel in Guadalupe. Father Luna - the first priest of El Puerto de los Lunas, an ancestor of the Lunas. He led the first colonizing party to New Mexico and founded the town. Ernie - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. Abel - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. He is one of the Los Jaros boys. Horse - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. He is one of the Los Jaros boys. He has the characteristics of a horse. Bones - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. He is one of the Los Jaros boys. Samuel - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. The Vitamin Kid - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. He is a boy who runs all the time. Florence - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. A tall and thin boy with blond hair. He is one of the Los Jaros boys. He is an orphan and he is an atheist. He dies from drowning at the end of the novel. Lloyd - a friend of Antonio from the town of Guadalupe. He is very legalistic when it comes to Roman Catholicism. Juan Luna - María Luna's brother. Pedro Luna - María Luna's brother and Antonio's favorite uncle. He kills Tenorio at the end of the novel. Prudencio Luna - María Luna's father. Miss Maestas - Antonio's first grade teacher. George and Willy - two boys with whom Antonio shares lunch at school when he is laughed at by the other children for eating Mexican-American food instead of a sandwich. Cico - boy who shows Antonio the golden carp. Lucas Luna - María Luna's brother who is cursed by a bruja and who Ultima saves with Antonio's help. The flying man from Las Pasturas - Ultima's mentor in curandismo who gave her the owl. The Trementina sisters - the daughters of Tenorio, the brujas who lay the curse on Lucas. Two of them die by the end of the novel. Tenorio Trementina - father of brujas, saloon owner, and barber. He kills Ultima s owl at the end of the novel, effectively killing her. Manuelito - sheep herder who warns Lucas Luna not to go near the grove of witches. Pablo Luna - one of the brothers Luna. Red - one of the gang of boys in Guadalupe, a Protestant. Jesús Silva - man from El Puerto who warns Ultima of Tenorio's witch hunt. 3

4 Blas Montaño, Manuelito and Cruz Sedillo - men on the lynching party to kill Ultima. Mateo Luna - the storyteller of the Luna family. Porfirio Baca - a resident of El Puerto. Aunt Oretea - deaf and dumb wife of Uncle Mateo Luna. Maxie - a boy in the school play. Miss Violet - Antonio's third grade teacher. Rita, Agnes, Lydia, Ida and June - girls in Antonio's school. Tellez - man who lives on the Agua Negra ranch and comes to ask Ultima s help when a curse is laid on it. Dorotea Tellez -married to Tellez, and suffers with him through the haunting of their house on the Agua Negra ranch. CONFLICT Protagonist - Antonio, a boy who is the son of people from two different traditions within Mexican-American heritage: the farming Lunas and the vaquero Márezes. Antagonist - The fact that there is more than one god in the protagonist's heritage. In order to reconcile himself to his heritage, he must find a way to bring all of his competing religious deities into harmony with one another. Climax - The climax occurs during Antonio s first communion. He has been told that he will gain understanding when he takes communion, but he does not. He doesn t feel any communication from the Catholic God. He responds by going toward the god of the river, the golden carp, since it is a god that doesn t punish, but only brings peace and beauty to the world. Outcome - Ultima dies and Antonio is left to find his own way. He has been fully prepared for this event and seems sure of himself as a spiritual person. SHORT PLOT / CHAPTER SUMMARY (Synopsis) Bless Me, Ultima begins when Ultima comes to stay with Antonio's family one summer when he is seven years old. She is a curandera, a healer who uses herbs and sympathetic magic to cure people and to stop curses. Antonio dreams of his own birth the night before Ultima arrives. When he was born, his father s people, the vaqueros, and his mother s people, the Lunas, who are farmers, fought over which direction Antonio s life would take. At the moment of crisis, Ultima, who had delivered him as a midwife, says she will be the one who sees what Antonio s destiny is. The night Ultima arrives, Antonio dreams that Ultima s owl (a physical embodiment of her spirit) lifts the Virgin and carries her up to heaven. Antonio helps Ultima gather herbs and learns from her the uses for all the herbs and the ancient method for gathering them. One night a man from town who has been emotionally hurt by the war kills another man. A posse comes after him and Antonio sees the man shot. At the edge of the river, Antonio takes his confession and prays the Act of Contrition for him. Antonio senses a presence in the river. He dreams that night of his three brothers, who are away at war, and the presence of the river. Antonio worries about the Roman Catholic doctrine that says the man, Lupito, who was shot by the posse, will go to hell because he died with a mortal sin on his soul. He wonders if the River would forgive if it were an alternative god. At home, his father, Gabriel is unhappy. He has moved close to the town for the benefit of his wife who was never happy living on the llano (prairie), but it makes him unhappy. Unlike Maria, Antonio s mother, a devout Catholic, Gabriel does not believe in Christianity. He wants his sons to come home so they can move to 4

