Bless Me Ultima Ultima Is a Witch

In the book Bless Me, Ultima, Ultima is an old woman who was invited to stay at our protagonist house, Antonio, to live the remainder years of her life with the Marez family. But there is a controversy to who is Ultima, a witch or curandera? Ultima calls herself a curandera, someone who uses herbs and old customs to heal someone else, but some people in the book call her a bruja, which is Spanish for witch. Ultima is called a witch many times in the novel but neither denies nor accepts the accusation. The Author of the book, Anaya Rudolfo leaves us with the question of who really was Ultima, a witch or curandera? In my opinion I believe that Ultima is a witch. Throughout the novel Ultima shows many characteristics of being a witch and in this essay I will show you how Ultima is a witch. First is the relationship between Ultima and the owl. In the book when Ultima moves in with the Marez family, an owl follows. The owl can be a symbol of witch and is even said so in the novel, “In many cuentos I had heard the owl was one of the disguises a bruja took…” (pg13). Ultima has a very strong connection with the owl and is even said that the owl was Ultima’s soul or life force. An example of Ultima and the owl being the same person is at the end of the novel when Antonio buries the owl, “… and after mass we would take her body [Ultima] to the ceremony in las Pasturas for burial. But that would only be prescribed by custom. Ultima was really buried here. Tonight” (pg262). That quotation means that when Antonio buried the owl he was also burying Ultima because they shared souls. If Ultima has the soul of witch then she herself has to be evil. Another evil connection between Ultima and the owl is when in page 134 of the book Ultima’s owl rips out Tenorio’s eye. If Ultima was really a curandera would she really hurt a man, when her duty of a curandera was to help and help people? Next are the acts of Ultima. Ultima shows many witch like personality when she was curing