Bless Me, Ultima: Chapters 17-22

I am not too pleased with the ending of this story. There isn't really any indication of what Tony is going to do with his life, except that he definitely isn't going to be a Priest, a cowboy, or a Mini Ultima. I never thought that Tony would do as his father wanted, he always seemed to deep in meaningful thought for a rowdy life as a cowboy free on the plains. But for a while the priest thing was going well, until he made communion. And honestly no wonder he didn't want to become a priest any more. The kids that made him play priest caused Tony to realize that people would want him to condem others, rather than save them. He's too gentle for that. The priest who was teaching them for their communion also made Catholicism sound rather silly and horrific at the same time. I get he was trying to scare the kids into not sinning with the timeline of how long burning in Hell for all eternity would be, but that was cruel and frightened me. It reminded me of an episode of Criminal Minds where this crazy spanish priest goes around murdering people for their sins because he thought that he was saving them from an eternity of hell. Additionally, I enjoyed how Anaya put the start of Tony's questioning "'What if I go to confession?' 'Then your sin is forgiven, your soul is clean, and you are saved-' 'You mean I can go out and sin...do a million bad things and then when I die I just go to confession and make communion, and I go to heaven?' 'Yes,' I said, 'if you're sorry you sinned-' 'Ohhhhh,' he laughed, 'I'll be sorry!...You know it doesn't seem fair.' No, it didn't seem fair, but it could happen." (Anaya 192) I never really understood that part of Catholicism. Basically they don't want you to sin, but it's completely alright if you do as long as you just are sorry. So if you regret your bad decisions, if you're sorry that you did them, it deems them as okay? I think it indeed is not fair. You are basically giving people the green light to do bad things. I enjoyed Florence, and I was upset when he drowned. He effected Tony greatly, and I think was a big cause of his questioning his faith.

I have to say I am happy this book is over. I wish that there had been an epilogue giving some indication of what Tony does in his later life, but perhaps Anaya couldn't think of anything that sat right with him enough to give to his readers. I like the explanation of Ultima, and I think her death was a good way to end the book. It made the world of Tony's seem at peace, as if he was ready to start a new part of his life. But I guess we will never know for sure.