5 California and work together. Antonio hears the story of his mother s ancestor--a priest who led the first colony of people from Mexico to settle the land. They named their village El Puerto de la Luna. Antonio s mother wants him to be a priest. When Ultima goes to church, Antonio hears people whisper about her. They say she is a woman without sin and others say she is a witch. Antonio joins a gang of boys from the town. Antonio loves to gather herbs with Ultima. They are both happy in this task. They feel the presence of the river together. When they go home, Antonio thinks of the Virgin of Guadalupe in his mother s sala, to whom she prays incessantly. She is a manifestation of the Virgin Mary. She appeared to a Mexican boy and since then people in the area worship her. Antonio goes with his mother and sisters to El Puerto to visit his uncles and to help gather in the harvest. He hears stories of a family of witches, the Trementina sisters, who dance a black Sabbath with the Devil. Their father is Tenorio, a man who keeps a saloon and a barber shop in the village. When Antonio returns home, he goes to school for the first time. His mother insists that he will be a man of learning. Ultima tells them he will indeed be a man of learning. Maria wants him to be a priest. Antonio hears about the end of the war. He dreams of his brother's return. The next day, his brothers return home. They are morose and uncommunicative. It is clear they will not be following their father to California to fulfill his dream of working together. In the spring the brothers still haven t done anything. They sleep all day and go to the pool hall or the house of prostitution at night. They talk of leaving constantly. Antonio dreams that his brothers encourage him to go into the house of prostitution. His brother, Andrew tells him he won t go into the house of prostitution until Antonio has lost his innocence. Antonio wonders constantly about what innocence means. Everyone gives him a different answer. His mother tells him when he takes his first communion he will gain understanding. Ultima tells him innocence exists in the land. One day his two oldest brother leave home. Antonio is doing so well in school he will be skipping the second grade. When he is not in school, Antonio fishes with his friend Samuel. Samuel tells him the story of the golden carp, a god of the river. In ancient times, the gods let the people settle in this fertile valley. They gave them everything but told them not to eat the carp. When a drought came, and food was scarce, the people ate the carp. The gods retaliated by turning the people into carp. One god took pity on them and asked the other gods if he could join the people and give them comfort. He is the golden carp. Antonio is drawn by the story but he doesn t know how to reconcile this story of a god with his belief in the Christian god. That summer Antonio helps Ultima cure his Uncle Lucas who has been cursed by the Trementina sisters for interrupting their black mass. Ultima uses Antonio in the healing ceremony. He takes on the sickness of his uncle because he is pure and the evil is expelled. It comes out in a wriggling mass of hair. The sisters had used his hair in initiating the curse against him. When Antonio returns home, he goes fishing with Cico. Cico takes him to Narciso s garden, a fabulously abundant place. Narciso is a sort of Pan figure. He worships the earth and is rewarded with a beautiful and fruitful garden. That day, Antonio sees the golden carp. Cico tells him only believers can see it. Adults and others cannot. He tells him the land where they are living used to be a sea and that the golden carp has promised to punish the people if they keep sinning. The god will flood the town. Ultima worries about the retribution against her for turning the curse that was laid on Lucas back onto the Trementina sisters. She gives Antonio her scapular as protection. The people of Pasturas visit the family. They are the vaqueros, old companeros of Gabriel, Antonio s father. They tell the story of the land. First there were sheepherders. Then they brought cattle from Mexico. With the cattle, they became vaqueros (cowboys). This free way of life came to an end when the Tejanos (people from Texas) came and fenced the land. One night, Narciso shows up and warns the family that a posse is out intending to lynch Ultima for the death of Tenorio s daughter. It is led by Tenorio who claims Ultima is a witch. When the posse arrives, Ultima passes its test and they leave. Antonio takes another trip to El Puerto. He looks for a non-punishing God. He thinks it might be the Virgin Mary. He thinks only women know how to forgive. At harvest time, he hears his uncles tell stories of the witches, the Trementina sisters. When he returns home, he begins the third grade. That Christmas, the school 5

6 plans a nativity play, but the day it is planned turns out to be a blizzard. Only the boys show up to school. The play goes on and is a disaster with the boys making fun of every part of what is supposed to be a holy scene of the birth of Christ. On his way home, Antonio witnesses a fight between Narciso and Tenorio. Tenorio had been insulting Ultima and Narciso was defending her. Tenorio gets away and Narciso realizes he needs to warn Ultima. He is in no shape to make it to her so he goes in search of Andrew. Antonio follows him at a distance. He is shocked to see that Andrew is in the house of prostitution. Andrew refuses to come and help. Narciso goes alone and Antonio follows behind him. Antonio falls behind in the blizzard. He hears a shot and sees that Narciso has been killed. He finds him before he dies and prays the Act of Contrition over him. When he gets home, he has a fever. That night he dreams that he is rejected by God because of his allegiance to the golden carp. In this dream, Ultima is powerless. Antonio has a fever for days. When he recovers, he rejects Andrew as a good model for him. Leon and Eugene, his two other older brothers, arrive home for Christmas. Antonio is preoccupied with preparing for his first Holy Communion. He is eager for it because he believes all his vexing questions will be answered on that day. The family is not altogether surprised when all three older brothers leave without notice. Antonio goes to catechism in the church. He also hears his father s ideas of spiritual life. His father believes the earth has a voice and that it will wreak vengeance upon people for misusing it. For Gabriel, to sin is to misuse the land. He hears Florence, who is an atheist and thinks God is powerless against evil. Antonio entertains the idea that maybe God is gone at present and that other gods are ruling in place of God. When they are late for catechism, Florence is punished with a torturing hour of pain and Antonio is excused. Ash Wednesday arrives, the day to remember the crucifixion of Christ. When Antonio tries to take seriously the stations of the