Cultural, Religious and Language Conflicts in Bless Me, Ultima - Essay Example

Cultural, religious and language conflicts in Bless Me, Ultima Bless Me, Ultima, written by Rudolfo Anaya and published in 1972, has become one of the most widely read as well as critically acclaimed novels in the Chicano literature. It is first in the trilogy of novels by Anaya, with Heart of Aztlan (1976) and Tortuga (1979) following it. This novel can be viewed from many angles as well as layers, as it intertwines issues or themes of psychological maturation, social changes, identity crisis and importantly cultural conflict, all into coherent and interesting story of a young boy and his guide. Antonio Márez y Luna or Antonio is the young protagonist who with the guidance of his curandera (Traditional Native American healer) and mentor, Ultima faces various life situations in a positive manner. The story starts off when Antonio is about to turn seven, and to satiate his curiosity and to guide him, Antonio’s parents request Ultima to join the family. With Ultima’s guidance, Antonio internally as well as externally debates about his’ beliefs regarding culture, religion, personal identity and language, and eventually finds many answers. The themes of cultural, religious and language conflicts is prominently featured in the novel as it reflects the Chicano culture in rural New Mexico during 1940s, along with its confrontation with Catholicism and English language. Thus, the focus will be on how Antonio gets involved in various cultural, religious and language conflicts, starting with the cultural conflict involving his parents, religious conflict between his Catholic and indigenous cultures as well as conflict between English language and Spanish, and how with the aid of Ultima, Antonio finds a common ‘ground’ or balanced perspective. Enumeration The first major cultural conflict happens quite early in Antonio’s childhood, when he gets stuck between the aspirations of his restless vaquero father Marez and quiet Catholic mother Luna. That is, his father wants Antonio to ride the IIano and have a nomadic lifestyle, while his mother wishes him to become a Catholic priest and lead a calm life. Antonio feels so much pressure from both the sides that it gets reflected in his dream, where again the conflict between his father and mother reaches an ‘incensed’ state, with Antonio being ‘facilitated’ to adopt their respective sides. His internal conflict gets managed in a positive direction, when Ultima makes the entry and tries to solve his predicament, by suggesting him to combine best of both his parents’ culture as well as their wishes. The second cultural plus religious conflict happens when Antonio tussles mentally to believe and accept Catholic God. This is an extension of the above conflict, because Antonio gets torn between his mother influenced Catholicism based Spanish culture and his father’s indigenous roots. However, after learning about the Golden Carp story and from his experiences, Antonio questions the existence of Catholic god. He further doubts god’s presence, as many evil things are going on under his watch, without any stopping. Towards the end, with the guidance of Ultima, Antonio comes to the understanding that one can form their own religion based on their beliefs from various religious sources. The third language conflict makes the appearance when Antonio goes to school, where English is the medium of instruction. With Antonio being raised in the ‘hotbed’ of indigenous cultures, where he was taught only Spanish, he struggles to grasp and learn English. He finds the behaviour of the children in his classroom quite alien to him, and struggle to cope up. Conflicts arise as he has to learn a foreign language, without letting go of his native language and culture. Antonio was able to manage this conflict by putting efforts and by adopting a balanced approach. Discussion Both Marez and Luna have deep rooted connections with their culture and traditions, and that influences them to push their respective cultural convictions on Antonio. Marez, having descended from Spanish Conquistadors, always dreamt of moving to California with his sons, and live a nomadic vaquero lifestyle. Father wanted to “gather his sons around him and move westward to the land of the setting sun, to the vineyards of California.” (Anaya 13). Thus, when his children started to grow up, he expected them to pursue his dream as well. However, when Antonio’s brothers does not shown any inclination towards their father’s dream, and instead go in search of fortune, Marez pins his hope fully on his last son, Antonio. On the other hand, his mother, Luna, meaning moon, descended from the farmers belonging to the Pueblo community, who followed the practice of settling in one particular place and doing agriculture by the moonlight. In line with her cultural heritage, Luna did not want Antonio to follow his father’s wish of travelling, and instead become a priest in the local church, and thereby lead his community on a stable path. According to this mother, “A community ruled over by a priest, she firmly believed, was the true way of life.” (Anaya 13). As Antonio did not want to disappoint his father as well as his mother, and as he was influenced by both their cultures, he struggles to adopt either one, and undergoes internal conflicts. “Due to the burden of his parents wishes, Antonio struggles with the belief that he must choose one way of life, but his familys heritage pulls him in both directions.” (Kevane 37). This conflict is so intense, it gets reflected in his dream as well. Antonio dreams of his own birth, and in that dream, his mothers family visit him bringing with them various gifts or products from the earth like “fresh green chilli and corn, ripe applies and peaches, pumpkins and green beans.” (Anaya 5). As a continuation, Antonio dreams of how his fathers family also visit him, and start to smash all the above gifts of fruits and vegetables, given by the mothers family, and replace them with “saddle, horse blankets, bottles of whiskey, a new rope, bridles, chapas, and