“I knew I had witnesses a
miraculous thing, the appearance of a Pagan god, a thing as miraculous as the
curing of my Uncle Lucas. And I though, the power of God failed where Ultima’s
worked; and then a sudden illumination of beauty and understanding flashed
through my mind. This is what I had expected God to do at my first holy
communion! If God was witness to my beholding of the golden carp then I had
sinned!” (Anaya, 119).
In the novel, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the protagonist, Antonio, is
torn between two cultures. His mother and father each want something different
for him, and they each have a separate set of beliefs. Antonio’s mother is a
devout Catholic, but his father believes in the Pagan God, Cico, the golden
carp. Antonio is gifted, spiritually sensitive, and can see the good in both of
these belief systems. However, he has not yet decided which one to associate more
closely with.
The Golden Carp
Antonio’s struggle with deciding
which identity is best for him reminded me of a short story I read for a course
called Coming to America last year. One of the texts I studied as part of that
class was a short story called “Gussuk” by Mei Mei Evans. In the story the
protagonist, Lucy, leaves her home to spend the summer working as a nurse in a
secluded Eskimo community in Alaska called Kigiak. The story is about whether
Lucy can break free of her identity as a Gussuk (Eskimo slang for a white
person) and become something else. Her realm is in the middle of the
traditional American society that she grew up in and the Eskimo world she has
thrust herself into. Unfortunately, at the end of the story it is evident that
Lucy does not seem to fit in in either community yet the community suffers more
than she does when she is forced to leave.
a photo of a rural Alaska town perhaps like Kigiak
Both Evans and Anaya use the pains
of not belonging to either one of two cultures to demonstrate the development
of their protagonists. Yet, each of these protagonists brings redemption and
development to their society. Lucy is a nurse who cares for the ill in Kigiak,
and Antonio saves his uncle through suffering. So there is an inherent danger
in casting either of them out because it will bring death. They, through their
mixed cultural experiences offer valuable physical healing to each of these
communities.
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