Conflicts Stimulate Maturity Essay

Rudolfo Anayas bring up Me, Ultima is the prototypical in a trilogy relating the trials and tribulations encountered as an adolescent in unfermented Mexico. Many con aspectr it to be unsullied Chicano fiction in that it portrays New Mexican traditions and lifestyles the average reader had closely likely never encountered while transcending a mere portrait of the s erupthwestern by representing Antonios rites of passage into maturity in a way of life to which nearly anyone can relate (University of New Mexico). The reader follows along as Antonio drifts from childish innocence to unseasonedfound maturity through a series of crises and fights.They begin with Ultimas arrival and end with her death, stimulating Antonios spectral search and moving him closer to adulthood. Along the way, Antonio struggles through a duality of conflicts, convinced he must choose only one side of his heritage but do uncertain by his loyalties and beliefs for from each one. Maturity is ultima tely reached when he realizes the solution is to fuse the differing elements in his family. In this way he finds satisfaction for some(prenominal) his inner needs and external influences.The conflicts triggering Antonios ichor atomic number 18 the payoff of the dualities in Antonios life his fuck offs versus his fathers families, the Catholic religion versus curanderismo, westerly versus Chicano shade, and myth versus reality. His familys heritage is one of the impetuses to Antonios soul searching. On his overprotects side is a heritage of universality and farmers who worked off the land on his fathers side resides a Hispanic pile who made their living as vaqueros on the llano. His m other wishes Antonio to become a priest while his father wishes he carry on in the Margonz tradition.This conflict is made clear through Antonios dream of his birth his mothers family brings him gifts of earth fresh dark-green chilli pepper and corn, ripe apples and peaches, pumpkins and gr een beans (Anaya, 5), while his fathers family destroys them and provides, instead, a saddle, horse blankets, bottles of whiskey, a new rope, bridles, chapas, and an former(a) guitar (Anaya, 5). While both families rely on the earth and its bounteousness to provide, they take a leak dissenting attitudes. It is the goal of the M arzes to live free upon the earth and undulate over it while the Lunas live tied to the earth and its cycles (Lamadrid, 498).Antonio asks Ultima none we take in come to live near the river, and yet near the llano. I making love them both, and yet I am of neither. I wonder which life I will choose? (Anaya, 38), voicing his concerns over the ability to pick on the button one lifestyle. According to Black (155 157), Antonios coming-of-age involves separating from his family while integrating features from both sides. The young man is expected to physic altogethery separate from his mother as his brothers have done. Though they occupy little of the text , Andy and Gene excessively represent significant roles in Antonios life.In their minds, all their lives they had lived with the dreams of their father and mother haunting them. (Anaya, 62) and Gene avers, We cant be tied exhaust to old dreams (Anaya, 62). The brothers are relieved, then, that Antonio is the scapegoat who can please their mother by embodying her dreams, leaving them free to pursue their give. Antonio is different than Andy and Gene, preferring, instead, to use both amnionic fluid and create a new lifestyle. Gabriel succinctly sums up his sons spiritual search like this every man is a recrudesce of his past. He cannot escape it, but he may reform the old materials, make something new (Anaya, 236).A further conflict in Antonios life is the dichotomy of the Catholic religion as opposed to Chicano beliefs and practices. He begins his spiritual search with the Catholic church, becoming preoccupied with sin and its consequences. after ward witnessing the death of t he towns sheriff and Lupito, he gives confession. Antonio struggles with the meaning of the Act of Contrition, the nature of confession, and his disappointment with the Communion ritual. He questions the churchs teachings regarding God and its definitions of pricy and execration, particularly after the deaths of Tenorio and his daughters, Narciso, and Florence.The author states, The boy is w rest periodling with the questions of good and unrighteous and why evil exists in this world (McDonald, from de Mancelos, 4). Although Antonio wonders, Was it possible that on that point was to a greater extent power in Ultimas magic than in the priest? (Anaya, 99), it is Ultima who consoles him when the Catholic priest fails to heal Lucas. Ultima reaffirms Antonios faith in his fellow umpteen by assuring him that the men of the llano would not resort to the act of cleanup spot another without good reason. She initiates him into the art of curanderismo.As Antonio begins assisting Ultima in her healing practices, he is introduced to the legend of the golden cheat. When he sees the mythical golden carp, Antonio exists a piece of revelation This is what I had expected God to do at my show conviction holy communion If God was witness to my beholding of the golden carp then I had sinned (Anaya, 105). Antonio does not give up his dream of being a priest, even though is severely disappointed by the Catholic religion. He becomes a different kind of spiritual leader, one his people are not quite ready to strike.In a dream, Antonio cries out to Jesus as he suffers on the cross My God, my God, why have you forsaken me (Anaya, 233). He is unable to fully believe in either Catholicism or curanderismo and consequently decides to combine the two different perspectives to gain his own answers. Antonio ultimately becomes a man of disciplineing as Ultima had predicted. He acquires association and understanding along the way to maturity. Antonio appreciates that life is natu rally ever changing. He accepts his parents flaws as