cross, he can t help but be distracted by his friends silliness. On the day of his first confession, his friends make him do a mock confession outside the church. He plays the priest and hears the confessions of two boys who get more thrills out of their sins than repentance. Then his friends want him to confess Florence. Antonio tries to get away, but they force him. Florence says he has no sins. The other children torture him in punishment. Antonio refuses to give him penance. The other children tear his mock priest s robe off. On Easter Sunday, Antonio is excited to be able to take his First Communion so he will have God inside him and have answers to all his questions, but when he takes the wafer in his mouth, he gets no answers and feels no connection with God. Tenorio s second daughter is dying. A man from the Agua Negra ranch comes to Ultima to ask for help. His home is being haunted. Ultima takes Antonio and Gabriel and they go to the ranch. She determines that Tenorio is getting back at Tellez for a slight one day in his barber shop. Tenorio has wakened the ghosts of three Comanche Indians who were lynched by one of Tellez s ancestor and never properly buried. Ultima performs a burial ceremony in the Comanche way and the curse is lifted. Antonio is preoccupied with the continued silence of God at all the communions he has taken since his first communion. He meets Cico one day in Spring and they go and see the golden carp. Cico tells Antonio the people had many local gods before the Spaniards brought the Christian God and that they don t need a celestial god when they have so many gods in their backyard. They decide to bring Florence to see the golden carp since it is a god that does not punish, but only brings peace and beauty. When they go out to find Florence, they find that Florence has drowned while diving in the river. Ultima sends Antonio to see is uncles in El Puerto because he has seen too much death. On the way there, he has a significant talk with his father. His father tells him he will give up the old argument between the Marezes and the Lunas. Antonio wonders if a new religion can be formed. His father tells him understanding comes with life. He has a wonderful summer learning how to plant. At the end of the summer, he finds out that Tenorio has once again threatened Ultima. He is caught on the road by Tenorio who tries to kill him. He gets away and runs the ten miles back home to his house, but as he arrives he finds Tenorio has shot Ultima s owl (her animal spirit). He knows this means Ultima will die. He talks to Ultima on her deathbed and she gives him instructions about where to bury the owl and what to do with her herbs. She dies and he immediately takes the owl and buries it where she said. He knows that the town will give Ultima a burial the next day, but in reality, he is burying her that night. He faces his future with the assurance gained from all her lessons. 6

7 THEMES Main Theme - The main theme of the novel concerns Antonio's struggle to come into his own, to fuse the two parts of his heritage. This heritage is embodied in his mother and father. His mother is a Luna, descended from a priest who founded a colony in what is now New Mexico by getting a land grant from Mexico. The Lunas are farmers. They use the ancient methods of farming of the Aztecs and are also devout Catholics. Antonio s father is Gabriel. He is a vaquero or llanero (a cowboy). His descendants were the Spanish conquistadors who brought cattle to the land. He is not a believer in Christianity. He owes his spiritual allegiance to the land and believes that hurting the land is a sin. Antonio must find a way to make these two parts of his heritage co-exist. Minor Theme - The minor theme of Anaya's novel concerns the combat between Ultima's vision of the interconnections between the land and the people, an interconnection that enables healing and health and the negative forces represented by the Tenorio sisters, who represent death and separation. MOOD The mood of the novel is nostalgic / nostalgia. It is written by a narrator relating the events of his early youth. He is writing about his mentor whom he greatly reveres and who has since died. BACKGROUND INFORMATION - BIOGRAPHY Rudolfo Anaya was born on October 30, 1937 in the town of Pastura, New Mexico. He went to school in the nearby town of Santa Rosa and then moved to Albuquerque where he attended high school. He graduated from the University of New Mexico, where he studied English and psychology. He received a B.A. in English in 1963, a M.A. in English in 1968, and a M.A. in guidance and counseling in He married his wife, Patricia Lawless, in He taught for seven years ( ) in Albuquerque public school and then he worked as the director of counseling at the University of Albuquerque ( ). He served as an associate professor and later professor of English ( ) at the University of New Mexico. He has now retired as and has professor emeritus status at the university. He began writing while he was in college, and later his wife encouraged him to pursue it further. When his novel, "Bless Me, Ultima", was published, he entered the English faculty at the University of New Mexico as a professor. Selected Works: Bless Me, Ultima, Heart of Aztlan, Justa, Tortuga, Justa, The Legend of La Llorona, A Chicano in China, Lord of the Dawn: The Legend of Quetzalcoatl, Alburquerque, Zia Summer, Rio Grande Fall, Jalamanta: A Message from the Desert, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter, LITERARY/HISTORICAL INFORMATION Bless Me, Ultima was published at an important time in Latino/a history in the United States. A powerful 7

