RESHAPING THE OLD CHICANO TRADITIONS: ULTIMA – THE EMBODIMENT OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH IN RUDOLFO ANAYA’S BLESS ME, ULTIMA
RESHAPING THE OLD CHICANO TRADITIONS: ULTIMA – THE EMBODIMENT OF GOODNESS AND TRUTH IN RUDOLFO ANAYA’S BLESS ME, ULTIMA

Summary/Abstract: The present paper aims at highlighting the importance of goodness and truth in Rudolfo Anaya’s novel entitled “Bless me, Ultima”, which is a repatterning of the Chicano world. Ultima or la Grande is a curandera, a miracle-worker. She blesses Antonio, she gives him guidance in life teaching him what is right holding the secret of Antonio’s destiny. If, on the one hand, Ultima is the embodiment of goodness and truth in the novel, a strong and complex female character, performing healings to the others, using knowledge and power to do good, on the other hand, Tenorio is the embodiment of evil. The message of the book is that good is always stronger than evil and the smallest bit of good can stand against all the powers of evil in the world. Anaya’s novel is rich in narrative techniques and storytelling turns the novel into an exquisite piece of prose which preserves and at the same time reshapes the old Chicano traditions.

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