Bless Me, Ultima

My favorite text this semester was Bless Me, Ultima. Bless Me, Ultima was an amazing book for so many reasons and I enjoyed reading about Tony and all his experiences that made him grow up and see the world in a different way. A big influence in Tony's life that helped him to mature and learn new things was Ultima. I loved this book so much because Tony, like all of us, had to go through different experiences in his life, sometimes difficult, in order to grow up and become a man. Some of these experiences are when he learns about the golden carp form Cico, and when he sees his friend Narciso get murdered.

When Tony learns about the golden carp, he thinks that what Cico has to say about it was unbelievable, but at the same time made a wild kind of sense. Cico told him that the golden carp warned us that if the city did not stop sinning, then it would be flooded. After this experience, Tony asks Ultima if the legend of the golden carp is real or not. I love Ultima's response when she says, "As you grow into manhood you must find your own truths" (125). I loved her response because so much of growing up is figuring things out on our own and making our own best judgment. Ultima could have easily told Tony what she though about the golden carp, but then that would have stopped Tony from thinking on his own about what he really felt about the golden carp. Ultima was trying to help him to be independent and to think for himself. If someone always is telling us what is right and what is not, then we will never learn.

Another experience that made Tony grow up was when he saw his friend Narciso get murdered by Tenorio. When he sees his friend get murdered and also when he saw Lupito get murdered, Tony has the burning question, why does God allow evil to exist? I like these experiences he has because it is really interesting to see the spiritual transformation that he has throughout the book. We all most go through difficult experiences in our lives that might make us question things, but it's through these experiences that we truly find ourselves and start to form our own ideas and opinions.

Bless Me, Ultima was an amazing book that really got me thinking about my own life and the reasons why I believe in and stand up for certain things.

The Love of God

"When I came on this trip, I thought my mom didn't love me anymore." (Patricia Riggen, Under the Same Moon)


In life, sometimes we feel that we are not wanted and not loved by anyone. Throughout the movie, Under the Same Moon, Carlitos sometimes feels that his mother does not love him because she has been gone for so long and he feels neglected. Towards the end of the movie, he comes to the realization that his mother does care about him and loves him dearly. This part in the movie, when Carlitos says that he thought his mother doesn't love him reminds me of how sometimes people don't feel that God loves them.

"And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true" (Mosiah 4:12). Sometimes in life when we sin, we feel lonely and that God does not love us. We feel that way because sin makes us feel horrible and that we are not good people. The reality is, God loves us no matter what and he always is extending his hand to help us out and feel better. Through repentance, we start to feel better and loved. Also learning more about God and passing through experiences that bring us closer to him (repentance) makes us feel and know that God loves us. Throughout the movie, Under the Same Moon, Carlitos realizes that his mom truly does love him no matter what. He realizes that she has been gone for so long and crossed the border for his benefit. She did this because she loves him and wants to help give him a better life. In our lives, sometimes if we pass through difficult situations and we suffer, God really wants us to overcome these hard times and become stronger as a result.

Just like how Carlitos' mom does stuff for him because she loves him, God does stuff for us because he loves us. Carlitos mom loves him no matter what he does and God loves us no matter what too.

Opposition in all Things

"God is supposed to know everything, all right, then why didn't he make this earth without bad or evil things in it? Why didn't he make us so that we would always be kind to each other? He could of made it so that it was always summer, and there's always apples in the trees." (Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, 207)

In Bless Me, Ultima, Florence and Tony have a discussion about why bad things happen in the world. Florence had a really tough life and doesn't believe in God as a result of his mother's death, his father's death caused from alcohol, and his sisters being whores. Florence wonders what he did to deserve all these bad things. Florence has many questions of the soul that many people wonder about. When Florence wonders why God didn't make this world without bad and evil, he reminded me of 2 Nephi 2:11; 16 when Lehi teaches his son Jacob about how there needs to be an opposition in all things.

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad...Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other" (2 Nephi 2: 11; 16). Unbeknown to Florence, God sent us to this earth to get a body and pass through experiences that will help us grow and become more like Him. If there was no opposition, we would not be able to change, we would not know joy because we would not experience sorrow and pain and we would be forced to have only one choice, which choice would be Satan's plan. Since God knows everything, he knew that it would be best for us to have our agency so that we could choose for ourselves. Through making our own righteous choices, we become disciples and we show God that we are loyal and that we love Him.

God loves us so much that he sent us to earth to learn and grow. As stated previously, opposition is necessary in all aspects of life and as soon as we realize this and apply it into our lives, we will understand why we are put into certain situations and how we can use our agency to change ourselves or our situations for the better.