LITR 4332 American Minority Literature
Literary Style Presentation 2008

Tuesday, 25 November: complete Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima

Literary Style: Objectives 5 and 6

5c. Mexican American narrative: “The Ambivalent Minority” or Third Way

"Ambivalent" means having "mixed feelings" or contradictory attitudes.

“The priest was by us now. I could smell the incense trapped in his frock, like the fragrance of Ultima’s herbs was part of her clothes.” (p. 206)

FollowingTony’s first encounter with the golden carp:

 “That night in my dreams I walked by the shore of a great lake. A bewitching melody filled the air. It was the song of the mer-woman! I looked into the dark depths of the lake and saw the golden carp, and all around him were the people he had saved. On the bleached shores of the lake the carcasses of sinners rotted.” (p. 119)

 Questions:

·       Why is Tony disturbed by his feelings towards the golden carp?

·       Does Tony’s religious ambivalence eventually lead to spiritual understanding?

·       If so, is Tony representative of a communal spiritual understanding?

        5c.As individuals or families who come to America for economic gain but suffer social dislocation, Mexican Americans resemble the dominant immigrant culture.

        “The war had changed them. Now they needed to lead their own lives.” (p. 67)

        “’I mean papa’s dream about moving to California, and mama wanting us to settle along the valley--‘ he said. They looked at each other uneasily. All their lives they had lived with the dreams of their father and mother haunting them, like they haunted me.” (p. 68)

·       Question: Are the Marez sons suffering from “social dislocation” as a result of their experience in the war, or have they become estranged from their parent’s dreams for some other reason?

Objective 6: Minorities and Language

To study minority writers' and speakers' experiences with literacy & influence on literature and language

6b. To emphasize how all speakers and writers use literary devices such as narrative and figures of speech.

“Virgen de Guadalupe, I heard my mother cry, return my sons to me.

Your sons will return safely, a gentle voice answered.

Mother of God, make my fourth son a priest.

And I saw the Virgin draped in the gown of night standing on the bright, horned moon of autumn, and she was in mourning for the fourth son.

‘Mother of God!’ I screamed in the dark, then I felt Ultima’s hand on my forehead and I could sleep again.” (p. 45)

Questions:

·       What purposes do the dream sequences serve throughout the novel? Should they be taken literally, or as mystical premonitions?

·       Since this dream is not foreshadowingTony’s untimely death, why is the Virgen mourning for him?

Foreshadowing

‘“Florence’s punishment for being late was to stand in the middle of the aisle with his arms out-spread. (p. 198)

… while the children prepare for their first communion:

“ They wanted me to be their leader; they want me to punish Florence.

‘Make his penance hard,’ Rita leered.

‘Make him kneel and we’ll all beat him,’ Ernie suggested.

‘Yeah, beat him!’ Bones said wildly.

‘Stone him!’

‘Beat him!’

‘Kill him!’”

·       Question: Why does Anaya use so much biblical imagery when foreshadowing Florence’s death?