Bless Me, Ultima (Chapters 8-12)

            As the plot thickens and the family's struggles are continuously simmering, I can not imagine what else is in store for the Marez family. While reading chapter nine, I get the feeling that Antonio's mom, Maria, is the person who controls the entire family. Eugene, Leon, and Andrew are back from war, struggling with post traumatic stress syndrome and they are having a difficult time adjusting back to their normal lives, especially Leon. Maria must comfort him at night, but she is often comforting everybody in her family. She has control and that is why I believe that Antonio's dad, Gabriel, has not left yet. The family is divided, half want to move to California, half want to stay in New Mexico. I predict that half of the family might separate from the other half after Antonio makes his decision. The older boys are even divided about what Antonio will do, "'Tony will be a priest', he laughed. 'Tony will be her farmer,' Leon added"(Anaya 68).
            The plot in this novel does not seem to fit with the time period. To me, it would fit better if this novel was set during the American Indian Wars. Their lifestyles seem to be very minimal for being set in the 1940's. They have no telephone or radio and to me the, witchcraft and healing abilities of Ultima seemed to have been occurring in earlier time periods. Ultima's abilities keep becoming more and more dangerous and complicated as the novel continues on. She first cures Lucas, but then kills one Tenorio's daughters and I just want Ultima to only do good things with her magic. I also do not like that Ultima is introducing all of this bad witchcraft to Antonio, seeing as he is only a young boy. Although he is extremely mature and advanced two grades in school, sometimes Ultima seems to be a bad influence on him.
          I am looking forward to the rest of Bless Me, Ultima seeing as now the plot events are getting more interesting and appealing. I believe that Ultima will have to face the angry mob again and their tricks to try and prove her evil witchcraft, but she will always escape it. I predict that the Marez family's growing tensions against each other will guild Antonio into spending more time with Ultima to escape his family's feuding. As of right now, I do not know if Ultima's intentions are admirable or evil and look forward to seeing what other miracles she can perform.