Bless Me, Ultima: Motifs 2 key examples

When revenge rears its head in Bless Me, Ultima it’s usually as a reaction to perceived wrongs. However, as in the case of Tenorio’s relentless pursuit of Ultima, it tends to create conflicts rather than resolving them. Tenorio is already an evil character, but his personal weakness and selfishness are made worse by his desire to avenge the slights he thinks Ultima has made against his family. Because he believes she has cursed his daughter to death, he’s driven mad by his desire for revenge. However, his desire to avenge the damage he thinks Ultima has done actually only leads to further violence and death, including his own. Acts of retribution—like his murder of Narciso, his shooting of Ultima's owl, and his later attempt to shoot Antonio—actually only perpetuate suffering.

Antonio’s reflections on revenge in religious and spiritual matters also show how morally complicated revenge can be. As Antonio grows up, he begins to feel more strongly connected to the Virgin of Guadalupe than to the Christian God. This is largely because he sees God as unbending and cruel, whereas the Virgin is more forgiving and less likely to punish sinners mercilessly. Ultima’s religious tradition also takes a more nuanced view of revenge, allowing for some compromise in terms of both action against wrongdoers and the forgiveness of slights. Because of the conflicting narratives of punishing sins and forgiving trespasses, Antonio questions whether revenge can ever truly yield justice or if it merely perpetuates harm. 

Throughout the novel, Antonio’s dreams act as a space where his fears and questions take symbolic form. These subconscious journeys mirror his internal discomfort with the order of things in Guadalupe  and the obligation to follow religious doctrine unquestioningly. As he matures into adolescence, the contents of Antonio’s dreams demonstrate his growing sense of responsibility for the events in his life. For example, he dreams of his family’s expectations for him, especially of the conflict he sees between the peaceful life of a Catholic priest his mother’s Lunas side wants for him, and his vaquero Márez father’s more adventurous dreams for him to move to California.

The imagery in Antonio’s dreams also frequently mirrors the cultural mingling present in his waking life. Symbols like the llano and the golden carp represent the intersecting arenas of his cultural and religious heritage. The golden carp’s speech in his dreams—full of fire and brimstone—gives a real voice to many of the questions Antonio has about revenge and religious leadership. Some of his dreams also foreshadow future events or symbolize Antonio’s fears about death and violence. For example, he dreams about Tenorio’s actions and the deaths he’ll cause before they happen. This isn’t explained away; Anaya leaves the reader to judge how the dream should be interpreted. In so doing, the authors blur the line between reality and magic. This choice leaves the reader unsure of whether the supernatural truly exists as a force in Antonio’s world or whether it’s bias on the narrator's part as he remembers his past.