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Chapter 18 (Dieciocho)
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Bless Me, Ultima, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Growing Up
Punishment and Forgiveness
Knowledge
Language and Culture
Christianity vs. the Supernatural
Summary
Analysis
It is Easter Sunday and Antonio is excited about his first communion. The other kids joke about eating God but Antonio feels solemn and excited about finally gaining knowledge of God. He takes and eats the wafer and waits for divine knowledge, but just gets pushed to keep the line moving. He asks God all the questions about unfairness and death that have been troubling him, but no answers come. He looks at the church's statue of the Virgin and feels empty.
Antonio's disappointment in his communion shows that he had built up the event too much, hoping for a divine inspiration that would somehow answer all of his difficult questions about life, culture, and religion. This naïve hope is a reminder that he is still a young child, for all his maturity and experience.
Themes
