Literary Style Reader: Benjamin Hamley

Bless Me, Ultima

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

I waited many an afternoon to catch sight of the beautiful golden carp as it swam by, and while I waited in the sun I pondered over its legend. 124

Repetition of color cues in the language, clear visual imagery at play.

Then the railroad came.  The barbed wire came.  The songs, the corridos became sad and the meeting of people from Texas with my forefathers was full of blood, murder, and tragedy.  The people were uprooted. 125

Assignment of human characteristics to inanimate objects, personification

Q. What kind of emotions do both of these passages illicit in the reader?

6c. To discover literature's power to express the minority voice and vicariously share minority experience.

“That is why they call this place El Puerto de la Luna,” she said to me, “because this valley is the door through which the moon of each month passes on its journey from the east to the west-“ 90

They lived their lives, sang their songs, and died under the changing moon. The moon was their goddess. 90

Tells the story of the ancestors, shares historical significance of the moon to the Luna people.

6e. To note variations of standard English by minority writers and speakers.

“It is I, Tenorio Trementina, who accuses her!” he shouted and jumped forward so that I could plainly see his ugly face. “ La mujer que no ha pecado es bruja, le juro a Dios!” 130

“Madre de Dios!” the men cried. 134

“Mira!” one of them cried. 134

Alternation between English and Spanish in phrases

Q. Do you think that the alternation in these instances may be due to the added emotion in the phrases that are spoken?  In other words, is Spanish being used because there is more expression in the language at these key points?

Instructor's Style Question:

Discuss style in Ultima--what qualities contribute to its "classic" status in many schools?

Any other qualities to style of novel?