"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." (Pg. 4)
This quote is particularly important because it demonstrates who Ultima is as a person, and what she does to help the people in her community. Compared to the brujas, which are actual witches, and claim to practice the Black Mass, worshipping the devil and such, curanderas are benefactors to society in the sense that they can reverse curses, and heal the people. While Ultima is capable of placing curses, as she does in the form of voodoo to two of the Trementina sisters throughout the novel, she only did it because they deserved punishment for placing the curse in the first place. People Ultima heals in the story are uncle Lucas and the Telléz family.
"So he went to the other gods and told them that he chose to be turned into a carp and swim in the river where he could take care of his people. The gods agreed. But because he was a god they made him very big and colored him the color of gold. And they made him the lord of all the waters of the valley." (Pg. 84)
The carp of the river is a huge symbol that makes up for a significant portion of Antonio's moral and religious questioning. When Samuel told him this story of the carp, he explains that there were "other gods." Antonio realizes from this story that there might be an existence of pagan deities in the world besides the almighty Father, but that the Christian faith excludes all others for God was almighty, and only he should be worshipped. Antonio sees the Almighty God as jealous, and while other gods exist in the world, he would still pledge his allegiance to Him. He also sees this in another way, understanding that maybe pagan gods were real and the Almighty God and the Virgin were the wrong gods his mom was praying to.
"My mother did not like the people of the llano. To her they were worthless drunkards, wanderers. She did not understand their tragedy, their search for the freedom that was now forever gone. My mother had lived in the llano many years when she married my father, but the valley and the river were too ingrained in her for her to change." (Pg. 131)
Antonio's mother was the daughter of farmers, and in her case, transitioning to living in a dry, llano environment is much different from a fertile valley, for many reasons. She wasn't able to grow as many crops and fruits as she would have liked to, because the llano ground was only fertile in very few spots, and the hill the family lived on was a barren patch of land. The llano's vaqueros are free-thinkers, and they roam the plains restlessly. In a historical context, one could compare farmers with vaqueros as sedentary people with nomadic people, and this is exactly why his mother has conflicting thoughts and opinions about the people of the llano.
"But from my father and Ultima I had learned that the greater immortality is in the freedom of man, and that freedom is best nourished by the noble expanse of land and air and pure, white sky." (Pg. 242)
While his mother's lessons teach that man is of the earth, and that this inextricable mixture gives man his safety and security, this also represents a sense of belonging and security. This resembles Antonio's childhood in a way, and Ultima's lessons have been trying to get him to transition from his childhood to adolescence, and being able to make his own choices. It appears for a large fraction of the story, Antonio has shown more of the Luna side of him with farming and education, but as Ultima teaches him about herbs and the llano's richness, he begins to accept the environment he lives in and understands his father's side as well.
"The owl had always been there. It sang to me the night my brothers came home from the war, and in my dreams I sometimes saw it guiding their footsteps as they stumbled through the dark streets of their distant cities." (Pg. 272)
The owl was the symbol of Ultima. It represented her spirit, and in a way, explains a reason why she could foretell many events, because the owl was wise, and given by her ancestors, she obtained the knowledge necessary for prediction. The owl can see far, and Ultima spiritually controlled it by giving cries and calls out whenever something good or bad was happening or coming towards the house. It was also a protective omen, because the owl could warn the family minutes before something happened, and they would have time to prepare for it. In Antonio's mind as well, he could see it as a guiding spirit, because it provided a sense of hope and longing.
This quote is particularly important because it demonstrates who Ultima is as a person, and what she does to help the people in her community. Compared to the brujas, which are actual witches, and claim to practice the Black Mass, worshipping the devil and such, curanderas are benefactors to society in the sense that they can reverse curses, and heal the people. While Ultima is capable of placing curses, as she does in the form of voodoo to two of the Trementina sisters throughout the novel, she only did it because they deserved punishment for placing the curse in the first place. People Ultima heals in the story are uncle Lucas and the Telléz family.
"So he went to the other gods and told them that he chose to be turned into a carp and swim in the river where he could take care of his people. The gods agreed. But because he was a god they made him very big and colored him the color of gold. And they made him the lord of all the waters of the valley." (Pg. 84)
The carp of the river is a huge symbol that makes up for a significant portion of Antonio's moral and religious questioning. When Samuel told him this story of the carp, he explains that there were "other gods." Antonio realizes from this story that there might be an existence of pagan deities in the world besides the almighty Father, but that the Christian faith excludes all others for God was almighty, and only he should be worshipped. Antonio sees the Almighty God as jealous, and while other gods exist in the world, he would still pledge his allegiance to Him. He also sees this in another way, understanding that maybe pagan gods were real and the Almighty God and the Virgin were the wrong gods his mom was praying to.
"My mother did not like the people of the llano. To her they were worthless drunkards, wanderers. She did not understand their tragedy, their search for the freedom that was now forever gone. My mother had lived in the llano many years when she married my father, but the valley and the river were too ingrained in her for her to change." (Pg. 131)
Antonio's mother was the daughter of farmers, and in her case, transitioning to living in a dry, llano environment is much different from a fertile valley, for many reasons. She wasn't able to grow as many crops and fruits as she would have liked to, because the llano ground was only fertile in very few spots, and the hill the family lived on was a barren patch of land. The llano's vaqueros are free-thinkers, and they roam the plains restlessly. In a historical context, one could compare farmers with vaqueros as sedentary people with nomadic people, and this is exactly why his mother has conflicting thoughts and opinions about the people of the llano.
"But from my father and Ultima I had learned that the greater immortality is in the freedom of man, and that freedom is best nourished by the noble expanse of land and air and pure, white sky." (Pg. 242)
While his mother's lessons teach that man is of the earth, and that this inextricable mixture gives man his safety and security, this also represents a sense of belonging and security. This resembles Antonio's childhood in a way, and Ultima's lessons have been trying to get him to transition from his childhood to adolescence, and being able to make his own choices. It appears for a large fraction of the story, Antonio has shown more of the Luna side of him with farming and education, but as Ultima teaches him about herbs and the llano's richness, he begins to accept the environment he lives in and understands his father's side as well.
"The owl had always been there. It sang to me the night my brothers came home from the war, and in my dreams I sometimes saw it guiding their footsteps as they stumbled through the dark streets of their distant cities." (Pg. 272)
The owl was the symbol of Ultima. It represented her spirit, and in a way, explains a reason why she could foretell many events, because the owl was wise, and given by her ancestors, she obtained the knowledge necessary for prediction. The owl can see far, and Ultima spiritually controlled it by giving cries and calls out whenever something good or bad was happening or coming towards the house. It was also a protective omen, because the owl could warn the family minutes before something happened, and they would have time to prepare for it. In Antonio's mind as well, he could see it as a guiding spirit, because it provided a sense of hope and longing.