8 movement was happening in political, economic and cultural spheres which affirmed the value of Latino/a experience and protested the discrimination Latino/as suffered. "Bless Me, Ultima" was one of the first Chicano novels to celebrate this movement. It affirms the varied parts of the heritage of Mexican Americans in New Mexico, the Spanish conquistadors, the Aztecs (the Indians of Mexico), and the Comanche (the Indians who inhabited the land that is now New Mexico). It is set in the schools where the hero undergoes the process of assimilation that always begins by taking the ethnic name and turning it into an English name--antonio becomes Anthony. It is set in the llano, rich in the history of the vaqueros, descendants of the Spanish conquistadors. It also affirms to heritage of the farming culture, which draws much of its lore from Aztec and other earth-based religious systems. It depicts the life of a Roman Catholic, but of a special sort. Here, a Roman Catholic who must learn how to reconcile the doctrines of Catholicism with the religion of the people who inhabited the land before the Christians came. In covering all the diversity of the heritage of his hero, Anaya gave voice to the diversity and richness of Latino/a heritage in this country. The reader will notice that the novel uses Spanish words with some frequency. As we explain in the first chapter s notes, Anaya almost always provides a gloss (meaning) for these words in the immediate context in which they occur. Nevertheless, this guide provides the translations of Spanish words as they occur. As a reader, dwell on the reason Anaya might have chosen to use Spanish words in writing a novel which he knew would have its largest audience in European American people who do not know Spanish. Anaya was part of a movement called Aztlan. This is the name of a mythical Aztec place. Latino/a writers and artists wanted to find a place of origin for their heritage. The mythical place of Aztlan was a useful way for writers to think back to the past that was before or alongside European American history. In other words, a European American writer might think of the origin of her/his family or country in the thirteen colonies. Since there were few Latino/a people participating in the American Revolution, a Latino/a writer would logically choose a different point of origin as a place to look back to for inspiration or cultural-historical reference. CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES CHAPTER 1 Summary Ultima comes to stay with Antonio's family in the summer of his seventh year. "When she came the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes, and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth." The magical time of childhood stops for Antonio. The mystery of the earth's pulse enters into Antonio's own blood. When Ultima takes his hand, "the magic powers she possessed made beauty from the raw, sun-baked llano, the green river valley, and the blue bowl which was the white sun's home." As Antonio walks barefoot, he feels the earth's throb. "Time stood still, and it shared with me all that had been, and all that was to come." Antonio begins his story in the beginning. He does not mean the beginning of his dreams from which he learned the story of his birth and the people to whom his father and mother belong, and the story of his three brothers. He means the beginning of Ultima. Antonio sleeps in the attic of his home. He sleeps in one room and his two sisters, Deborah and Theresa, sleep in the other. The steps from the attic lead to the kitchen. Antonio's mother's kitchen is the heart of the home. From his place on the top of the stairs, Antonio would see Chavez bring the news of the sheriff's murder. He would see his brothers rebel against his father. He would frequently see Ultima return from the llano where she had been gathering herbs that had to be harvested in the full moon by a curandera. On the night before Ultima's arrival, Antonio hears his parents speak of her as he lies in bed. His father speaks of her with great respect. He says she has always served the people of Las Pasturas, the village of his home. Antonio's father has been a vaquero all his life. The vaqueros date back to the time of the Spanish conquest of New Mexico. Antonio's father stayed on even after the big ranchers and the European-American Texans came to fence the llano (the grasslands). His father and other vaqueros (cowboys) feel free out on the llano. When Antonio's father says Ultima is now alone, his mother says it is a pity that she should be so. 8

9 Antonio imagines what his mother must be thinking when she pictures Ultima living alone on the llano. Antonio's mother is not from the llano. She is the daughter of a farmer and she cannot see the llano's beauty and cannot understand the vaqueros. After Antonio's birth, his mother convinced his father to leave Las Pasturas and move to the town of Guadalupe so that the children could go to school. His father lost the respect of his fellow vaqueros when he did so. His father had to sell his small herd and give his horse to his friend Benito Campos. His horse refused to be penned up, so Campos let it run free. It would not allow any vaquero to rope it. Antonio's father sees less and less of his vaquero friends. He works on the highway and when he gets paid on Saturdays, he drinks at the Longhorn bar. He never forms a strong attachment to the men in town. On some occasions, the llaneros (the men of the llano or grassland) would come to town for supplies and visit Antonio's father, men like Bonney or Campos or the Gonzales brothers. Antonio could see a difference in his father. He would brighten up as he and the men talked and told the old stories. However, when the men left, Antonio's father drank alone. He would wake on Sunday mornings hung over and annoyed at having to go to early mass. Antonio's father talks about Ultima. She says Ultima has served the people all her life. Now the people are scattered by the war. It takes boys oversees and families move to California for work. Antonio's mother calls on María Purísima (the Virgin Mary) and says they cannot let la Grande (a term respect for an old and wise person) live alone in her old age. She tells her husband about the first years of their marriage when she went to live with him. She says she could not have survived without la Grande's help. She thinks of them as hard years. Her husband counters her and says they were good years. She thinks of how Ultima helped every family when needed. Nothing would keep Ultima from doing her curing work for the people. She tells of Ultima's help at her own child labor. When she tells her husband, Gabriel, that they cannot let her live her last days alone, he agrees and says it is "not the way of our people." She says it will