well as his brothers sins.He realizes the extent of prejudice and accepts that others, too, are not firm in their beliefs, while recognizing his own sins. The duality of Western and Chicano cultures in his heritage is another conflict Antonio must resolve. The author represents 3 different acculturations assimilation, integration and rejection (Black, 146). According to Black, Antonios brothers are assimilated into the Anglo world in ways that result in their desire to leave la familia and move into the dominant cultural sphere because they reject their heritage, they lose their culture (149).Antonio does a better job of assimilating his ethnic identity with Angle culture through adaptation the innocence which our isolation sheltered could not stopping point forever, and the affairs of the town began to reach across our bridge and enter my life (Anaya, 14). Antonio begins his assimilation in school. He retains his heritage by sp eaking Spanish and eating his traditional Chicano lunch of hot beans and some good, green chile wrapped in tortillas (Anaya, 54). Although, as he says, the other children saw my lunch and they laughed and pointed again, the experience reminded him of the existence of prejudice (Anaya, 54).It makes him feel different until he finally finds friends who share his Chicano roots and he is able to overcome his loneliness. This also helps him to realize that he can live in both worlds. Antonio strives to learn English and stay in school, in direct contrast to the rest of his family. At home, he is educated about Chicano culture through Ultimas teachings. She urges him to appreciate the beauty of the land and embrace the ancient wisdom of curanderas. His family are the instructors in such things as personal integrity and the Chicano way of life. tactile sensation in myth as opposed to the reality presented by tarradiddle also create a conflict in Antonio. According to Lamadrid, there is a n important relation between myth and the socio-cultural identity of traditional Chicanos (497). He uses examples such as that of la llorona (wailing woman) to define myth as the collective interpretation and mediation of the contradictions in the historical and ecological experience of a people (Lamadrid, 496). This assertion becomes clear in examining Antonios representation of evil and native power he believes La llorona is luring him, but he resists and escapes death.Ultimately, Antonio learns to accept that life is the greater reality and understands the tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength that resides in the human bone marrow (Anaya, 237). He remembers Ultimas teachings, which help him to take lifes experiences and cause strength from them and not weakness (Anaya, 248). As de Mancelos states, Antonio must understand the other side of the myth, the legends, the indigenous beliefs and the power of the earth as well as more(prenominal) traditio nal religious beliefs (5).An apocalyptic event the development of the first atomic bomb for use in World War II combat juxtaposes with Antonios increasing awareness. According to Lamadrid, the awareness of the characters of the apocalyptic affright of the atomic bombdemonstrates a real and historical dimension of revealing (500). Upon its arrival, the village women dress in mourning clothes, assert that the bomb resembles a ball of white heat beyond the imagination, beyond hell and frame the blame on ignorant Anglos Man was not made to be so muchthey compete with God, they disturb the seasons, they seek to know more than God Himself.In the end, that knowledge they seek will destroy us all (Anaya, 183). The village witnesses the loss of a large number of husbands and sons during the war while the state hosts the very first test of the atomic bomb. still Antonio is affected as his brothers return from service traumatized. According to the villagers, these are all signs of an ap ocalypse requiring the need for a synthesisin this new time of crisis (Lamadrid, 500). Antonio is fortunate enough to create his own synthesis by move his ties to the desert and La Virgen de Guadalupe, la llorona and the brotherhood of the golden carp.His cultural conflicts are settled because of his synchronicity with Ultimas belief that the purpose of his life is to do good. Her final blessing, Always have the strength to live. Love life, and if despair enters your heart, get a line for me in the evenings when the wind is gentle and the owls sing in the hills are the rowing he will live by(Anaya, 247). Antonios maturity comes as the result of completing a journey which alternately takes him away from, and then adventure to, his heritage. The conflicts of warring factions in his life cause him to question the values and beliefs of each and come up with his own explanation.Rather than refusing his heritage, Antonio fuses the differences and acquires a richness of experience and strength of character. Along with this new understating, Antonio looks forward to a future base on the past but open to new possibilities a turn outlook indeed. Works Cited Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me Ultima. New York Warner Books, 1999. Black, Debra B. Times of Conflict Bless Me, Ultima as a Novel of Acculturation. Bilingual Review, Vol. 25 (2), 2000, pp. 146-159. de Mancelos, Joao. Witchcraft, Initiation, and heathenish Identity in Rudolfo Anayas Bless Me, Ultima.Revista de Letras, serie II, 3, 2004. 129-134. Lamadrid, Enrique R. Myth as the cognitive Process of Popular Culture in Rudolfo Anayas Bless Me, Ultima The Dialectics of Knowledge. Hispania, Vol. 68, No. 3 (Sep. 1985), pp. 496-501. Stone, Dan. An Interview with Rudolfo Anaya. National Endowment for the Arts The Big Read. January 4, 2007. Retrieved October 15, 2008 from the NEA website http//www. neabigread. org/books/blessmeultima/anaya04_about. php. University of New Mexico. Writing the Southwest Rudolfo Anaya. Retrieve d October 15, 2008 from the UNM website http//www. unm. edu/wrtgsw/anaya. html.