This novel has been quite interesting in giving the reader an interesting view of the different issues a child may face as they are progressing through life be it related to identity, religion, or culture. One of the main ideas of Bless Me, Ultima, is witnessing the process of Antonio leaving his childhood behind and acquiring his own knowledge as he goes through the process of maturing. At first, the reader is witness of an innocent boy who is unaware of the dangers and difficulties that life has to offer. We accompany Antonio through this loss of innocence and his realization of the good and evil in the world. With this loss he acquires other qualities which can be seen as wisdom and maturity. Throughout the novel we see this transition in many experiences that Antonio witnesses or is involved in. An example of one of these experiences is witnessing the murder of Narciso. He sees how Narciso’s life is taken away by Tenorio, a villainous man who has an obsession with seeking revenge against Ultima. After witnessing Tenorio shoot and fleeing the crime scene, Antonio hears Narciso’s last confession. In order to give the dying man comfort in what he wants to share, we witness Antonio listening to the man’s last dying words which can be perceived as him taking the role of a priest. Another scene that touches on the loss of innocence is when Antonio witnesses his brother Andrew at Rosie’s house. We can view this scene as one that may relate to Antonio’s earlier dream, where Andrew tells Antonio that he would not enter the house until Antonio loses his innocence. If Andrew’s entrance to Rosie’s house relates to the past dream Antonio had, this means that he has lost his innocence, which is related to the naïve and childlike perspective he begins with in the novel. We also start noticing how Antonio begins to defend his beliefs and grows a sense of confidence about them. This can be seen with his conviction to defend Ultima against the mob who come to his house with Tenorio in seek of vengeance. He is willing to speak up and to partake in the defense of Ultima. As I read through the novel, I was able to witness a coming of age story through the perspective of a young boy and witness his growth and maturity into becoming a man.
Hi!
What you said in the last few sentences really caught my attention. My favourite part about this book was following Antonio’s journey through his own perspective and being able to witness all the ways in which he is able to grow, and in doing so gain more confidence. I found it interesting to compare Antonio’s journey to Piri’s; in many ways they were quite similar, but also quite different.
Hi!
I was also impressed about how Antonio develops this sense of maturity, while at the same time his innocence diminishes. It is very interesting, as you have noticed, to read this novel and see the child like perspective of Antonio and how insecure and afraid of life he was at the beginning; while almost at the end of the book, he is more confident on himself, on the decision he can take, on how he want to see the world.
In a sense, we can even say that Antonio was the most mature among his friends. That would explain why in one scene, all of his friends began to confess their sins to Antonio, and expected him to pardon them.
This book is definitely very interesting !
I’m interested in what you say about role-playing: the way in which he ends up “taking the role of a priest” with Narciso. After all, he does something similar (if in different circumstances) with his friends, later. So even if he is trying to resist becoming a priest, he is drawn to that role anyhow. But still, it’s only a role; in some ways it’s pretend, like the (rather farcical) play that the kids perform. I wonder if we can say something more about the relation between such pretence, or trying something out, or taking on a role, and what we might imagine to be “real.”
Could this pretense be part of the natural curiosity Antonio has of the world? Is it necessary for him to know what he wants or doesn’t want in life. I think that a child’s play is how they see the world, them imitating what they see and reproducing it in their daily lives with other children and people around them. Could this concept be applied to the book itself? I say this because when children pretend they believe they are what they are pretending to be. There is less “liminality” between what is pretend and real. I think the book embodies this really well.
I would simply add that the process by which Antonio loses his innocence is truly violent. Antonio discovers the reality of violence, justice and, in a sense, sex, through a radical process (mainly murder). On the other hand we must remember that Antonio is very young, he is 7 years old at the beginning of the book. The loss of innocence at that age seems really premature and the privileged period of childhood seems to have been greatly reduced for Antonio. Moreover, all these events take place in an extremely short time frame, 1 or 2 years. Thus, the events as well as the age and the rhythm of the disappearance of this innocence show that this process has been very violent for Antonio.