Bless Me, Ultima

Chicanx/a/o is a chosen identifier for Americans of Mexican heritage that synthesizes the cultural influences of Mexican and American culture, as well as the Indigenous cultures of the Americas. Although initially considered a pejorative, the term was reclaimed in the 1960s as part of El Movimiento, the Chicanx empowerment movement. Anaya identified as Chicano, and in Bless Me, Ultima, he captures the unique experience of coming of age as Chicanx in America. Under Ultima, Antonio learns that the heart of his identity is the interplay between the many different cultural, religious, and linguistic factors that influence his life.

Anaya has stated that Bless Me, Ultima is semi-autobiographical, with much of Antonio’s life inspired by his own childhood. Throughout the novel, Antonio struggles with aspects of his life that seemingly contradict one another. Anaya symbolically highlights this sense of dissonance with the location of the Márez home, between the llano of Las Pasturas and the farming town of El Puerto. Antonio even describes himself as “caught in the middle” (212) of two ways of life.

Both of Antonio’s parents are Chicanx, but they are connected to different parts of their heritage. The feud between them centers on these differences, contrasting the life of a vaquero with that of a farmer. Their compromise of living in Guadalupe leaves neither person fully satisfied, with Gabriel craving more freedom and María more stability.

Religion, too, is a contentious topic in the Márez household. Gabriel insists that men must be connected to the land, and his conviction parallels a facet of Chicanx culture informed by Indigenous folk traditions. María is a strict Catholic, reflecting the strong influence of the Spanish colonization of the Americas that made the Catholic church a central feature of Mexican and Mexican American culture. Antonio is distraught over which parent to follow, knowing that choosing one dream means destroying the other.

One of the key moments in Antonio’s development of his Chicanx identity occurs when he goes to school for the first time. There, he encounters conflict on a societal level rather than a personal one in the division between the English-speaking, white American students and the Spanish-speaking, Mexican American students. The white students laugh at him for his language and cultural food, but he forms a community with the other Chicanx students who are also treated as outsiders. Here, Anaya highlights the marginalization of the Chicanx community that he experienced firsthand throughout his life.

The pressure Antonio faces to fully assimilate into the dominant culture is representative of the pressure placed on members of the Chicanx community. This pressure is both internal and external; even María encourages Antonio to learn English, knowing that it will afford him more opportunities in life. Antonio finds a balance between rejection and assimilation by becoming an eager English student while forming close bonds to the other Chicanx students.

Antonio’s cultural exploration extends to his religious beliefs as he opens his mind to traditions outside of the Catholic church. His discovery of the golden carp legend and eventual acceptance of the carp as a valid god marks an openness to the influence of worldviews beyond the ones he was raised with. Anaya uses the golden carp myth to represent the kind of Indigenous folk beliefs that competed with Catholicism in Chicanx culture.

Throughout the novel, Anaya explores the link between Chicanx culture and the culture of the Indigenous people who lived in New Mexico before it was colonized by the Spanish. Their history is a part of Antonio’s although their culture has been largely overwritten. After looking past the monopoly of the church, Antonio learns about Indigenous traditions that emphasize connection with the land and all its products. Ultima teaches him about the pre-colonial past, which allows him to understand that the Indigenous people of the Americas are an important part of his heritage.

By the end of the novel, Antonio has drawn on the guidance of his parents, his community, and Ultima to create his own system of values. His worldview blends opposite influences, marrying the wisdom of a vaquero and farmer, Indigenous folk traditions and the church, and the masculine and feminine. This sums up Anaya represents modern Chicanx identity as incorporating a rich mixture of cultural influences while emphasizing freedom of thought and self-expression. In the modernizing world, young people like Antonio have the opportunity to parlay the rich traditions and lessons of their past into the foundation for a better future.