an old guitar.” (Anaya 5). This dream clearly reflects how much anxious, six years old Antonio is, due to pressure from both the sides. He did not want to disappoint his parents, and at the same time, was also unsure of reconciling both the cultural convictions, leading to deeper cultural conflicts. Although, Antonio does not reject Luna’s wish to the extent of Marez’ dream, it is clear that her wish also conflicts with Antonio’s yearning to pursue his own dreams. Eventually, it was Ultima, who teaches Antonio that identity can be a combination of cultures and that he does not have to pick one side of the family to follow. She suggests him not to abhor anything, and instead take the best aspects of both his parents’ wishes, and try to incorporate those aspects while going on his own path. The cultural plus religious conflict that arises in Antonios mind has its roots in the above discussed cultural conflict between his father and mother. That is, with his father attaching himself to his indigenous roots and even dreaming as well as wishing that Antonio follow his footsteps, he does not believe in Catholicism and existence of God. Although, his mother Luna believes in Catholicism and Antonio is facilitated to believe it, certain incidents push him to question Catholicism and also the existence of god, thereby giving rise to more internal conflicts. It was his friend Samuel who initiates the thought process in Antonio against Catholicism and about the existence of indigenous or pagan gods by telling him about the story of a fish called Golden Carp. Samuel provides a vivid account of how their God was transformed into a big fish, “But because he was a god they made him very big and colored him the color of gold. And they made him the lord of all the waters of the valley.” (Anaya 79). Through Samuels story, Antonio not only understands a great deal about his indigenous culture, but importantly thinks that pagan gods are sounding brilliant as well as powerful, when compared to the Catholic gods. This thinking sets him on the path of non-believing the Catholic god and believing the pagan god. “Antonio is finally taken to see the golden carp and, when he does, he experiences a moment of illumination.” (Kevane 39). Although, his mother wants him to become a Catholic priest, these encounters further fuel a conflict inside him on whether to believe in the Catholic god. This conflict increases further, when Antonio takes Communion, during which he wished to speak to the God and importantly ask Him a lot of questions. He particularly wanted to ask regarding the good vs. evil things that are happening around him like the conflict between Ultima and Tenorio as well as about golden carp. “This is what I expected God to do at my first holy communion! If God was witness to my beholding of the golden carp then I sinned.” (Anaya 105). These incidents expose some of the weaknesses visible in the Catholic Church, which creates core questions in Antonios mind, and elevates the conflict in him. Then, towards the end of the novel, Antonio based on Ultima’s counsel comes to a conclusion that he can create his own religion based on his beliefs. “Take the llano and the river valley, the moon and the sea, God and the golden carp--and make something new... Papa, can a new religion be made?” (Anaya 168). The language conflicts arose, when Antonio goes to a local Anglo school. Antonio is mainly exposed to Spanish through his parents and also through his association with Ultima. Although, his mother wants him to study English, she is not proficient in it, and that makes it difficult for him to learn English in the domestic environment. This conflict gets further accentuated by the fact that although younger generation wanted to practice the modern Spanish as well as American cultures in line with the changing times, older generation still want to hold on to their indigenous heritage. At the same time, due to the pull of the American mainstream, Antonio is forced to attend the school and learn English, thereby leading to internal as well as external conflicts. Internal conflict in the sense, he has prepare himself to learn and speak in a language, which he has not spoken earlier, and because of that, he has to avoid studying in his native language of Spanish. External conflicts happen as the fellow students in his school are not welcoming towards him, mainly due to the language difference. Furthermore, he is laughed at for his spoken English as well as for his culture specific activities, which pushes him to the brink, but he continues for the sake of his family particularly his mother. “The pain and sadness seemed to spread to my soul, and I felt for the first time what the grownups call la tristeza de la vida. I wanted to run away, to hide....but I knew that if I did I would shame my family name.” (Anaya 89). Although, Antonio struggles in the initial phase, he was a quick learner and so becomes quite adept in English soon. “He learns to read and becomes successful academically, fuelling his mothers hopes that he will be a priest, a learned man.” (Hostetler 135). From the above analysis, it is clear that Antonio faces cultural, religious and language conflicts throughout the novel. Different cultural convections of his parents leads to cultural conflicts, which gets managed by Ultima’s wise counsel of taking best aspects of all cultures and forming his own perspective. This advice of Ultima was also applicable during the religious conflict. When Antonio questions existence of Catholic God due to the initiation into pagan gods, it was Ultima who guided him. As far as language conflict is concerned, although Antonio struggled initially, he was able to optimally manage it. Works Cited Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. New York: Warner Books, 1999. Hostetler, Ann. “Anaya Rudolfo.” In Emmanuel Sampath Nelson (ed.). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature: A - C. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. Kevane, Bridget A. Latino Literature in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003. Read More