Motifs in Bless Me, Ultima Essay Example for Free

Motifs in Bless Me, Ultima Essay The novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya describes the maturation of a boy named Antonio, who witnesses more than his fair share of deaths at a young age. He struggles with the injustices of these deaths and thus begins to question his once-solid religious beliefs. During the conflict Antonio experiences many vivid dreams, which are considered motifs in the work. The dream motif is a catalyst for the theme of the importance of independent thinking to maturation, because through his subconscious Antonio finds the understanding he craves by facing his fears and questioning his future. In many of Tony’s dreams he encounters his fears. One of these fears is that his three older brothers will go to hell, because they gamble and spend their time at Rosie’s, which is considered the whore house. In his dreams, Tony tries to protect their innocence: â€Å"Do not enter [Rosie’s], I cried. It is written on the waters of the river that you shall lose your souls to hell if you enter† (70). He is terrified that they will go to hell and be punished for eternity. Tony’s begging is to no avail; his brothers enter anyway. His troubled thoughts then turn to his own innocence: â€Å"Oh, where is the innocence I must never lose† (71). He struggles with the concept of maturing and losing the innocence he feels he needs to become a priest. As the novel progresses, however, Tony loses his innocence because of the many deaths he sees. He realizes that this is a given part of maturation, and that he can still hold integrity without innocence. Another struggle of Tony’s is the fact that he is caught in the middle of his parents’ dreams. His mother wants him to become a farmer-priest, and his father wants him to become a vaquero. In his sleep he struggles with which dream he will follow, and often see his parents arguing about it: â€Å"Oh please tell me which is the water that runs through my veins, I moaned my mother crooned softly, it is the water the Church chooses to make holy and place in its front. It is the water of your baptism Lies, lies, my father laughed, through your body runs the salt water of the oceans. It is that water which makes you Marez and not Luna† (120). Tony cannot understand which parent’s blood runs in his veins, and becomes more confused when they argue over it. However, in his dreams Tony most often sees himself as a priest: â€Å"I swung the dark robe of the priest over my shoulders then lifted my hands in the air† (26). It seems like this is the profession he will most likely choose. Throughout the novel Antonio yearns for understanding. He wants to know why God allows evil o triumph over good, and why the innocent sometimes die. In waking he cannot find the answers, but in dreams they come to him. When he questions in his sleep where his innocence is, Ultima appears in the dream and tells him, â€Å"There in the land of the dancing plains and rolling hills, there in the land which is the eagle’s by day and the owl’s by night is innocence. There where the lonely wind of the llano sang to the lovers’ feat of your birth, there in those hills is your innocence† (71). This shows Tony that he can always find innocence in nature. When Tony cannot decide which parent’s water runs in his veins, Ultima tells him, â€Å"The waters are one, Antonio† (121). He realizes that Luna blood and Marez blood mix in his veins. The answers in his dreams allow Tony to lessen his questioning in his waking world. Antonio’s dreams allow him to face his fears and think them through, which helps to eventually resolve them. Letting go of certain problems, such as his loss of innocence, helps him to mature. He discovers through his dreams that he does not have the blood of a Luna or a Marez; he has the blood of both. He also realizes that it is more likely that he will become a priest than a vaquero. With this understanding he settles on his future and makes his own decisions rather than being torn between those of his mother and father. When he learns to make his own decisions he matures into a man. Tony’s dreams guide him towards the theme of the importance of independent thinking to maturation.