Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya - Essay Example

Module Module ID: Bless Me Ultima It was not the first time when Emily had learned the Darwinian Evolution Theory; rather, she had already got acquaintance with the same in her fifth grade. Though sharply contrary to the religious beliefs of her Jewish father and Catholic mother, the Darwinian perspective was quite appealing and applauding to the young maiden that only the generations of the fittest genes could survive with the passage of time, and the rest of them are bound to perish away with the passage of time. Since she had learned the basic teachings about the Abrahamic mythology, which manifestly describes the creation process of man, Darwin’s declaring the apes to be sharing the same ancestry with humans was quite ridiculous for the talented young girl. Her taking interest in spiritualism, literature, mythology and biological sciences revealed several new avenues of wisdom and foresight to Emily. She found herself her profound love in the Oneness of the Creator. The more concentration she used to pay in exploring the realities of life, the more bright and vivid the realities of the universe started appearing before her eyes and intellect. Her constant interaction with the objects of Nature increased her passion for discovering the light that encompasses each and every thing existing in her physical and social phenomena. It amplified her love for the objects of nature including the chirping birds, dancing flowers, swaying leaves, smiling breeze, growing plants, shadowy trees, sparkling fountains, blue mountains, bewitching moonlight, thick clouds and dazzling sunlight. She took keen interest in every thing that could be inspirational and motivating for the girl’s curiosity. The love and attention provided by the old Professor John to Emily really served as a source of unflinching encouragement for the girl. Being a retired professor of Philosophy as well as the pastor of the church, he maintained vast knowledge of ancient, medieval and modern philosophy, and the Abrahamic Scriptures; which he attempted to transfer to the girl as she reached the senior school grades. Since Prof John was not only a respectable personality of the area, but also a church personality, Emily’s family used to pay unabated respect to him. Prof John helped the girl because of observing her regular church attending on every Sunday in order to seek spiritual and moral lessons from there. Emily not only attended the church, but also made a critical analysis of all the sermons being delivered at there. Consequently, Emily was guided and taught almost in the same manner as Antonio was taught by Ultima since his early childhood onward. Ultima, by dint of her outstanding knowledge and spiritualism, had guided Antonio throughout his childhood till adulthood by introducing the boy with the religious teachings, moral principles and ethical values (Anaya 1994). In addition to that the boy also obtained formal education and learning at school, though the learning process continued taking place under the kind, benevolent and dynamic supervision of Ultima. Though Antonio experienced various incidents appeared before his eyes that could rightly be stated to be contrary to the faith he imitated, yet Ultima’s supervision turned out to be vehemently supportive one in respect of understanding the contradictory elements appeared in the life of his relations and family members; Emily also met with almost the same fate in her life. The rise of opportunists, wicked and mean people looked absolutely strange and weird thing for the innocent Emily, who had always perceived and expected the triumph of the good and righteousness over the evil as per the golden sayings mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. The tales depicting the prophets and holy men including Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and Jesus particularly infused sacred light in her mind and heart, and increased her faith in the Divine powers. Somehow, the tortures and opposition the holy men had to undergo looked contradictory to the belief of the good’s overcoming the evil every time. Emily took special interest in the Darwinian perspective of the perpetuity of some blood-lines and generations; the idea was partly supported by the Scripture, which elucidates the superiority of the House of Jacob over the rest of the world. As a result, she got the very point that the individuals, communities or nations, having close interaction and/or intimacy with the universal powers could turn out to be the Nature’s favourite in one way or the other. On the contrary, the nations remaining at war with the Natural phenomena either perish away or survive under the constant curses of the future generations; the Pharaoh’s character was a case in point. Studying Descartes and Nietzsche also proved highly beneficial for the increase in the knowledge and intellectual wisdom of young Emily. She often used to discuss the elements of life and their relationship with humans. The concept of Cartesian dualism articulated by Descartes was profoundly impressive for Emily. She discussed the superiority of the immortal soul over the mortal body with Professor John. The Professor was astonished by the intelligence and vastness of her knowledge, and endorsed the very notion that soul is superior entity, which is confined in the inferior entity i.e. body in order to lead life in the world and gets separated from the body as soon as the death appears by taking man’s life and leaving the body as motionless in its wake. Thus, Descartes’ perspective left indelible impact on her mind for the future years to come. Like Antonio of Bless Me Ultima, Emily had also taken interest in various disciplines. She had studied Nietzsche’s philosophy regarding God is dead. In other words, Emily violated against having blind faith in any hear-say phenomenon without analysing its validity and existence through logic and evidence. Consequently, Emily refused to follow the stereotyped belief system without applying the mind Nature had bestowed upon her as well as every human being. The same tradition had been supported by Anaya while creating the character sketch of the protagonist Antonio, and his mentor Ultima (219). Emily had great abhorrence against ethno-racial apartheid, and stood firm against applying any discriminatory behaviour against the members of any racial group. Her professor had taught her that all humans are equal in the eyes of Nature, law and society; it is therefore, no one should be looked down upon altogether. Being the member of dominant white racial group, she had found the members of her community displaying hatred against the blacks. However, she declared it strictly against the moral values introduced by the Hebrew Bible and New Testament as well, which always preached love, kindness, compassion, justice and equality towards all humans without discrimination. Though Emily strictly adhered to the golden principles of equality and fair play attributed to the Christian faith, and did not like the attitude of displaying prejudiced behaviour towards the out-groups and rival communities, yet she did never demonstrate any liking or place for the gays and lesbians. On the contrary, she always expressed her anger towards the homosexuals. The main reason behind her displeasure towards them included the very fact that same-sex relationships were strictly against human nature and morality. Hence, she adhered to the Devlin’s perspective that the state must stop the immorality with an iron hand instead of allowing such kinds of adulterous relationships i.e. cohabitation and same-sex association in society by declaring them to be legal in any way (Devlin 1965). Consequently, not only this that Emily’s parents and mentor provided her with modern and latest education, but also they paid due attention and considerations towards her character-building and teaching her the religious, spiritual and moral lessons too. It is therefore she realised the presence of evil in the form of Tenorio’s daughters (Anaya 154-157) that could inflict any type of harms upon others, as Tenorio’s daughters had inflicted upon Antonio’s uncle Lucas Luna. Emily had also sought encouragement from the poems of the innocent poetess of early Victorian era Emily Bronte (1818-1848), where she had displayed her unflinching love and dedication to her Lord Almighty God the Omnipotent. Bronte’s No Coward Soul is Mine (1846) particularly fascinated Emily to a great extent, where she had associated herself with her immortal Lord, and had sought her love and benevolence only. The care and consideration paid by her loving parents and kind Prof John played vital role in her personality formation and character building as well. Consequently, she decided to adopt the same teaching profession as a professor in order to guide and help the innocent children and youngsters. As a result, she did her masters in philosophy and theology, and associated herself with a local college. Her lectures won great applause and she turned out to be the one of the most popular figures of her community. Her passion for regular church attending did not observe any discouragement or downfall; instead, she wrote interpretations of the Biblical stories with great religious fervour and enthusiasm. Somehow, her belief was not just based upon the stories she had listened from others; on the contrary, there were included the research works and hard efforts Emily had made in order to having full comprehensions and understanding of the faith she followed. Work Cited Anaya, Rudolfo A. Bless Me Ultima Grand Central Publishing 1994 Devlin, Lord Patrick. The Enforcement of Morals Oxford University Press 1965 Read More