be a great honor to provide la Grande a home. Antonio explains that his mother calls Ultima la Grande as a term of respect. It means she is old and wise. Gabriel tells her he has already sent word with Campos that Ultima will come to live with them. Gabriel asks his wife about how the children will fare with a curandera living in their home. Antonio explains that a curandera is a woman who knows the herbs and remedies of the ancients. She is a miracle worker who can heal the sick. Antonio had heard that Ultima was able to lift the curses of the brujas. Ultima could exorcise the evil planted in people by the brujas and make them well. Because of her power, the curandera was often suspected of practicing witchcraft. Antonio shudders with fear at the thought of brujas, the stories of whom he has heard in cuentos (stories). Antonio's mother replies to his father's question about bringing a curandera into the household. She says a woman who brought her children into the world can only be good. Gabriel tells her he will drive to pick up Ultima in the morning. Antonio is pleased with his parents' decision. He knows it is customary to provide for the old and sick. "There was always room in the safety and warmth of la familia (the family) for one more person." Antonio lies awake and repeats the Hail Mary over and over. He drifts into a dream. He remembers telling his mother about his dreams one time. She was happy and told him they were visions from God. His mother wants him to become a priest one day. After that point, Antonio never told his mother of his dreams any more. He has a dream in which he flies over the hills of the llano until he comes to a village of adobe huts. It is the village of Las Pasturas. He moves toward a hut with a light in the window. A birth is taking place. He cannot see the mother's face, but he sees the old woman who tends to the baby. He sees her tie the umbilical cord and bite off the loose end. She wraps the baby and lays it beside the mother. Then she cleans the bed and wraps the cord and afterbirth and lays them at the feet of the Virgin on an altar. People are invited into the room to deliver gifts to the baby. Antonio recognizes his mother's brothers from El Puerto de Los Lunas entering the room. The old man pronounces that the baby will be a farmer and keep the Lunas' customs and traditions. They hope the baby will become a priest. They rub earth from the river valley on the baby's forehead and place items from their harvest around the baby. Then the vaqueros burst into the room with shouting and gunshots. They call out to Gabriel 9

10 that he has a fine son who will become a fine vaquero. They smash the fruit and vegetables and place a saddle, horse blankets, whiskey, rope, and a guitar. They rub the earth off the baby's forehead "because a man was not to be tied to the earth but free upon it." Antonio recognizes these as his father's people who live their lives "wandering across the ocean of the plain." The old man of the Lunas announces that he must return home. He says he must take the afterbirth to bury in the fields to renew their fertility and to make sure the baby follows the Lunas' way of life. The llaneros protest that they want to take the afterbirth to be burned and the ashes scattered on the llano. The farmers view it as "blasphemy to scatter a man's blood on unholy ground." They insist the child is a Luna. The vaqueros insist he is a Márez, whose forefathers were conquistadors (Spanish conquerors). Finally, the old woman stops the fight by saying she will bury the baby's afterbirth and the cord "that once linked him to eternity." She says only she will know the child's destiny. Antonio awakens to the sound of his father leaving in his truck. He hurries down to ask permission to go, but his father is already gone. He turns and looks down the slope of a hill on which his family's house sits. He sees the green of the river. Then he looks further and sees the town of Guadalupe. He sees the church tower and makes the sign of the cross. The other visible building is the schoolhouse. He will be going to school in the fall. Antonio is sad to be leaving his mother for school. He runs to the pens near the molino (the mill) to feed the animals. He changes the rabbits' water, feeds the chickens, milks the cow and turns her loose to graze along the highway. The cow has only failed to return home at night a few times. When she doesn't return, Antonio has to search for her in the hills where bats fly and where he is sad and afraid to be alone. He collects the eggs from the chicken house and takes them to his mother. She gives him his breakfast. He and his sisters eat atole (cereal) and hot tortillas with butter. Antonio rarely speaks to his sisters. They are older and very close to each other. They spend their time playing with dolls and giggling. Antonio says, "I did not concern myself with those things." Antonio's mother tells them their father has gone to get Ultima. She warns them to show good manners toward la Grande. She tells them to address her as la Grande. Deborah asks if she is a witch. Her mother scolds her for her rudeness in asking the question. She begins to cry. Antonio notices that his mother always cries when she thinks her children are learning the ways of their father. She tells them that Ultima worked hard for the villagers and that she, their mother, would never have survived the years on the llano without Ultima's help. She tells them they are honored to have Ultima stay with them. She tells her daughters to sweep Eugene's room. On saying his name, she prays and crosses herself. Eugene, along with Antonio's other two brothers are at war. Eugene is the youngest. Antonio asks his mother if Ultima was present at his birth. She cries out "Ay Dios mío! (Oh, my God!). She comes over to Antonio and caresses his head. She says Ultima was at his birth as she was at all her children's births. Antonio also asks if his uncles from El Puerto were there. She says her brothers have always been there for her when she needed them. She begins to say they have always hoped she would bless them with a priest, but before she says the word priest, Antonio interrupts her with more questions. He does not want to hear it