English 3-4 Honors
Bless Me, Ultima
By Rudolfo Anaya
Study Guide Questions
Uno
1. What powers does Ultima have and what effect does she have on Antonio?
2. What animal is associated with Ultima? What qualities does this animal have?
3. What sources of conflict does Antonio have in his life? What device does Anaya use to develop these conflicts?
4. When and why does Antonio experience a sense of harmony, oneness or completeness?
5. How do Pagan and Christian ideas/images converge at the end of the chapter?
Dos
1. How does Antonio feel about the River? What is its significance in the chapter?
2. What qualities/values are revealed in Antonio's father in the scene on the bridge?
3. Do you think Lupito deserves to be killed?
4. What does Lupito seek from Antonio? What role does that cast Antonio in?
5. What questions or concerns about Lupito's soul does Antonio have?
6. What is the subject and significance of Antonio's dream in this chapter?
7. What qualities does Antonio have as a narrator, and how do you feel about him as a narrator?
Tres
1. What do Antonio's musings about Lupito's soul reveal about Antonio's view of God. How is his view of God different from his view of the river?
2. In what ways are the men of the llano different from the men of the farms, and, by extension, what contrasts doe you see between the Marez and Luna families?
3. Is Tony drawn more to the llano and his father or the farms and his mother?
4. What qualities does Tony reveal in the scene with the boy's outside the church.
5. What evidence or acts of irreverence do you see among the boys? What's your reaction?
6. Why do the boys think Florence is going to go to hell?
7. What attitude does Anaya take toward the Catholic Church? How so?
Cuatro
1. What does Antonio mean when he says "I lived that time fully, strangely aware of a new world opening up and taking shape for me." What is this new world?
2. What do you understand about the significance of the river, and what don't you understand about it? Why does Anaya repeat the italicized word presence in referring to the river?
3. Why does Antonio love the Virgin Mary so dearly? What qualities does he ascribe to God, in contrast to the Virgin Mary?
4. What's the significance of the short dream passage at the end of the chapter?
5. At this point in the novel, what do you think Antonio's destiny will be? Does anyone in the novel know?
Cinco
1. Why is the trip to El Puerto so exciting for Antonio, and for his mother?
2. What role does religion play in Antonio's mother's sense of identity?
3. Imagine this pastoral fall harvest scene with all of your senses: What sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings would you experience if you were in Antonio’s place?
4. Though the chapter presents a very peaceful scene, what threatening elements intrude?
5. What elements of foreshadowing do you see in the chapter that suggest trouble to come?
Seis
1. What images of passage and change do you see in the chapter?
2. What idea about fate does Antonio’s father express? Do you think he is right?
3. How does Antonio feel, and why does he feel as he does, at the following points:
A. His father's farewell as he leaves for school?
B. Ultima's blessing?
C. At school on his first day?
4. How would you define "la tristesa de la vida" and why does Antonio feel it so strongly?
Siete & Ocho
1. When Antonio's brothers come to him in his dream, what do they ask of him?
2. In what ways does the dream prove to be prophetic?
3. What were your thoughts and feelings during the reunion when Eugene, Leon and Andrew return at night from the war?
4. What effect has the war had on them. Look up the word "turgid." What does it imply about Antonio's brothers?
5. What does Tony do for them? Why is it significant?
6. Do you think Tony can save them?
Nueve
1. What evidence of an Oedipal complex do we see in Antonio in his dream?
2. What ideas are expressed about innocence and loss of innocence?
3. Why can’t Antonio’s brothers fulfill their parents' dreams?
4. What kind of a position does that place Antonio in?
5. What is the origin of the Golden Carp? What does the god who became the Golden Carp represent or stand for? Why might Tony find this appealing?
6. Why does the story of the Golden Carp so upset Antonio?
Diez
1. Why has uncle Lucas become so ill?
2. Why does Ultima want Tony to go with her to cure Lucas? What role does Tony play in the cure?
3. Why does Ultima call Tony "Juan"?
4. Make a list of imagery that suggests a sense of evil in passages about Tenorio Trementino and his three daughters?
5. Two animals are featured prominently in the chapter, coyotes and the owl. What do each of them symbolize?
6. Two key thematic topics that come up in the chapter are the 1) fate, and 2) good and evil. What ideas are expressed about each of these?
7. What is significant about the fact that Ultima and Antonio were in the room with Uncle Lucas for three days before he rose, cured, from his deathbed?
8. Tony wonders "was it possible there was more power in Ultima's magic than in the priest?" How would you answer his question, and why?
Once
1. Tony meets Cico in this chapter. What qualities does Cico have?
2. What is Narciso's garden like? How does he plant it?
3. What character do you associate Narciso with?
4. Compare and contrast Tony's experience in Narciso's garden with the story of Eden. What significance do you find in Tony eating the carrot?
5. What does Tony feel that we learn when we get to know people well?
6. How do the boys -- Ernie, Horse, Bones, Red, Abel -- treat Tony? Why? What does it show about the boys, and, by contrast, about Tony?
7. Choose five phrases from the text that you feel best describe the hidden pool and the golden carp.
8. What conflicting emotions does Tony experience after seeing the golden carp?
9. What is the apocalyptic prophesy of the golden carp, according to Cico? What is Tony's reaction to this prophesy?
10. Of all the things that Cico tells Tony, what do you think is the most important?
11. What earlier dream is echoed in Tony's dream at the end of the chapter? What conflicts and anxieties are played out in this new dream? How are they resolved?
Doce
1. Why does Tony feel that there is something tragic about the men of the llano?
2. What thoughts do you have about the dolls in Ultima's room?
3. What is a scapular? What is odd and significant about the scapular that Ultima gives to Antonio?
4. How is the battle between good and evil that began in diez resumed in this chapter? What happens?
5. What is Narciso's role in the battle, and what qualities are revealed or reinforced about his character?
6. What is the significance of the ambiguity of the last sentence of the chapter? Is Ultima a witch or not? Does it matter? Why or why not?
