Bless Me, Ultima Themes

Revenge can be an ugly, ugly thing. Most of us get the feeling at least once in a while that we want to get someone back for something they've done to us, but hopefully cooler heads prevail and thi...

It's nice to think that FDR nailed it in his inaugural address when he said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. It's a strong statement and one of the great presidential lines ever spoke...

In Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio's search for his own identity is all about mixing and mingling. Try on a little Catholicism for size, and then see how Ultima's belief system fits. Ponder roaming the l...

You don't have to get all buffed up and super strong to become a man, despite what those P90X ads might lead you to believe. For Antonio, the journey to manhood is about learning to make decisions...

The first dream Antonio has shows his mother's people and his father's people arguing over what the newborn Antonio will grow up to be. His dream also hints that Ultima is the only one who truly kn...

They say past is prologue, and when it comes to Bless Me, Ultima, they're not wrong (whoever they are). Antonio's future is at first defined by the pasts of his parents, but as he comes of age thro...

Bless Me, Ultima is full of witches, healers, god-fish, ghosts, and soul-owls. The supernatural leaves ectoplasmic residue all over this novel. That's what happens when authors delve into what is o...

Bless Me, Ultima chronicles Antonio's loss of innocence and his growth from boy to man. It just happens to Antonio much earlier in life than it does to most. But what's interesting here is not the...