because he his hearing the sounds of his dream again. He feels sick. He asks if his father's brother and other vaqueros were there. He asks if there was a fight. His mother rages against the vaqueros whom she calls drunks. Antonio remembers her doing this for years. Antonio knows the truth of his dream is confirmed. He knows now that "Ultima knew." His mother tells Antonio that he will not be like the Márez, but will be like the Lunas and may be a priest. Antonio thinks of what it would be like to be a priest. He thinks of holding mass like father Byrnes does. He only says, "Perhaps." He wonders who will hear his confession. He does not wait for the answer. He wants to run. He runs to Jasón's house. He feels cleansed by the air and wind. When he gets to Jasón's house, his mother says he is not home. She tells him Jasón has gone to the river in the northwest direction. Antonio knows the river goes through the hills where old Indian grounds are, holy burial grounds, Jasón has told him. An Indian 10

11 man lives in an old cave there. Everyone calls him Jasón's Indian. He is the only Indian in town and will only speak to Jasón. Antonio knows that Jasón's father had done everything he can to keep Jasón from being with the Indian, even beating him. Nevertheless, Jasón continues to see the Indian. Antonio describes Jasón as a good boy, who is usually quiet and moody, but sometimes "wild, loud sounds come exploding from his throat and lungs" for no apparent reason. Antonio sometimes feels like shouting like Jasón does, but he never does so. Antonio returns home and works in the garden while he waits for his father to return home. Working in the garden is Antonio's daily task. He clears rocks from a few feet more of the earth every day. The soil is not good for a garden. It is llano land. Yet, Antonio works to make a garden because it makes his mother happy to have a garden. It is hard work and makes Antonio's hands bleed. He fills the wheelbarrow with rocks and carries them to be dumped at the retaining wall. As he works, he hears the truck and sees it is his father and Ultima. He calls out to his mother who comes out with Theresa and Deborah. Theresa says she is afraid. Her mother says she has too much Márez blood in her. She is very dark and she talks all the time. She has learned English in school an speaks nothing else. Antonio's mother runs to the truck and greets Ultima. They embrace and exchange greetings. Antonio remembers her from the dream. Antonio's mother calls the children to greet her according to custom. Deborah and Theresa show good manners. Antonio knows a family is judged by its manners. Ultima praises their beauty. His father calls Antonio. He steps forward and takes Ultima's hand. He looks into her clear eyes and sees they are the eyes of a child. She calls his name. As she takes his hand, he feels a whirlwind around him. Ultima looks around at the hills and through her eyes, Antonio sees the beauty of the hills and the magic of the green river. He feels the song of the mockingbirds and hears the grasshoppers' sound mingle with the pulse of the earth. "The four directions of the llano met in me, and the white sun shone on my soul." He feels the sand under his feet and the sky above him "dissolve into one strange, complete being." He has an impulse to cry out and run in the beauty of it all. His mother prods him. He greets Ultima by her given name. He knows Ultima holds the secret of his destiny. His mother is shocked that he has been so familiar with Ultima instead of calling her Grande. Ultima, however, tells her to let him be. She says he is the last child she pulled from María's womb and that she knew there would be something between them. Ultima tells Antonio she has come to spend her last days with them. Antonio tells her she will never die. Gabriel urges her inside the house and tells her to consider it her own. Antonio sees his father carry in Ultima's blue tin trunk. He would later know that it contained all her possessions: her clothes and her herbs. As she walks past Antonio, he smells the sweet scent of herbs. Years later, after Ultima was long since dead, Antonio would awaken in the middle of the night and smell her fragrance in the night breeze. An owl comes with Ultima. Antonio hears it singing outside her window. He knows it is hers because the llano owls never came so close to the house. At first, he and his sisters are disturbed by it. Antonio thinks his father would get up and shoot the owl but he did not. Antonio has heard the cuentos (stories) about the owl as one of the disguises of brujas (witches). However, Ultima's owl is not frightening. It has come to watch over the family. That night Antonio dreams of the owl. La Virgen de Guadalupe, the patron saint of the town of Guadalupe, is lifted by Ultima's owl and flown to heaven. Then, the owl returns and gathers all the babies from Limbo and flies them to heaven. The Virgin smiles at the goodness of the owl. Notes The novel is narrated in the first person by Antonio. He is writing of his childhood, specifically the summer Ultima, a curandera (healer) came to stay with his family and chose him as a disciple to learn curandismo (the practice of healing). This narrator is reverent toward Ultima and toward his mother María Luna's adoration of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Later, when he describes the official practice of Roman Catholicism, he adopts an ironical tone. It is important for the reader to recognize the narrator's varying emotional distance from the 11

