Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me Ultima

Webster Dictionary defines ‘disposition’ as “the predominant or prevailing tendency of one's spirits; natural mental and emotional outlook or mood; characteristic attitude.” There are two essential dispositions: there is faith in the land, and faith in religion. There are transcendentalists who adored the natural land, and there are the Romans who worshipped the Sun as a god. Who decides which is right? All the men on Earth seem to accept one or the other, and a true decision is never made, like a coin endlessly flipping through an eternal void. These dispositions exist as opposites, yet there is a middle ground; a coin must have two sides, but it must also have center that connects the two. In Rudolfo Anaya’s novel, Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio Marez struggles between two worlds; his mother’s side of the Lunas, and the foil
When he brings his troubles to his father, bombarding him with questions, his father replies simply with, “understanding comes with life” (Anaya 248). Antonio’s father understands that the church yielded no answers for Antonio, and he shows Antonio that he will only find answers through living, not in the church. This is a strong instantiation of the free spirit of the Marez, only to live and see what is at the end of the horizon instead of only thinking of it. Without Ultima, The contrast between Luna and Marez continues to grow.
Theresa Kanoza writes of this sharp contrast, explaining that Antonio not only experiences a difference in parental influence, but a similar influence from his peers who hold faith to different God’s (161,2). Antonio feels the pull towards God, as well as a pull towards the Golden Carp, yet he remains unable to choose. Antonio’s questions remain unanswered by both sides, and he finds no lasting comfort in the ways of the Luna or of the Marez. And thus it becomes clear that he must find a middle ground, the only option being