1. Bless Me, Ultima
by Rudolfo Anaya

2. Anticipation Guide Use a scale 1-4, where 4 = always and 1=never.
I believe in magic (things can happen which defy scientific explanation).
Someone can go away to war and come home unchanged.
Dreams contain special wisdom.
My father and my mother have different expectations for me.
The best kind of clergyman is not a deep thinker, but the kind of person with no doubts.
The presence of an owl is bad luck, or a sign of evil.

3. Setting
Guadalupe, NM
Begins during World War II (1944)
llano

4. New Mexico Old Mexico Texas Colorado Coachella Valley, CA
on the other side of Arizona, to the west
Texas
Old Mexico

5. vaqueros = cowboys/ horsemen
Las Vegas, NM – it’s not Las Vegas, NV
Guadalupe, NM
It’s not a real town.
But it would be in Guadalupe County, north of Puerto de Luna.
Anaya grew up in Santa Rosa, NM.
rio
llano
lunas = farmers
vaqueros = cowboys/ horsemen

6. Setting
Introduction PPT

7. Characters Tony (Antonio) – almost 7 at the beginning
father = Gabriel Màrez “The spirit of the horse was very close to the spirit of the man” (2).
mother = María
two slightly older sisters: Deborah, Theresa
three older brothers: León, Andrew (Andrés), Eugene (Eugenio)
grandmother = Ultima

8. Symbols
The owl
The river
The golden carp
The number 3

9. Motifs Coming of age Unrealized dreams Loss of innocence
Belief in La Llorona
Belief in the Virgin Mary
The “war sickness”
Organized religion vs. mysticism
Europeans / Spaniards vs. Native Americans
Wondering if God exists
Unrealized dreams
Men drowning their sorrows in alcohol and other bad habits
Overprotective mothers
Belief in the occult (devil-worship) / witchcraft
Modernization / losing the “old ways” (example: family harvest… ways of the vaqueros)
More

10. Gabriel’s job
He works on the highway. In the 1950s, U.S. 66 became the main route to California from the East.

11. Today
U.S. 66 is now Interstate 40.
Santa Rosa, NM