12 actions he describes since it colors the way he shapes the events and the way he wants the reader to evaluate them. The Spanish words are usually explained in context. Anaya leaves them in the text of the novel to give it a sense of the language-consciousness of Spanish. Nevertheless, as Spanish words come up in the text, they will be defined in the parentheses and, if necessary, further in notes. "Ultima" is a Spanish word meaning ultimate or "the end." When Antonio says he will begin at the beginning that came with Ultima, he is touching on a very significant time concept. Ultima is for Antonio the unification between the beginning and the end. Time stands still with her. Antonio almost sees her as a sort of deity. "Llano" is a word meaning plains or prairie. It is a dry grassland. Antonio's father is from the llano. The Márezes are descendants of the vaqueros, the Mexican cowboys. Márez takes its root from the word for sea. Since the Spanish conquistadors came from the sea, the Márez name shows its roots in the sea. The Lunas on the other hand are firmly rooted to the land. Luna is the Spanish word for moon. The Lunas are farmers and practice the ancient method of farming according to the cycles of the moon. A "curandera" is a healer, specifically a female healer. (In the Spanish, gender is indicated by an "a" for female or "o" for male attached to the ends of words). She exists in harmony with the rhythms of the earth. Because she does, she can use the powers of the earth to heal people. She uses herbs and incantations. Her opposite is the bruja or witch. Brujas do not exist in harmony with the earth, but they still use the powers of the earth to do what they want. They make people sick by cursing them with evil. The two sides of Antonio's family are the Lunas, who are farmers and have traditions going back to the Aztecs, and the Márez, who are vaqueros and have traditions going back to the Spanish conquistadors of the sixteenth century. Because they are two seemingly irreconcilable traditions of the people of New Mexico, they are in constant antagonism. Anaya places Antonio in the middle of this antagonism. Ultima is a unifying force and she provides hope for the reconciliation of Antonio's two heritages. When Antonio finds out his dream is a true vision of his birth, he says "Ultima knew" He probably means, Ultima knew about his destiny since it was she who knew where his birth cord was. That destiny has to do with his decision of whether to follow the ways of his father or his mother's families. Syncretism is a word which describes the practice of combining two traditions that are usually considered to be irreconcilable. The ancient form of spirituality called curandismo is a syncretic practice. It descends from the religious and medicinal practices of pre-columbian Native Americans, but it also venerates the Virgin Mary of Roman Catholicism brought to the Native Americans by Columbus and other Spanish explorers. Anaya shows that Roman Catholicism did not fully eliminate the religion of Native Americans. Instead, it combined with that pre-existing religion to make a mixture of the two. In chapter one, Antonio sees Ultima's owl carry the Virgen de Guadalupe to heaven. The owl comes from the sympathetic magic of the ancient religion of Native Americans. The owl is the animal spirit of Ultima. They exist in sympathy. Whatever happens to one, happens to the other. Wherever one goes, the other follows. The owl is Ultima's protector. Here, the owl encounters Antonio's other dominant tradition, Roman Catholicism. The owl works closely with the Virgen of Guadalupe. The Virgen is one manifestation of the Virgin Mary. According to Roman Catholics the Virgin Mary sometimes makes herself manifest to particular people. In the case of the Virgen de Guadalupe, she made herself manifest to a peasant man near the Guadalupe River. He told others and a shrine was built in her honor. The Virgen de Guadalupe is venerated especially in Mexico, Texas, New Mexico. Antonio's dream also resolves a problem he seems to have with Catholic theology. If an infant dies before it is christened--forgiven for the sins it carries from its ancestors Adam and Eve--its soul goes to Limbo, a place before heaven. The infant's family prays for its soul until the infant is allowed to enter heaven. In his dream, the 12

13 owl carries these infants to heaven, clearly a violation of Catholic doctrine. Yet, in a syncretic tradition the two elements, the owl and the Virgen, operate together for the good. CHAPTER 2 Summary Ultima fits into the routine of the family. She helps María with breakfast and other housework. María is very happy to have someone to talk to. Usually, María has to wait until Sunday when her women friends from town come to visit. Deborah and Theresa are also happy because Ultima helps with the household chores. They have more time to cut out paper dolls and make them act out scenes. Gabriel is pleased because he can tell Ultima his dream of moving west to California. His dream had been thwarted by the war which took his sons. On Saturday nights he drinks and rages against age, the town "on the opposite side of the river which drained a man of his freedom," and then he cries about the war that had ruined his dream. Antonio is sad to see his father cry, but he knows that even men must sometimes cry. Antonio is also happy to have Ultima living in his house. He walks with her on the llano and along the river to gather herbs and roots. She teaches him the names of plants and flowers, trees and bushes, birds and animals. He learns about the beauty in the time of day and the time of night. He learns about the peace in the river and in the hills. She teaches Antonio to "listen to the mystery of the groaning earth and to feel complete in the fulfillment of its time." He feels his soul grow under her guidance. Before Ultima, he had felt afraid of the presence he feels in the river, which is the soul of the river. Ultima teaches him that his spirit shares in the spirit of all things. Nevertheless, the innocence of this time is short-lived. The town's affairs begin to encroach upon them. Ultima's owl warns them that their peace is almost over. On Saturday night, everyone has gone to bed, when Antonio hears the owl's warning. A man bangs on the door and calls Gabriel. It is Chávez calling out urgently that his brother has been killed. María mistakenly believes it is news of her sons' deaths. Chávez repeats over and over that a man has killed his brother. Antonio knows that Chávez's brother was the sheriff of the town. Chávez says it was Lupito. Gabriel sighs about Lupito who returned from the war insane. Chávez tells Gabriel to get his rifle and come down to the bridge where Lupito has gone. Gabriel loads his rifle while Chávez tells him the story. His brother had finished his rounds and was having a cup of coffee in a cafe when Lupito came up to him and shot