The main characters in Bless Me, Ultima, Dreaming in Cuban, and Bodega Dreams are all in the process of personal transition, creating a mature and new identity that borrows elements from their families and cultures of origin as well as draws from the way in which they experience being an individual in contemporary American culture. As we look more closely at these journeys we can see that family, friends, and special mentors are most influential in the shaping of Latino characters from these various cultures of origin.
Rafael Falcon, in Reflection of my Essence, illustrates a personal reflection of identity and how various elements from one’s family and culture of origin play a vital role in how he sees himself. In his first paragraph he describes in himself a mixture of races, Indian, Spanish, African, and how they come together to form a unique and beautiful whole. When he looks deep into himself, the geographical boundaries of countries melt away, and cherished treasures of Latino and Puerto Rican culture surface (line 13). Falcon describes how various elements, family and friends, memories, culture, history, come together to form a unique heritage that captures his identity and his very essence.
In Bless Me, Ultima, we read about the personal journey of Antonio, a small child who lives near Guadalupe, New Mexico with his mother, father, and two older sisters. He also has three older brothers who return from fighting in the war later in the book. Antonio, or Toni, experiences life in a new way as he feels the nudging of his father and mother’s different wishes for his future, as significant events take place, and as Ultima, his healer, kindred spirit and mentor, comes into his life, guides him through and makes him aware of the aspects of his heritage that make him who he is. Throughout the book Toni is in the process of gathering the pieces of his life and welding them together into a formation he recognizes as his own multicultural identity.
From the beginning of Toni’s history there was the Lunas and the Marez. These conflicting cultures within his family that date back hundreds of years, are deeply part of Toni’s essence. Where his mother and father call home is integral to who Toni is and where he feels called to go in his life.
His mother’s family, the Lunas, are farmers, and they influence Toni’s perception of the earth. His mother, being a Luna, never understood or accepted his father’s people, the wandering vaqueros, or cowboys, of the Llano. “But you will not be like them,” she says on page 10. “You will be like my brothers. You will be a Luna, Antonio. You will be a man of the people, and perhaps a priest.” But Toni is confused, unsure of how much of himself is Luna, and how much is Marez. He feels torn between the differing hopes of his mother and father regarding his future. Early on in the book Toni has a dream about the events surrounding his birth. The Lunas and Marez quarreled over him, even in his infancy (6).
Through the book Toni asks questions and learns about the Lunas and the Marez. Ultima helps him gain insight into these conflicting sides of his family. She informs him, “It is in the blood of the Lunas to be quiet.” They are quiet as the moon is quiet. She says only a quiet man is capable of learning the earth’s secrets, to interact with the earth and plant seeds that will grow and flourish. But the Marez blood, Toni learns, boils like the ocean, from where they take their name. It is part of their nature to be wild and free, and so it is the Llano they call their home (44). Only in those open plains lies the true freedom that their hearts and spirits need (2).
Toni feels a strong connection to both sides of his family. When he goes to visit his Uncles on the Luna side, they teach him about farming and he helps them harvest their crops. He learns the ways in which they communicate with the land. As Ultima teaches him to listen to the river and to the pulse of the land, he begins to appreciate his Luna side of his family more, and he sees and respects this within himself. He also enjoys and loves his Catholic religion. His mother, his Luna side, brings this out in him as they pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe everyday and go to Mass. Toni loves the Virgin of Guadalupe more than anyone else and knows her forgiveness to be an inspiring miracle (47). This exposure to faith allows him to struggle with questions about God, forgiveness, heaven and hell.
Toni’s identity is strongly tied to the character of Ultima, Toni’s special mentor. Through Ultima Toni learns many things about life. She shows him the beauty of the land, the gurgling river and the turning earth (1). He experiences the Llano in a way he never has before. He learns about his faith, about relationships, and in all this he pieces together a new identity in which he understands himself to be part of the land. “Through her,” he says, “I learned my spirit shared in the spirit of all things” (16).
Ultima teaches Toni that God is alive and everywhere. Though Toni knows about faith, she opens up his eyes and his mind to the realm of the spirit world (viii). This realm then becomes a part of him. It shows through in his sense of the land, the way he interacts with his friends, the questions he asks (like when he wonders about Lupito’s soul on page 44) and the dreams he has throughout the novel. Even when Toni first meets Ultima he feels in his entire being that she holds his destiny, his future, in her hands (12-13).
Ultima is part of the history of curanderas that have been part of Mexican culture for 400 years, and she makes Toni aware of where this ancient tradition comes from (ix). Ultima teaches Toni about the history of medicine use and how herbs and remedies were borrowed from various ancient cultures like the Mayas, Aztecs, and the Indians from the Rio del Norte. As Toni experiences Ultima healing his Uncle and various characters in the book, he becomes more in touch with the traditions of his culture of origin. The curandera culture, however, does not fit easily with Catholicism, and Toni must work out what he believes about God, healing, miracles and faith.
Toni struggles with his identity throughout the novel. He questions what he believes about Catholicism, forgiveness, heaven and hell, who he is and what his future will be. Toni loves his father and mother, and the different histories and cultures of Luna and Marez that they embody. He loves the Llano and river, but knows he is neither. Early on in the novel he finds himself wondering which side he will choose (44). As Toni’s life moves forward, he comes to know himself as a beautiful blend of both Luna and Marez, and realizes he does not have to be restricted by old traditions or by the past, but can move forward with a new personal identity.
