Bless Me, Ultima= My new favorite book!

I’ve only taken one other humanities class in my whole college career besides this one, and it was an intro in the humanities; in other words, kinda boring to me.  So when I I signed up for this class I was a little skeptical of what it would be like.  But my eyes have definitely opened to a whole new aspect of the humanities as we’ve gone through this course.  Out of all the books, stories, and poems that we’ve read, or the pictures we’ve looked at and the movies we’ve watched, reading the novel Bless Me, Ultima has definitely been my favorite!  In fact, I liked it so much that I’m not going to sell it back to the bookstore at the end of the semester. 

I was intrigued that this book really caused me to think about how each person has a different path they will walk in life, and how it is up to that person as to which path they will take; but that’s not to say the path one may choose can be influenced  by another person.  For instance, Tony’s mom has just ingrained it into Tony’s head that he was to be a priest, and in my own head, that is what Tony becomes (even though the novel doesn’t tell us exactly what does happen to him).  That made me think about my own life and where I am today.  Did I get here because of my own desires or mostly because of the direction others encouraged me to go in?  Was it a perfect mix of the two? I don’t know!  I guess in Professor Mack’s words, it’s just complicated!  Of course everyone’s personalities are different and there are probably some people who are more inclined to do what others tell them, and there are others who are very head strong, and maybe adventurous and won’t listen to anyone.  I wonder what kind of parent I will be . . . Will I be more like Tony’s mom and try and steer my children in the patch that I want for them?  How will I find the balance in letting them make their own decisions but trying to teach them the right way?  Again, it’s complicated and I guess I’ll figure it out as I go along!  If only I had someone like Ultima to give me all the answers :)