Bless Me Ultima

1. Bless Me Ultima Rudolfo Anaya

2. Activating Strategy • What are some places you lived/visited in (cities, states, countries, lakes, wilderness area, etc.)? • Which places are your favorite? Why? • When you think about some of these places, do you associate them with calmness? A homey feeling? Excitement? Boredom? Beauty?

3. Magical Realism • Literary Genre • Magical Elements blend with the real world • Originated in Latin America • Jose Luis Borges-La Historia • Examples of MR plots • Character stays alive longer than feasible • Magical abilities • Unexplainable ties between characters or characters/places

4. Characteristics of Magical Realism • Hybridity — (Creating a hybrid)Illustrated in the inharmonious arenas of such opposites as urban and rural, and Western and indigenous. The plots of magical realist works involve issues of borders, mixing, and change. • Irony re: Author’s Perspective — The writer must have ironic distance from the magical world view for the realism not to be compromised, but he must strongly respect the magic, or else the magic dissolves into simple folk belief or complete fantasy. http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html

5. Characteristics of Magical Realism • Authorial Reticence —Authorial reticence refers to the lack of clear opinions about the accuracy of events and the credibility of the world views expressed by the characters in the text. • Supernatural and Natural —The supernatural is not displayed as questionable. While the reader realizes that the rational and irrational are opposite and conflicting, they are not disconcerted because the supernatural is integrated within the norms of the fictional world. http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html

6. Jig Saw • Each group has information that will help us understand Bless MeUltima. • Read/Skim your set of information. • Create a “poster” with the important information for the class. • Be ready to present it in 30 minutes.

7. Archetypes Archetype - Greek meaning “original pattern, or model.” They reflect universal characteristics of human experience. They apply to all people, regardless of time or culture. Example: Quest = Life Long Trips = Finding yourself Choosing a Path = Choosing a direction in life

8. Archetypes • The legend of the golden carp(79-81) • Archetype of the forbidden fruit (80) • “I do not fish for the carp,” Tony tells Samuel. “It is bad luck” (79). • Archetype of the forbidden fruit(108-9) • Archetype of la llorona (118-9) • Tony feels responsible for warning the town that their sins will result in all of the residents drowning (119). • The archetype of modernization: The fate of the vaqueros (125) More

9. Archetypes more… • Loss of innocence (archetype) Tony continues to follow Narciso, thinking to himself, “I had somehow lost my innocence and let sin enter into my soul, and the knowledge of God, the saving grace, was far away” (167). More

10. Father v. Mother Gabriel’s beliefs Freethinker: Vaqueros not very religious (29). The church is too controlling. Priests are feminine. Gabriel is compared to the devil (31). Life gives strength, helps a boy become a man. María’s beliefs Devout Catholic:Lunas were led to their valley by a priest (29). The church is the center of the community. Life destroy a boy’s innocence, the purity given by God (30-1). More

11. Symbols • Water: birth-death-resurrection; creation; purification and redemption; fertility and growth. • Sea/ocean: the mother of all life; spiritual mystery; death and/or rebirth; timelessness and eternity. • Rivers: death and rebirth (baptism); the flowing of time into eternity; transitional phases of the life cycle. • Sun (fire and sky are closely related):creative energy; thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision. • Rising sun: birth, creation, enlightenment. • Setting sun: death.

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13. The River • Rio Pecos What does the river symbolize? • Tony admits, “I had been afraid of the awful presence of the river… But the innocence which our isolation sheltered could not last forever, and the affairs of the town began to reach across our bridge and enter my life” (15). Later, he witnesses a man’s death on the banks of the river (21-3). • Compromise between mother and father: The location of their home More More

14. Motifs in the novel A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work. Virgin of Guadalupe Represent forgiveness, understanding, and the resolution of cultural conflict Golden Carp Represents religious mysticism not related to the Catholic church Family Antonio’s identity Underscores moral independence • Owl • Represents Ultima’s life force and religious mysticism • Dreams • Antonio’s dreams show how his character changes. • At first about destiny, later about more grown up things like morality

15. Partner Work In groups of 2, work to complete the thematic information about symbols and themes in the book on page 2 of your study guide. Possible themes include (but are not limited to:) • Moral Independence • Effects of Culture on Identity • Innocence to Experience/Coming of Age • Man’s and Nature • Quest for Understanding • Choosing Your Own Path • Collective Nature of all Mankind • Faith and Religion • Modernization versus culture

16. Themes • Moral Independence • Effects of Culture on Identity • Innocence to Experience/Coming of Age • Man’s Connection to Nature • Quest for Understanding • Choosing Your Own Path • Collective Nature of all Mankind • Faith and Religion • Modernization versus culture

17. Man’s destruction of the natural world • Tony finds out about atomic testing at White Sands, New Mexico, and about the destruction of the llano by modern machinery (190-2). More

18. More dreams… • Dream #6Marìa, Gabriel, and Ultima all appear in Tony’s dream about a great lake and the destruction of the village (119-21). • Dream #7 Tony sees Ultima’s face in a witch’s coffin (140). • Dream #8 The dream begins with Tony begging a wrathful, cruel God for mercy, but he is forsaken, his hands “bloodied” (172-4). The devil-worshipers kill everyone Tony cares about, but the golden carp returns and brings rebirth (174-6). More

19. Veinte y Veintiuno • Dream #9: Tony dreams again of his three brothers, who seem lost, like tortured, lost ghosts. They call to him for help, and he obliges them (235). More

20. More dreams and themese • Dream #10 Tony is visited by Lupito, Narciso and Florence. “Everything I believed in was destroyed” (244). • The sadness of life: When Tony is about to leave for the summer, Ultima tells him, “Life is filled with sadness when a boy grows to be a man… Be prepared to see things changed when you return” (245). More

21. “Always have the strength to live. Love life, and if despair enters your heart, look for me in the evenings when the wind is gentle and the owls sing in the hills. I shall be with you” (261). More

22. “Sometime in the future I would have to build my own dream out of those things that were so much a part of my childhood” (261).

23. Intro to: World Religions

24. Definitions – Page 30 • Myths • Legends • Epics • Hymns, prayers, and psalms • Wisdom literature • Proverbs • Parables • Folk Tales

25. Allusions An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth or work of art. It is left to the reader or listener to make the connection. Types • Biblical Christian Bible • Historical factual events • Classical from Greek or Roman mythology

26. SummeriansInvented Writing AkkadiansWorld’s 1st Empire BabyloniansCode of Hammurabi1st laws Assyrians Destroyed Israel /Early Library Neo-Babylonians Captured Remaining Jews Egyptians

27. Early Facts about Literature • Early tokens used for writing as early as 8000 BC • Sumerians – cuneiform • Mesopotamian literatureGilgamesh epic • Egyptians – hieroglyphicsRosetta Stone broke the code • Dead Sea Scrolls – oldest surviving sections of the Bible.

28. Getting Started • Get a brown World Literature book. • Read pgs. 22-23 taking notes on important information. • Be prepared to discuss.

29. Then we get to … Hebrew Literature • Trace their history to Abraham • Hebrew – cross over • Exodus – Moses took the Israelites back to Canaan. • Kings to Know – Saul, David, Solomon • Divided Kingdom – Israel and Judah • Center of Temple – Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant • Psalm – song sung to teach, worship, or to inform • Major Text – Torah • Type of Writing – Hebrew • Afterlife – Different Beliefs. “gathered to their people”