In Dreaming in Cuban, the journey of Pilar exemplifies the shaping and changing of personal identity in a struggle to combine different aspects of her family. In the beginning, Pilar’s identity is strongly tied to her grandmother and mentor, Celia, and she dreams of returning home to Cuba in the hope that she may pick up the pieces of herself she feels are left there. As her grandmother’s dreams are correlated with her own, she draws from these ties, their shared dreams and their similarities, as she searches for who she is. Based on who her mother is, Pilar also determines who she does not want to be, and adds those pieces to her collection of Self.
Pilar desperately wants to return to Cuba, to her grandmother Celia. She is fed up with her life in New York, fed up with her mother’s restrictions, her father’s dishonesty, her hovering nursemaids – she is fed up with it all (25). She believes she will find personal freedom in Cuba in a way she has not found in America.
For Pilar, returning to Cuba with her mother is a homecoming, but it is different than she imagined. Her perception of her grandmother changes, and even in her first moments reunited with her mentor, she is made aware of her incredible vulnerability (217). She realizes that her grandma’s identity lies solely with her past, which is a difficult, scary and painful reality to deal with.
During the trip, Pilar finds that she almost becomes disconnected from her grandmother rather than forming a tighter and stronger connection. A reoccurring image of Grandma Celia underwater, calling out to her, sticks to the walls of her mind, but in this vision she cannot hear Celia when she calls (220). When Pilar listens to her grandma Celia speak of her lost lover, she realizes that Celia’s history drowns her and restricts her from truly living.
Pilar still enjoys spending time with her grandmother. It is what she needed. But as her visit goes on, she comes to realize that her dreams are for her future instead of for her past. During this trip, this homecoming, Pilar disentangles herself from her grandmother, and also begins to make peace with who her mom is. As this happens, Pilar discovers herself in a new light. The painful pasts of her mother and grandmother are important to Pilar’s identity, but as she gains a healthy distance from them, she begins to have a better view of who she is.
In the end Pilar molds different elements of her life together to form her new sense of self. This includes her Cuban identity and the histories of her mother and grandmother that are tied to that place, and her dreams to be an artist who depicts the colors of the world around her. She grew up living in New York for all but two years of her life, and so the majority of her life she has experienced the world as a Latina. In combining all of these aspects of her life, Pilar creates a unique, blended self-identity.
In Bodega Dreams, the character of Chino goes through personal transition and finds a new identity from combining attributes he admires in his mentor, Willie Bodega, the things he admires in his close friend, Sapo, and his hopes and dreams for his family. He also draws from Nuyorican culture and the spirit and personality of Spanish Harlem for which he develops hopes and dreams.
Chino admires Willie Bodega for his blended identity and his dreams for the future of Spanish Harlem. Bodega was able to drag himself up and out of the shadows of the streets and shed his past in a way Chino himself wishes he could (13). Chino notes that Bodega is a wonderful combination of “nobility” and “street” (85). Being a drug lord, Bodega embodies all the ugliness of Spanish Harlem, yet in his dream for its potential success and beauty he captures all the good Spanish Harlem is capable of (14).
One of Chino’s biggest worries is providing for his family. He wants to be a family man, wants to give his unborn child his own room, his wife a nice apartment, and wishes he could provide the luxuries of a richer life than the life they have now. All of that takes money, which Chino earns by saving what he makes working at a grocery store. Even with Blanca working a job, they do not have enough to afford the luxuries that Chino wants to give, and in his desire to provide for his family he becomes entangled in the drug money of the streets. This, interestingly enough, leads him to Bodega, but it also gets Sapo steadily involved in his life again.
Blanca does not like Sapo at all, and warns Chino about getting involved with the tainted money of the streets. Blanca, like Chino’s mother, does not understand the special relationship between Sapo and Chino. She does not understand what it means to be a pana to someone. It was Chino’s father who understood the importance of having someone there to watch your back, to protect you and your name (10).
The tension between his wife and his best friend is difficult for Chino and creates a struggle within him that builds character. His childhood memories are times with Sapo, watching each other’s backs, getting into fights, and earning their names (11). His adult life is filled with incredible moments with his wife Blanca as they fell in love, got married, and worked to form new people. Chino acknowledges that it is important to have people there as you grow and change, and Blanca was there for him (13).
These two very different people who are so important to Chino represent two worlds that are closely tied, yet separate. It is hard for Chino to balance his life, and please both Sapo and Blanca. These tensions between family and friends add new dimension to Chino’s changing identity and he learns that his hopes and dreams have much to do with the people who are most important in his life.
The stories of the main characters in Bless Me, Ultima, Dreaming in Cuban, and Bodega Dreams illustrate the ways in which people combine aspects of their lives and form their own identity. In the lives of these Latino characters, family, friends, and mentor figures are most influential factors in shaping their self-identity. In mixing these different aspects of their lives, these characters find that the mixed identity they create is rich, beautiful, and unique, and reflects their essence.
Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley: TQS Publications, 1972. Print.
Falcon, Rafael. Mi Gente: In Search of the Hispanic Soul. Cursack Books, 2008. Print.
In this book Falcon’s essay Reflection of my Essence describes the hybrid identity that Falcon recognizes in himself as he looks into the mirror and looks past his outward features and peers within himself and sees his heritage and his soul. This short essay is a wonderful example of how many different aspects of one’s life and culture come together to form a mixed and beautiful identity.
Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. Ballantine Books: New York, 1993. Print.
Quinonez, Ernesto. Bodega Dreams. Vintage, 2000. Print.
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