Bless me, Ultima Chapters 8-12

     Despite reading these 5 chapters, Ultima is just as mysterious as before.  She presents a different view of life to Antonio that confuses him, yet their relationship continues to grow stronger, especially when Antonio helps her cure Maria's younger brother.  I felt that this part and Antonio's dream in Chapter 9 were the most important parts of this portion of the book.  In chapter 9 Antonio dreams that his brothers want him to go into "the house of sinful women" but he resists.  Antonio says "I cannot enter, I cannot think those thoughts.  I am to be a priest" (Anaya 70).  This may appear as a simple statement yet it hints that Antonio wants to be a priest and it foreshadows that he will be.  His brothers protest by saying that Antonio will eventually enter because he is a Marez.  What this represents is Gabriel's side of the family, one that is not devoted to God.  The dream then shifts to the topic of innocence as Andrew says he will not enter until Antonio has lost his innocence.  In the dream, Antonio's mother claims that he has already lost his innocence because he is a Marez.  Then, Ultima appears in the dream saying "There where the lonely wind of the llano sang to the lover's feat of your birth, there in those hills is your innocence" (Anaya 71).  This foreshadows that Antonio will live in the llano and that is where he will be happiest.  This contrasts the occupation that his mother wants for him to be (a priest).
     The other part of this portion of the book that I felt most important was when Antonio helped Ultima cure the very sick younger brother of Maria  (Lucas Luna).  At this part of the book Antonio is very religious yet he is faced with many contrasting beliefs and ideas of both his parents and Ultima which continue to confuse him.  It causes him to question his faith.  This  confusion gets worse when Ultima is successful in curing Lucas.  It appears that she used the power of nature to help lucas since she is not devoted to God.  She is then accused of being a witch but she passes a test that suggests she is not.  Nonetheless, the accusation is still out there and the people, including Antonio, aren't exactly what or who she is.  Nobody (except maybe her owl) understands her and she doesn't give away many hints as to what she knows.