The Sruggles of Today's Heroes.
The Struggles of Today’s Heroes. When a reader firsts reads the books Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya and So Far From God by Ana Castillo, there really isn’t a clear connection. The only occasional theme would be Curranderismo. Curranderismo is the practice of herbs and prayer. This form of spirituality is usually interpreted as withcraft. Because of this misconceptiion, many bad stories appear.( Mitchell, p2) However, these two books stayed true to the practive and showed what Curranderismo was really about. Even though it did play a big portion of the book, Curranderismo is not the theme that connects the two books. The theme that would connect Bless Me Ultima and So far from God, is the struggles and conflicts that the protagonists have to endure to grow as people and fufill their purpose in life. Both books do have their occasional similarities. Both have the practice of Curranderismo, suffering, death, strange heros, hopeless antogonists, and surroundings of war time. Of course there are also the differences that make each book have its’ own twist. Differences in father figures, evil characters, and political views. Tony the protagonist in Bless Me Ultima, faces conflicts with religion, death, and family structure. Sofie, the protagonist of So Far From God, deals with lost loves, politics, health welfare, and tragic endings. Tragedies are what seem to makes these characters stronger in the end. The protagonist of Bless Me Ultima is mainly Antonio Marez, also known throughout the book as Tony. This boy was six years old when the book opened. (Larson, p2) So how does this boy have any similarities like Sofie the thirty some years protagonist in So Far From God? Surprisingly they do have more in common than usual. Tony has been having visions since he was and infant. In these visions, he could speak to spirits. “Toni-rooooo.....Toni-reel-ooooo, the voices called. Oh, our sweet baby, we are coming home to you. We who have been beyond our father’s dream; we who have been beyond the ocean where the sun sets; we who have traveled west until we were in the east, we are coming home to you.” (Anaya, p61) Sofie did not speak to spirits, however her daughter’s La Loca and Caridad did. “And of course, la Caridad over in the trailer complex in the South Valley by then was having long discussion, even if mostly one sided, with Esperanza about the war...” (Castillo, p163). Caridad became a currandera, just as Ultima in the other book Bless Me Ultima was a currandera. Tony saw Ultima cure a lot of people with her herbs and prayer. His uncle Lucas was on the verge of dying. No doctor, or priest could help him. They could not diagnose him. Withing a few minutes, Ultima diagnosed it to be black magic and began her prayers. Within a few days Lucas recovered, This was the seed that really got Tony started. Caridad from Castillo’s book cured minor ailments with the practice of Curranderismo. She was learning and was not as experienced as Ultima, but she did help people. Tony and Sofie experienced a lot of deaths. Tony was right next to Lupito who was shot and killed after killing the sheriff. Lupito had gone crazy after returning from the war and had episodes of flashbacks. As Luptito was dying, he turns to see Tony and asks him for his blessing so that he would not go to hell. Narsciso is the town drunk, he has been drinking since his wife died. He protects Ultima, and when her life is thretened by Tenorio, “The Villan” he is always at her side. On one occasion where her life is at danger he walks through the snow storm to warn Ultima of Tenorio. Tenorio was waiting for him in the road and kills him. Again, as he is dying he spots Tony hiding behind a tree and begs for his blessing. Even when Tony’s friend Florence and non believer in God drowns, he feels compelled to bless his freind to give him a chance to go to heaven. Ultima, his mentor and best friend is shot by Tenorio. Well not her but the owl who in essence is her soul, as the owl dies so does she. All this death around a little boy between the ages of 6-12.