Bless Me, Ultima character analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bless Me, Ultima character analysis - Essay Example That is why of all her traits, I will focus on Ultima’s firm belief in balance which made her character some sort of a bridge in the problematic conflict of belief systems in the story. My analysis of Ultima starts with her role as a curandera as it reflects some form of universal principle. A shaman or the spiritual leader in a community is useful and performs an important function in authentic culture. She can resort to dreams and visions for help and guidance but she can also resort to the use medical arts with her herbal remedies and her vast experience in healing. Indeed, Ultima is adamant that disharmony and imbalance cause a disruption of health while her approach to healing is aimed at achieving a certain oneness and harmony with nature. Let me begin at the beginning. I do not mean the beginning that was in my dreams and the stories they whispered to me about my birth and the people of my father and mother, and my three brothers – but the beginning that came with Ultima. (Anaya 1991, 1) Anaya also attributes to Ultima, on one the hand the mythical Good Earth Mother and the religious Virgin of Guadalupe, on the other. In the novel, the Good Earth Mother often appears in Antonio’s dreams while the Virgin of Guadalupe is her mother’s spiritual protector. While they both hail from differing establishments they both represent one archetypal feminine principle – the intuitive, loving, life affirming protector and nurturer. Ultima’s character as presented showed that belief systems cannot be always mutually exclusive. Ultima as wise, complex and mysterious stemmed from her openness to receive, understand, assimilate and balance values that do not merely come from a single source, cultural grouping or belief. That is why she is tolerant and understanding as one of her main teachings to Antonio emphasized that those different