Magical Realism In Bless Me Ultima

When someone walks into a bookstore like Barnes & Nobles they see different books of different genres. They see fantasy, non-fiction, bibliography and magical realism. Magical realism, according to Encyclopedia Britannica is “chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction.” In other words, there are magical elements blended seamlessly into the plot and they are culturally accepted. Overall, many magical realism stories, like Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, or Big Fish by Tim Burton, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, and “The Moths” by Helena María, all have many characteristics that are similar
In the novel, Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya there are many elements that show that this is under the magical realism genre. There is a portion of the book when Ultima lifts a curse planted by three witches,
In Bless Me Ultima, Ultima takes Tony to gather herbs by the river. There is a moment where she tells him to try and connect with the river and hear what it is saying. Tony discusses with Ultima and the readers that, “The silence spoke, not with harsh sounds, but softly to the rhythm of our blood”(41). Tony after asks Ultima what that was and she tells him it is the presence of the river. He starts to pay attention and states that he is no longer afraid of the presence of the river. Also, Tony’s father tells him what the wind is saying and how to communicate with the wind. In both events of the story Tony takes these in and does not question that the river and wind have the power to communicate with humans; instead he embraces is it and looks for it while he is alone. Another example of personification being an element of magical realism is in the movie Big Fish. In a scene of the movie Edward Bloom, one of the main characters, is walking in a forest at night. All of a sudden, a tree lifts him up and starts attacking him. When he was little he saw into a witch’s eye and knew how he was going to die. So, while the tree was attacking him he focused more on “this is not how I am going to die” then about a tree taking a life form and attacking him. Therefore, the way he reacts shows that personification is seen as ordinary in the world of the movie and that is an element of magical realism.