Trece
1. Why does Tony's father go to El Puerto with his family for the harvest?
2. What link between the golden carp and God does Tony make, and what new thoughts does he have about forgiveness and punishment?
3. What answer does Tony come up with to his own question about why God could not forgive?
4. Describe the ceremony Uncle Mateo says the Tremintinos will hold for the dead daughter.
5. What does Tony see in his dream, and what do you think it means?
6. When the priest refuses Tenorio's request for a Mass for his daughter, what does it signify to the townspeople?
7. Tony says that the Trementinos "had tampered with a man's fate and they knew the consequences." Why is tampering with fate such a grave transgression?
8. What ideas is Anaya developing in this chapter and elsewhere in the novel about the topic of vengeance and revenge?
9. What effect do the bounty of the harvest and the goodness of nature at the end of the chapter have on our view of human affairs in the novel?
Catorce
1. What does Tony do, and why, when the boys accuse him of having a witch at home? What quality does this illustrate, once again, in Tony's character?
2. When the boys say that Red is going to hell because he's not a Catholic, who steps in to disagree? What inferences can you make about this character his actions and the way he is described in this chapter.
3. What idea does Samuel express about the desire for revenge?
4. What blunders and disasters occur during the Christmas play? What is the function of this scene? (Tip: Is it intended soley to provide comic relief, or does it have a deeper significance in conveying Anaya's attitudes and ideas in the novel?)
5. When Tony leaves school in the blizzard, he says "I did not want to struggle into the storm." What is the significance of the line, and how does it prove to be prophetic?
6. What is Tony's reaction to the fight he witnesses on his way home between Narciso and Tenorio?
7. What does Tony see and think about outside of Rosie's when he is following Narciso? What makes Tony think that he has lost his innocence?
8. What does it mean to lose your innocence? Do you agree with Tony when he says, "How had I sinned?" and "I had seen evil, and so I carried evil within me"?
9. What does Tony do for Narciso after he witnesses Tenorio shoot him? Where else have we seen Tony in a similar role or position?
10. In what ways is the goodness/harmony of nature contrasted with the tendency toward evil/chaos/violence in human affairs in this chapter?
11. List three key psychological issues that Tony wrestles with during his long dream after Narciso's murder.
A) What does God tell Tony about his wish for forgiveness for his brothers but punishment for Tenorio?
B) Why are the Tony's three brother's so lost and in such despair?
C) How is goodness restored to the earth at the end of the dream? Why is this significant?
Quince
1. What kind of a person was Narciso? What is Tony’s assessment of Narciso? What is your assessment of Narciso?
2. Why do Tony and Andrew feel so uncomfortable around each other, and why do you think Andrew leaves with Leon and Eugene at the end of the chapter?
3. Why will First Communion be so important to Tony, according to his mother?
4. What does Tony's mother think of his father's life?
5. How does Gabriel Marez feel about his own life? Why?
6. What's the function of the scene in which Tony's father goes out into the wind to fix the windmill?
7. What are your thoughts and feelings about Tony's father?
Dieciseis
1. List three of the unanswered questions Tony has as he wonders about recent events in his life.
2. What aspects of the story of the Virgen de Guadalupe appeal to Tony?
3. Do you think Tony has mature or immature expectations of religious experience?
4. Describe Tony's reaction to Tenorio, and how this affects your view of Tony.
5. What is Tony's curse, according to Tenorio? In what ways do you agree or disagree with Tenorio?
Diecisiete
1. What do most adults that Tony knows believe about, or blame upon, the atomic bomb -- which was developed and first tested in this area of New Mexico?
2. What contrasting views does Tony's father offer him on this subject?
3. Why does Anaya set the discussion of the bomb while Tony and his father are hauling piles of manure out of the animal pens and dumping it on the garden?
4. What metaphor does Tony's father use for a wise man? What values does it imply in Tony's father?
5. Tony and Florence are drawn to each other as friends. What similarities and differences do you see in the two boys?
6. Tony and Florence discuss many questions. Choose two that you think are most important?
7. What ideas about knowledge are emerging in the last few chapters?
8. Make a list of images that are used to describe and portray Florence? What kind of figure is he portrayed as and how does irony contribute to the power of his character?
9. What kind of imagery is used to describe the other boys, like Bones and Horse?
10. What is your response to Father Byrne. Why?
11. The subject of hell comes up prominently in the chapter. Compare and contrast the two views expressed by Florence and Father Byrne.
Diecocho
1. In what ways is the confession scene critical in terms of Tony’s development? (Hints: What important realizations does he make; what traits does he demonstrate; how does the scene affect your response as a reader to Tony’s character?)
2. What is your response to Florence, and the ideas and traits he demonstrates in the scene?
3. List five things the other kids do to, or say about, Florence in the scene.
4. What ideas is Anaya conveying to us through the actions of the kids about human behavior and treatment of people who challenge established beliefs?
5. Why does Tony pardon Florence, and do you think he is right in doing so?
6. What scenes and larger concerns (themes, conflicts, criticisms, etc.) in the novel would you connect this scene to, and why?
Diecinueve
1. Compare Tony's expectations of his First Holy Communion to what really happens?
2. How would Tony compare this experience with seeing the Golden Carp?
3. List three examples of the juxtaposition (side-by-side placement) of reverence/sacredness and vulgarity/profanity in the chapter. Why do you think Anaya written these juxtapositions into the chapter?
4. Does Anaya intend for us as reader's to sympathize with Tony's expectations of what religious experience is like, or to see those expectations as immature and unrealistic? What reasons do you have for your answer?