Bless Me Ultima: The Theme

The theme of the book, Bless Me, Ultima, by Rodolfo Anaya, is how experiences throughout life cause one to lose his innocence. Anotonio, the main character only about seven years old, faces many obstacles which leads him to discover the cruelty of the world. Throughout the book, he does not realize he is loosing his innocence, or even how the came to lose it. He eventually realizes that his dreams that he had of Ultima, his grandmother, are parallel to his real life events. It is when Ultima dies when he fully understands that he has lost his innocence.

One of the experiences that cause Antonio to loose his innocence is witnessing Narciso's death. Narciso is a friend of Antonio's family who is eventually shot to death. Antonio confesses, "Often at night I awoke from nightmares in which I saw Tenorio shooting Ultima as he had shot Narciso". By witnessing the shooting, Antonio becomes traumatized and afraid of death. His first encounter with death is a cause that leads to Antonio's lost of innocence.

One experience does not only affect Antonio's innocence, but childhood in overall. Growing up with both Pagan and Christian beliefs, he is often troubled in what he should believe. Hi smother wants him to become a Catholic priest, but he is too insecure about his Catholic faith. At one point Tellez, another family friend, goes to receive help from Ultima for protection against evil. Antoio asks himself, "So again the power of the priest has failed. Why can' the power of God work against the evils that beset the family of Tellez?". Antonio doubts God's existence and does not seem to be involved in the Christian faith anymore. In this example, he does not loose his innocence as much as his childhood. He looses his childhood because as an adult, he chooses what to believe; unlike a child who is told what to believe. In a more profound aspect, his journey into adulthood does make him lose his innocence.

The most definite way Antonio looses his innocence is through the death of Ultima. He remembers, "That shot destroyed the quiet, moonlight peace of the hill, and it shattered my childhood into a thousand fragments". It is then when he fully understands and acknowledges that his innocence or "childhood" is lost. He mentions that when he was with Ultima, he was closer to her than his own mother. After Ultima's death, he feels like her departure has left him lonelier and perhaps even forced to grow up. In other words, he is forced to accept her death which makes him loose his childhood innocence.

At the end of the story, Antonio realizes that all the events he witnessed as a young child made him grow up and realize the cruelty of the world. His dreams slowly helped him realize that throughout Narciso's death and his choices between two religions. Though growing up he couldn't understand how he would ever loose his innocence, the final event was the death of Ultima.