Bless me Ultima is a coming-of-age book that does more than just describe Antonio’s transition from childhood to adulthood. The book depicts the evolution of the American society, or at least New Mexico society, by highlighting the contradictions between a traditional society and the construction of a modern society. However, before I get into that, I would just like to praise the style of the book. This is the first time since the beginning of the semester that I have enjoyed reading a book, not because of the story it narrates, but because of the style it uses. In particular, I would like to highlight the use of language that allows the legends described in the first part of the book and Antonio’s dreams to come alive. In addition, the author spends a lot of time describing the beautiful landscape of Mexico. Finally, this beautiful style is a very powerful element in giving substance to the human relationships depicted.

The book describes the contradiction of a society in transition. Historically, the book took place in the war and post-war periods, which correspond to the development of the ideology of modernization. The transition is portrayed as a passive and subtle revolution throughout the first part of the book. One of the main elements of this transition is the process by which the moral authority of parents and especially of the Father is challenged by children and young adults. Indeed, Antonio’s three brothers challenge their parents’ ambitions about their destinies. The parents’ confrontation about their children’s (male) destiny, namely between living as farmers in Puerto de Luna or as Vaqueros in California, is the symbol of the nuclear family in which the parents have the supreme authority to decide unilaterally about the children’s lives. It also represents a model in which social mobility is absent since the child has the duty to reproduce the lifestyle followed by the parents. However, this model is undermined by the refusal of the three brothers to follow the proposed life models and their desire to follow their own dream. Furthermore, the book establishes that Antonio will challenge this model in the same way. In fact, when he passed directly from the first grade to the third grade at school, he realises that he can make its own decisions and that responsibility implied by those decisions is an essential part of “growing up”. This disjuncture between the ambitions of parents and that of children is a symbol of a transition from a patriarchal society to a modern society in which the emancipation of young people is a central component. The book describes in part the causes of this transition. First of all, social institutions have a crucial role in raising the ambitions of young people. In particular, we can see how school represents a fundamental stage in Antonio’s life. On the other hand, the military is also an essential institution that increases the ambitions of Antonio’s brothers as well as their desire for mobility. A second cause that is subtly shown consists in the evolution of transportation, which allows children to no longer be tied to a specific place but to change their place of living, as in the case of Antonio’s brothers who dream of settling in Las Vegas.

It should be noted, however, that the destiny of the women seems to be of minor importance, since the fate of Antonio’s sisters is never addressed either by the parents or by the book, which only deals with the fate of the men. This shows that even if the patriarchal model is challenged in this modern society, the gender discrimination it implies is resilient.