Maturation and Self-Identification Through Setting

A setting in a novel goes unnoted from time to time, but the setting plays as a significant role in any novel. For one particular novel, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the country setting plays a prominent role in the maturation of Antonio through his experiences, with the help of La Grande, Ultima, and self-identification, through his mother and father’s conflicting cultures.

The country setting of the llano and the little town of Guadalupe shows the maturation of a young Mexican-American boy, Antonio Marez, struggling with many questions about his destiny, life and death, and good and evil, with the help of Ultima he will be able to answer these questions that lingers. Ultima becomes his caretaker and teacher. Ultima was an essential part of the story as she provided Antonio with the guidance he needed and yearned for as a growing adolescent. Ultima and Antonio spends a lot of time collecting herbs and learning about life in the country. Ultima teaches Antonio, “that the magic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength that resides the human heart.” Ultima shows Antonio how to experience the magic of life with his heart and not his eyes. For the first time, he sees the river not as something to be feared but as a source of life. “I had been afraid of the awful presence of the river, which was the soul of the river, but through her I learned my spirit shared in the spirit of all things.” Antonio deals with many deaths in very short intervals, Lupito, Narcisco, Florence and Ultima. The country setting portrays how saddening these deaths are to Antonio leading him to the road of adulthood.

The country setting in this novel also represents the conflicting cultures pulling apart Antonio, a young boy, approaching the age of reason, with his mother on one side and his father on the other as he is going through self-discovery. The country setting of the llano represents his dad, Gabriel Marez, while the country setting of the little town of Guadalupe portrays his mom, Maria Luna. The Marez’s are very free spirited and do not like to have to worry about things. Gabriel loves his llano, and detests the decision to move to the town of Guadalupe. “The move lowered my father in esteem of his comprandes, the other vaqueros who clung tenaciously to their way of life and freedom. The sea calls to him and runs through his veins. His friends are wild and free as he once was and hopes his son’s will be.” On the other hand, the Luna’s