Cultural Conflict In Bless Me, Ultima

The exposure to a child’s birth culture will help the child decide if their birth and/or adopted culture accurately reflects their identity

Doña Margarita says that once everyone “recognize we are all the children of God,” (471) it will lead to happiness because she believed that God is the almighty figure that has the ability to enlighten the world. In conclusion, Villaseñor’s book is filled with elements regarding family, love, and determination. Furthermore, Villaseñor uses religion to connect these elements to religious faith. The lack of books using religious connections makes this book unique.

Is there a lack of freedom in stability or a lack of stability in freedom? In the novel Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio’s coming of age is challenged domestically by the father/mother tension of freedom versus stability through their parental expectations. Generally in life, children seek to please their parents in everything they do. It is often conflicting parental expectations that send a child into an overwhelming state of distress wondering why they try so hard to attain the standards of both but inevitably end up disappointing one or the other. Maria and Gabriel are prime examples of parents that are completely disconnected from their family as a whole but most importantly detached from their son due to their unwillingness to compromise.

Introduction There are many different types of cultures in society around the world, all with their own individual accepted ways of behaviour, some cultures might be familiar and others might seem strange to us. Cultures have their own set of norms to control acceptable behaviour. If we as fellow human beings all took the initiative to understand each other’s cultures, it might not seem that strange to us anymore and it is possible that we could help others in a way that is acceptable to the society in which we live in. The aim of this essay is to discuss, using a view based on the sociological imagination, whether a unique personal family issue can be related to an issue in society.

While there are numerous examples of conflict throughout Bless Me, Ultima, the most prominent examples are the “Man vs. Self” conflicts Antonio faces. One such conflict—a multifaceted struggle that ultimately becomes one of the most prominent in the novel—concerns his religious beliefs. Antonio’s mother is a devout Catholic and raises her children to be followers of the religion as well, but Antonio struggles with the concept of the all-powerful God and the fact that such a God would punish good people while forgiving those whom Antonio deemed “evil,” and at one point thinks that perhaps God does not help him because He is “too busy in heaven to worry or care about” Antonio and his friends and family (187). Antonio also doubts that God truly is all-powerful, as He couldn’t alleviate the Téllez family’s curse, and He could save neither Lupito nor Narciso, and therefore thinks it “doesn’t seem right” that He has “the right to send you to hell or heaven when you died.” (236) Yet despite his doubts, some part of Antonio clings to his upbringing and what his mother taught him, as he is seen desperately clinging to his religious beliefs, such as when he restrains himself from seeking too much knowledge despite his curiosity, for fear that he might commit “the original sin of Adam and Eve” (197).

At first I wrestled with where my identity lay. The strong values and traditions of the Indian culture sometimes made it difficult to fit in with the crowd. As I grew older, I began to understand that I was not part of an individual culture, but a fusion of two rich and colorful histories. I recognized that there is remarkably more to an individual than where she comes from, and more to her than where she currently lives. Importantly, being from two cultures allows me to incorporate the best qualities of both.

Soon after he takes his communion, he waits for the answers from God to enter his mind but nothing happens. Antonio matures religiously by accepting that God cannot answer all his questions about life all at once. Antonio felt he had given his hopes up in

Like the narrator’s father, he notices the family’s cultural identity is slowly dying. His wife, a native Malaysian, is adopting a new identity as a “sales clerk at [Woodworks]” (340) in Canada. In marriage, a couple is supposed to share the responsibility to raise their children and support each other. However, she may have given up on the teaching responsibility from the moment the language “never came easily to [the daughter]” (340). Ultimately, the father is solely responsible handing down his family’s cultural and social roots to his children.

Culture is an essential part of a community’s identity, because it links individuals to a collective bond. The Americas have always contained a vast variety of cultural communities, especially in the United States. The US is known for being one of the most diverse nations in the world, housing hundreds of different cultures. Mexican-Americans display a strong sense of a cultural background, which falls as a subset of the bigger Latino culture that links all Latinos. Oral history is a major aspect on the Mexican culture, which contributes to the truth of how history in the United States actually happened.

Being Born into a Family with Two Different Backgrounds: A Conflict in Bless Me Ultima About Tony Being Influenced By Two Opposite Ways of Life In all conflicts there are always two sides which think they are superior to the condescending opponent. Sometimes in the conflicts they are facing, a force which is intertwined with both sides will have to choose a side in order to declare which side is superior. There are times when the deciding force is confused and not sure which side is actually better, so it must take time to finalize its decision. This deciding force in Bless Me, Ultima is Tony, who is puzzled about whether he should follow the path of a Luna or a Marez.

One of the many themes in the novel, Bless me, Ultima is Antonio’s “loss of innocence” throughout the months upon the arrival of Ultima, the curandera. At the beginning of the novel, Antonio is an innocent boy, protected from reality thanks to his age and parents. As the novel progresses, Antonio becomes aware of the bad and the good in life. Antonio’s transition from innocence to experience is shown through particular events.

A difference in self-identity often causes conflict between individuals. Head cook at weddings and Funerals by Vi Plotnikoff demonstrates how differences in beliefs, values, future plans and different opinions can cause conflict between a family, community or individuals. Beliefs and values often differ between people, just as Marusa and Aunt Florence. Murusa is considered a perfect girl, she came from a profoundly traditional Doukhobor family. Marisa 's mother, Aunt Florence was a fairly traditional as well as having strong ties to the Doukhobor community.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom,” is a quote by Aristotle, providing a vivid understanding that if someone knows who they are as a person, it is difficult to persuade them into thinking otherwise. However, if one is ignorant of their identity, it is easy to provide them with conflicting thoughts as well as confusion toward their culture, customs, race or anything particularly having to do with their background. In Bless Me, Ultima, the author exhibits the most frequently used cultural conflict from the Chicano culture in rural Mexico in the 1940s and purposely clashes it with Catholicism and the English Language. The book introduces Antonio who can be described as a young boy who is prone to moral questioning, in search for

The family members were greatly affected when the children lost their sense of the cultures language. At around the age of sixteen, the children went home as their “duties” and “obligations” were done. The families tried to communicate with them but the children were brain washed Europeans. As younger siblings came into residential schools, they attempted to speak their language to the older ones and the older ones had forgotten the language. The parents were also confused how the children believed in such strong European worldviews.

The difference in language leads to miscommunication but the overlying consequence of it is lack of understanding and empathy for one another which leads to conflict. “Language takes on a metonymic relation to culture in Tan's portrayal of the gap between the mothers and daughters in The Joy Luck Club.” (Hamilton). The language barriers between the daughters and the mothers create the cultural barriers. Language barriers emphasize and directly influences cultural barriers.