Rudolfo A. Anaya\'s Book, Bless

Rudolfo A. Anaya's book, Bless Me, Ultima, should not be banned as it simply reflects the views and lifestyles of the Mexican-American heritage. While detractors have argued that the book promotes witchcraft and devil worship, the book is actually a more complex look at the conflicts between indigenous culture and spirituality and Western culture and the Catholic religion. The banning of Bless Me, Ultima raises serious issues about banning books because they contain controversial themes or issues. Such bans challenge the very nature of democracy, and the tradition of respecting diversity of religious and political thought in the United States of America.

The banning of books in schools has always been a contentious and controversial issue. It raises often conflicting desires for freedom of speech and expression, and the desire to protect children from confusing or harmful influences. Those who oppose book banning argue that such bans conflict with academic freedom that is guaranteed in the U.S. constitution (Education World). Attempts to ban books also raise the question of who has the right (if anyone) to ban books in schools.

Book banning and challenges occur often in the United States. Challenges occur when attempts are made to take books off the shelves, while a ban occurs when a challenge is successful, and books are removed (Taichert). Almost one third of all challenges result in the banning or reduced use of materials (Education World).

In some cases, restricting access to some materials can be quite easily justified. Limiting access to sexually graphic and inappropriate information (such as stopping access to magazines such as Playboy and Playgirl for elementary school children) is often universally supported. However, books often face banning for factors that are motivated by political agendas. Notes Taichert, books on the American Library Association's (ALA) 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 include book such as To Kill a Mockingbird, and Huckleberry Finn. Further, many books face bans because they question God's existence or include references to sexuality (Taichert).

There are a number of common reasons that books face bans. Areas that often spark the most challenges include sex and drug education, children challenging authority, failing to teach creationism along with evolution, "negative thinking" among minorities, and women in nontraditional roles (Aurnague-DeSpain and Baas).

Many books face banning simply because they challenge the religious or political views. Writes Taichert, "Books are challenged for neo-conservative as well as politically correct motivations." As such, books like the Harry Potters series have faced bans because of their depictions of magic and witchcraft.

Recently, Rudolfo A. Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima has been placed on lists of banned or challenged books in libraries and classrooms. Anaya's book has faced challenges and banning since it was first published in 1972, based on accusations the book promoted worship of the devil and witchcraft (Taichert).

Author Anaya's response to attempts to ban his book is clear and disapproving. Notes the author, "This is what the Nazis did... It's never appropriate to ban books. Once you set a precedent, where does it stop? It gives people a right to challenge a book on any subject matter" (cited in Taichert).

Bless Me, Ultima, tells the story of six-year-old Antonio Marez, who grows up in New Mexico in the 1940s. The story begins as Antonio's family takes the elderly Ultima into their home. Writes Anaya, "Ultima was a curandera, a woman who knew the herbs and remedies of the ancients, a miracle-worker who could heal the sick. And I had heard that Ultima could lift the curses laid by brujas, that she could exorcise the evil the witches planted in people to make them sick. And because a curandera had this power she was misunderstood and often suspected of practicing witchcraft herself" (p. 5). Throughout the story, Ultima acts as a spiritual guide to Antonio, who is torn between his mother Maria's a devout Catholicism and the spirituality that Ultima represents.

Important in attempts to ban Bless Me, Ultima, are arguments that the book promotes witchcraft and worship of the devil. The book focuses on Ultima, a curandera, who works with herbs and can heal the sick and exorcise evil. However, it is clear throughout Bless Me, Ultima that the character of Ultima is a force of good, but that she is sometimes mislabeled as a witch. Thus, while witchcraft is discussed and alluded to, it is not necessarily promoted within Anaya's novel.

In addition, Anaya's book clearly shows the conflict between Christianity and other religions, and sometimes criticizes the Catholic religion. Throughout the book, the young Antonio is exposed to his father's love of the earth and freedom that supersedes his Catholicism, and his friend Florence's criticisms of Catholicism. Similarly, Ultima's earthy wisdom is often depicted as superior to the pat answers Antonio receives from his Catholic mother. In addition, the book clearly shows the importance of independent thinking and questioning religious authority.

At the same time, Bless Me, Ultima reflects the views and lifestyles of the Mexican-American heritage. Author Anaya notes that the book was written "to explore and explain the folk ways of a different culture" (cited in Taichert). Part of this experience is the struggle between indigenous culture and spirituality and Western culture and the Catholic religion. In the book, Antonio struggles to reconcile these differing cultural traditions, and ultimately learns that his identity is more complex and rich because he has developed an understanding of all of these traditions.

Bless Me, Ultima, should not be banned as it simply reflects the views and lifestyles of the Mexican-American heritage. While the book does contain criticism of Catholicism, it occurs within the context of exploring the interaction of the character's different cultural identities. In the end, the story argues that embracing both indigenous and Western cultures will help to develop a healthier and richer cultural identity. Notes Henry Reichman (1998), school curriculum in the United States should have "a high tolerance for our national diversity" (cited in Aurnague-DeSpain and Baas).