"Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo A. Anaya
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.
The story takes place during World War II in a small town called Guadalupe which is in New Mexico. It is about a young boy named Antonio Márez who is trying to figure out his identity. His family has taken in an old healer named Ultima who uses folk magic in service of the community and has healing powers. Antonio's mother is a Catholic and his father is a cowboy of the great plains of New Mexico. Due to such a difference of who they are, they bump heads about what their expectation of Antonio's future would be like. His mother hopes he would become a Catholic priest and his father hopes he will become a cowboy like him. Ultima takes great part throughout the novel. She teaches him much about nature and the Native American religion. By spending so much time with Ultima, Antonio begins to realize what he wants to do for himself in his own future.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
Independence. You must have your own opinion of what you want to do in the future because it's your own life ahead of you.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The authors tone is very serious and somber. We can see the seriousness when Antonio is trying to figure out his moral decisions and which path to take for his future. Another excerpts is when Ultima is trying to cure the illness of Lucas, but one of Tonorio's daughters passes away. Another example is the ending when Ultima is killed due to the fact that Tonorio killed her owl that helps with her magical healing.
4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone. Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.
-Symbolism: The author uses the Ultima's owl as a symbol of her life and powerful folk magic. The owl helps comfort Antonio which ties into the theme by helping him decide what he wants to be.
-Imagery: Antonio encountering the golden carp.
-Foreshadowing: When Antonio hears a voice of the river which foreshadows that the peacefulness is about to end.
-Magical realism: The author portrays the realistic story of Tony coming of age and figuring out his future and combines that with the fantasy of the Ultima.
-Mood: The mood of the novel is very curious in which Antonio keeps wondering about himself and his future.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Charles Dickens.
The novel that I have chosen to read is "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. The title to this novel simply means that the main character in this book has many great different expectations of things, but they are not all what he thought they would be like. Such as his expectations of people or even expectations of himself.
A Poem Worth Loving.
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-This poem caught my attention due to the message behind it. I was able to relate to it in which I myself am not sure of what road to take. There is always that curiosity of "what if I went this way?" or "what if I did this instead?" With much of the college talk going around and many different ideas on what to do and what my next step is going to to be, this poem is a great way of showing that wonder.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-This poem caught my attention due to the message behind it. I was able to relate to it in which I myself am not sure of what road to take. There is always that curiosity of "what if I went this way?" or "what if I did this instead?" With much of the college talk going around and many different ideas on what to do and what my next step is going to to be, this poem is a great way of showing that wonder.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Big Question Abstract.
There are many thoughts and ideas on how the Earth was initially created. Many believe God created the entire Earth himself and many believe that it was all science that created the Earth. This is a question many ask and wonder about. The need for finding the information is to get an idea of how everything began. Finding this information will help clear the thoughts and wonders of others. It will also help answer the questions many have. By going to the library and looking up different pieces of literature on creation myths or searching up different reliable websites on the same idea will help with the research. This research will compare the two different sides of many peoples opinion which are religion and science.
The Open Question Essay.
Prompt: "By their deeds shall ye know them." We often judge people by what they do; therefore, we consider people who commit cruel or reprehensible acts corrupt, base or amoral. In literature, however, authors often introduce us to characters whom we learn to like or even respect, despite their deeds.
Write an essay about one such character for whom you developed admiration or compassion. Briefly explain why you felt his or her behavior to be condemnable or contemptible, and how the author's techniques influenced you to admire that person. Do not summarize the plot. (40 minutes)
Practically every author tends to create a character(s) who can relate to the reader. This helps the reader connect and feel admiration for them. In the novel "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker for example, I had developed compassion and admiration for the main character Celie due to her experiences and the use of the author’s techniques.
Throughout the novel, Celie’s actions and her personal experiences played a major role on developing compassion and admiration for this particular character. Reading about her experiences of being raped and having the children of the man who raped her are such tragic situations to imagine. This developed compassion for her because for someone to go through this is unimaginable and tragic. While reading about her situations I was also able to realize how strong of a person she is. This is what made me begin to feel admiration for her. For someone to have these types of experiences in reality and continue to keep their head up shows how strong of a person they are.
The author’s techniques also played major role. The style that the author used showed how much hope the main character had. By the way of her writing letters to God expressed how she hoped for everything to get better and was her way of asking for help. This created a sense of compassion in the way of wanting to help her get out of the problems she was going through. Another technique was the author’s tone which was a sense of misery that expressed how much these situations affected her life dramatically and helped create a sense of compassion towards her.
In conclusion, the main character in the novel "The Color Purple" was a character in who I gained a sense of compassion and admiration for. By reading the types of situations she had to experience and the use of different techniques the author used were different ways in gaining such feelings towards the character.
Write an essay about one such character for whom you developed admiration or compassion. Briefly explain why you felt his or her behavior to be condemnable or contemptible, and how the author's techniques influenced you to admire that person. Do not summarize the plot. (40 minutes)
Practically every author tends to create a character(s) who can relate to the reader. This helps the reader connect and feel admiration for them. In the novel "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker for example, I had developed compassion and admiration for the main character Celie due to her experiences and the use of the author’s techniques.
Throughout the novel, Celie’s actions and her personal experiences played a major role on developing compassion and admiration for this particular character. Reading about her experiences of being raped and having the children of the man who raped her are such tragic situations to imagine. This developed compassion for her because for someone to go through this is unimaginable and tragic. While reading about her situations I was also able to realize how strong of a person she is. This is what made me begin to feel admiration for her. For someone to have these types of experiences in reality and continue to keep their head up shows how strong of a person they are.
The author’s techniques also played major role. The style that the author used showed how much hope the main character had. By the way of her writing letters to God expressed how she hoped for everything to get better and was her way of asking for help. This created a sense of compassion in the way of wanting to help her get out of the problems she was going through. Another technique was the author’s tone which was a sense of misery that expressed how much these situations affected her life dramatically and helped create a sense of compassion towards her.
In conclusion, the main character in the novel "The Color Purple" was a character in who I gained a sense of compassion and admiration for. By reading the types of situations she had to experience and the use of different techniques the author used were different ways in gaining such feelings towards the character.
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