Julie Garza

April 17, 2010

Culture and Identity in Mexican American Literature:

Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima

     In my first research posting I discussed the Native American Heritage and Programs at Dartmouth College.  After further research into the Murals at Dartmouth College, I found that most murals were not Native American, but Mexican American Murals from Jose Clemente Orozco.  Although Orozco’s murals were produced in the 1930’s, the “computer science experts” at Dartmouth duplicated the morals into “snapshot form,” creating a virtual tour of Orozco’s U.S. murals. (Orozco, par. 1-2)  For more information on Jose Clemente Orozco’s morals visit:     http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/press/vox02/vox02.html

     Since the research from my first posting was too narrow for further research, I’ve decided to use another topic for my second research posting, which will produce two distinct research subjects.  In class, we have discussed culture and identity in Mexican American Literature; relevant to (Objective 3c. Mexican American narrative: “The Ambivalent Minority.”  More recently, we have looked at Mexican American authors and their different techniques and strategies in literature.  After reviewing Juan Garcia’s well-informed research posting about the Mexican American Immigrant and cultural assimilation struggles of third generation descendants’, I have decided to research Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima for cultural and identity descriptions.  From this, I have formed the following question: How does Anaya represent the cultural and identity barriers of Mexican American descendents and immigrants through the different characters in Bless Me, Ultima? 

     Also worth noting, the transition from Native American research to Mexican American research derives from my own life and background.  I am a third generation Mexican American.  Both my grandparents and parents are native Spanish speakers; Spanish being their first language.  My grandparents only spoke Spanish, while my parents spoke both Spanish and English.  I, however, do not speak my native tongue, implying that my family’s cultural language “disappeared” by the third generation. 

     Daniel Testa’s “Extensive/Intensive Dimensionality in Anaya’s ‘Bless Me, Ultima’” focuses on how every character in Bless Me,Ultima is of “Hispanic, Indian, or mestizo” decent (Testa, 71).  I enjoyed his analysis on how Anaya uses stereotypical elements to portray the different cultures in the novel; such as “a Longhorn saloon, a poolroom, a bawdy house, a wise old Indian who lives in a cave, settlers and sheepherders” and so on (Testa 71).  More importantly, he offers symbolic value to places, characters, and objects.  I found that Testa emphasized more on the “mythologies and cosmologies” found in the novel, for instance, the river that was valuable to almost every character and “the hill that is a place of refuge” (Testa 71).  More interesting to me, is how Testa focuses on the symbolic descriptions of good versus evil within Antonio, especially in the case where Antonio’s uncle has a curse lifted from himself.  In this scene, there is conflict between Ultima’s powers versus the church, which play a major role in Antonio’s life.  Through the power of Ultima, Testa describes the intensity of cultural power and conformity to the unnatural and unknown.

     Rodrigues’ “Bless Me, Ultima” analysis focuses on the conflicts of acculturation.  What Rodrigues expresses well in his essay is the curandera, Ultima.  Ultima is Antonio’s spiritual leader, which interferes with his mother’s own wishes that Antonio become a Priest.  “Folk medicine” is introduced to Antonio, as Anaya provides several instances in Bless Me, Ultima where Ultima performs her “magic.”  More valuable to my research, is how Rodrigues focuses on how “another culture has influnce’s [on] one’s own” beliefs (Rodrigues 64).  We see these influences take place with Antonio’s parents; his mother, the farmer, and his father, the vaqueros.  A great observation that Rodrigues makes is how Antonio is stuck between the two different imposing goals from his parents; become a priest or move to California?  Since Antonio is culturally and mentally stuck between his parents’ beliefs, he constantly dreams about the right choice versus the wrong choice.  This presents a problematic theme throughout the story.

     Through Antonio’s dreams the reader may view the obstacles that Antonio struggles with on a daily basis.  Antonio’s fears about family and religion are expressed in his dreams through beautiful imagery.  In the novel, Antonio is caught between the expectations of his parents, his culture, and own intentions.  One dream that displays qualities of a dividing world for Antonio is on page 112.  Antonio is pressured to choose between Catholicism and the Golden Carp; his mother and his father.  Through this comparison, Anaya captures the conflictive life of a young boy and his culture.  If he breaks away from Christian beliefs he betrays his mother, and if he doesn’t conform to the Golden Carp, then he denies his father.  Therefore, not only is Antonio caught between his parents’ cultural expectations, but also between his own beliefs on Christianity and the Golden Carp.  Internal and external consequences are produced if Antonio denies his culture and religion.

     After researching the cultural and identity barriers of Mexican Americans, through several characters in Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, I believe that the proper assimilation into another culture may not necessarily affect the third generation descendent, but the acculturation process will.  By the third generation, the native traditions will disappear if they are not reinforced daily.  As the case with me, the third generation descendent will adapt to the main language, English, and most likely forget or not learn their native language.  Furthermore, some form of cultural tradition may continue from generation to generation, but conforming to a new culture may cause the native culture to disappear overtime.   

Works Cited

Groves, R., Howley ,R., Norton, E., Scott, W., Thies, B. Bless Me, Ultima by

Rudolfo Anaya. “Analysis of the dream sequences in Bless Me, Ultima” N.p.

N.d. Web. 17 April 2010 

http://hypermedia.educ.psu.edu/k-12/ultima/dreamgen.htm>

Lamadrid, Enrique R. “Myth as the Cognitive Process of Popular Culture in Rudolfo

Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima: The Dialectics of Knowledge” Hispania, Vol.

68, No. 3 (Sep., 1985), pp. 496-501 <Accessed 2010 April 17 JSTOR:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/342444>

Rodrigues, Raymond J. “Bless Me, Ultima” The English Journal, Vol. 65,

No. 1 (Jan., 1976), pp.63-64 <Accessed 2010 April16 JSTOR:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/814705>

Testa, Daniel. “Extensive/Intensive Dimensionality in Anaya’s “Bless Me, Ultima”

Latin American Literary Review, Vol.5, No. 10 (Spring, 1977), pp.70-78

<Accessed 2010 April 16 JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20119063>