Bless Me, Ultima (chapters 17-22)

As the book ends, I must admit, I liked it more so than some other books we have read this year. What I really liked about it was some of the things that made me think differently. There was a lot of insight. For example, on page 195, the conversation between Tony and Florence is very advanced for a couple of second graders. How Florence says, "I never asked to be born. But he gives me birth, a soul, and puts me here to punish me. Why? What did I ever to do deserve this, huh?" (Anaya, 196). And Tony replies, "...maybe God puts obstacles in front of us so that we will have to overcome them. And if we overcome all the hard and bad things, then we will be good Catholics, and earn the right to be with Him in heaven" (Anaya, 196). First of all, I wasn't even on that level of thinking in second grade. When it came time for my First Communion, I thought it just meant I was growing up in the church.
I must admit, I was sad to see Ultima die, but I had a hunch she was going to die in the book somehow. What I didn't like was that we never find out what Tony does with his career. In the beginning, we think he's going to be a priest or a farmer. That's what Ultima an his whole dream was about. It develops throughout the book, describing Tony's struggles with his faith in God or the Golden Carp. There was plenty of build up, then we end up never finding out. But maybe that's what the author wants. Maybe their purpose is to leave it to their audience's imagination.