My favorite Christmas present? The gift of literature and forced blogging! Merry Christmas everyone, but now, back to the book. A lot a lot a lot of things happened between chapters 13 and 16.
Within these chapters, Antonio struggles with his faith, and cannot understand divine justice (or the lack there of). "But why had the new god, the golden carp, chosen also to punish people? The old God already did that. Drowning or burning, the punishment was all the same." Antonio questions why a god must punish at all; why can't they just forgive? Often within the book Antonio goes to the Virgin Mary rather than God or the golden carp. This is most likely because he views her as such a forgiving and divine being. Antonio later suffers from an internal conflict; the ignorant and innocent Antonio, who wishes forgiveness upon all, and the Antonio that is more aware of the world's realities, who wishes forgiveness for some and vengeance for other. After Tenorio gets away with the murder of Narciso, Antonio is cursed with the burden of new knowledge. This is the knowledge of evil. In Antonio's dream he pleads with God to forgive his brothers and Narciso, but to punish Tenorio. God tells Antonio he will forgive Narciso if he also pleads for the forgiveness of Tenorio. When the Virgin Mary offers to forgive both Antonio, now less innocent and less forgiving, protests it vigorously. "You would have a God who forgives all, but when it comes to your personal whims you seek punishment for your vengeance. You would have my mother rule my heavens, you would send all sinners to her for forgiveness, but you would also have her taint her hands with the blood of vengeance!" I believe Antonio's dreams (and conscience) are forcing him to realize that he can either forgive, or he can condemn; he can't pick and choose. Choosing to forgive would be a way of maintaining his innocence, while seeking vengeance would make him no better than Tonorio.
The snow day/play is by far the most entertaining. Anaya's writing is simply hilarious. The whole play seems believable! But the play is not the part of the chapter I want to talk about. When Ultima warns "Take care of the evil in the wind," you just KNOW something big is brewing. The death of Narciso...........I love Narciso, why do all of my favorite characters always die? Unlike Tony's uncles (who did not go to warn Ultima previously of Tenorio's threat) Narciso is loyal to an extreme. "The Ilano bred and sustained me, it can bury me."...wow. So much wisdom from 'the town drunk', do you not see why I love him so much? Narciso was the voice of reason that was never taken heed of. He just got it. Tenorio's cowardice vengeance put a stop to his act of bravery, and ended his life. His body lies under the juniper tree, his blood soaks the Ilano, and his loyalty forever belongs to Ultima. "He was a big and wild man; he drank and cursed like most men do, but he was a good man."
Antonio suddenly believes his innocence has been lost. When he discovers his brother Andrew at Rosie's Antonio is reminded of a previous dream: all of his brothers are walking into Rosie's, but Andres does not enter, and tells Tony he will not enter until he loses his innocence....so has Antonio already lost his innocence? "Had I already lost my inocence? How? I had seen Lupito murdered...I had seen Ultima's cure...I had seen the men come to hang her...I had seen the awful fight just now...I had seen and reveled in the beauty of the golden carp!...How had I sinned?" Antonio has seen many things, and the things that have put a toll on his innocence are all things he has seen, not the things he has done. "I had seen evil, and so I carried the evil within me." Antonio has seen and knows more than most children have at his age. Knowledge destroys his childhood, knowledge takes from him his innocence because as one gains knowledge of the world, one also fathoms all the evils within it. Like Tenorio said, " Ay cabroncito , your curse is that you know too much." Just like the land of the Ilano, Antonio has lost his innpcence by fault of his own. His father tried to keep his land holy, but evil invaded it. Men came to murder, blood soaked its grounds, and the Ilano was no longer pure. Marez and the giants built their castle on the hill, and the giants abondoned it. In Antonio's dream "The wicked people burned our castle on the hill." Everything they worked for, everything they faught for, everything that was safe and innocent to his family, is going to be taken by the evil in his world. This is th knowledge of reality.
Predictions: The brothers won't come back (thank god). Ultima will die but also will Tenorio. I believe Antonio's Luna uncles will have knowledge that Ultima's saftey is in jeopardy, but will once again show cowardice and not warn them.
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