him in the head without warning. The two men leave. Antonio sneaks out to follow the men to the bridge. His mother is in the sala (parlor) praying before her altar. Antonio cuts off to the right when they near the bridge. He hides in the brush beside the river. He pushes through the thick woods until he comes to the river where he can see the floodlights of the men on the bridge. He catches sight of Lupito nearby crouched in the reeds of the river. He sees that Lupito holds a pistol. He makes a sound and Lupito looks directly at him, but just then the floodlight blinds him. Lupito cries out in rage and pain. Antonio knows that the presence of the river watches Lupito. Lupito calls out "Japanese sol'jer!" several times. He says he is wounded and needs help. Suddenly, Lupito leaps up and runs through the water toward Antonio. Then he returns to the reeds. The lights lose track of him. He screams again. Antonio feels that Lupito has become a wild animal. Vigil, a state policeman, drives onto the bridge. The men tell him of Chávez's murder. Jasón's father says they should kill Lupito. Chávez says Lupito is an animal and must be shot. The men agree. Gabriel Márez, however, urges caution. Antonio can see Lupito forty feet away from him. Antonio feels paralyzed and unable to move, "like a chained spectator." Antonio hears Narciso say that Márez is right. Narciso is from Las Pasturas and drinks with Gabriel. He tells the men to act like men. He says Lupito is a man, not an animal. The men dismiss what Narciso says because his is an alcoholic. Narciso begs them to try to talk to Lupito. Chávez shoots into the river. Narciso says he will talk to Lupito. Narciso calls down to Lupito that he is a friend and he wants to help. He reminds him of times before the war. 13

14 Antonio sees Lupito crying, torn between surrendering and fleeing. Then Lupito jumps up and shoots into the air. The men on the bridge think he fired at them. Only Antonio knows Lupito is not shooting at them, but is only trying to draw their fire. The men on the bridge shoot. Lupito is shot many times. He gets up and runs to the bank of the river close to Antonio. Antonio thinks he hears Lupito say "Bless me-" Antonio hears the men on the bridge running toward Lupito. He turns and runs. He feels horrified by the darkness as he runs. He prays over and over the Act of Contrition. His mother had taught him the words to be said after a person made confession to a priest and as the last prayer before death. He wonders if God will hear him. He wonders where Lupito's soul is going, if it is rising or "if it was washing down the river to the fertile valley of my uncles' farms." He knows a priest would have saved Lupito. He wishes his mother did not want him to be a priest. He does not know how he will ever "wash the stain of blood from the sweet waters of my river!" He sobs. Then he hears the owl. He stops and listens and he realizes the owl had been with him the whole time. He suddenly loses his fear. He looks at his house. The moon is the horned moon of the Virgin, the moon of the Lunas. He hears the owl sing again and "Ultima's spirit bathed me with its strong resolution." He looks back over the river and beyond it to the town. He knows the "river's brown waters would be stained with blood, forever and ever and ever..." He knows he will be going to school in the autumn and then to catechism at the church. His body hurts from the wounds of his run through the brush and he hurts more for having witnessed a man die. He knows his father does not like the town. When they had first moved to the area, they had rented a house in town. Then, Gabriel had bought some land and built the house. Everyone said he was crazy to build on a barren spot of land. María wanted him to build on the fertile land by the river. Gabriel won the fight. Their land is the beginning of the llano. Antonio tries to understand why the men had killed Lupito. He feels sick. He slips into the house and as he climbs the stairs he feels a hand take his. It is Ultima. He falls. Ultima takes him to her room and mixes herbs for him to drink. Then she prepares another potion for his cuts. He asks her questions and she soothes him. He hears her say, "The ways of men are strange, and hard to learn." Antonio feels safe in her room. He dreams of his three brothers before they went away to war. They stand beside the rented house in town and look at the hills of the llano. In his dream, he hears León, his eldest brother, repeat Gabriel's idea that the town steals their freedom and Gabriel's idea to build a castle on the other side of the river on "the lonely hill of the mockingbirds." Andrew, his second eldest brother, speaks of their forefathers who came from the sea, the conquistadors. Eugene repeats Gabriel's idea that the freedom of the wild horses is in the Márez blood and the Márez always look westward. Gabriel's ancestors were vaqueros and he expects his sons to be men of the llano. Antonio speaks and says they must gather around their father. He tells his brothers of his father's new dream to ride westward in search of new adventure. "He builds highways that stretch into the sun and we must travel that road with him." Antonio's brothers frown and tell him he is a Luna and must be a farmer-priest for their mother. The doves come to drink in the river and Antonio hears their mournful cries. His brothers laugh at him and say he is their mother's dream. They tell him to stay and sleep to the doves' call while they cross the River of the Carp to build their father's castle. Antonio calls out to them that he must go with them. He must bless their new home with the waters of the river. Along the river, he hears the "tormented cry of a lonely goddess." Antonio's brothers call out fearfully that it is the call of la llorona (the sorrowful woman). They say she is an old witch who seeks the blood of boys and men to drink. They say she seeks Antonio's soul. Then they cry out that it is the soul of Lupito wandering around because the river washed his soul away. Antonio says the call is neither la llorona nor Lupito. Antonio swings a priest's robe over his shoulders and says it is the presence of the river. His brothers call for him to save them. 14