Magic Realism In Bless Me Ultima

Magic realism is a literary genre or style that incorporates mythical and magical elements in realistic fiction, most often associated with Latin America. In Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya uses many tools and literary elements to tell Antoine's story. Magic realism is the most commonly occurring and most effective literary element to tell the story. Anaya uses magic realism to introduce and describe various characters. For example Narciso, he is the town drunk and nobody takes him seriously, but he is actually a skill gardner. Anaya uses magic realism to add layers and depth to this character. Suddenly Narciso is no longer the town drunk but a kind man who owns a beautiful garden filled full of golden carrots. Magic realism plays a huge role in the novel, and without it it would be less eventful. In chapter ten Antonio narrates, “The power of the doctors and the powers of the church had failed to cure my uncle, Now everyone depended on Ultima’s …show more content…
He gave me the owl and he said that the owl was my spirit, my bond to the time and harmony of the universe-” (Anaya 260). This is important because it shows why Ultima and the owl were so close. This also adds to the magicalness between Ultima and the owl itself. This is similar to the connection between Narciso and his garden. The death of the owl combined with the death of Ultima shows the magic and power between the two. This event also had a sad effect on the readers. It also reinforce the idea of how magic fades when a certain character dies.
In conclusions, magic realism has played a huge part in Bless Me, Ultima. This literary technique helps tell Antonio’s story in vivid detail and is significant because without it, there would be no story. It is clear that every page in the novel relates to magic realism in one way or another and the book would be so great without