Bless Me, Ultima

Bless me, Ultima

The major conflict emerges throughout the whole book, starting from the very beginning. Antonio is being brought up in a world of constant struggle between his fighting families who both seem to have their own plans set out for him. Antonio's mother and her family live the rooted agrarian life of the land and she wants him to be a priest while his father and his family expect him to become a vaquero, or a cowboy. In all the commotion of the fighting, an old lady healer, or curandera, named Ultima comes to live with the family. Antonio is also having a struggle within in himself on his view of morality. Being raised as a Catholic, he is constantly questioning his religion and why it is the way it is. He is particularly puzzled when a war veteran named Lupto is shot because he is going crazy from war flashbacks. He asks Ultima if the people will go to hell for shooting him or if he will go to hell and she says that it is not up to them to decide God's judgments. Throughout all this religious questioning and family quarreling, Antonio manages to find peace on his walks with Ultima collecting herbs and walking by the river. Will Antonio be able to resolve the conflicts of his family, or will he choose his own route in life, different from that of what his family desires?

I admire Antonio who is managing to hold together in the time where everything is falling apart. Unlike Antonio's parent who, unable to cope with the stress