Bless Me, Ultima

Dust storms hit the llano in March. Local gossip attributes the storms to the anger of God because of the recent atomic bomb tests in New Mexico: Old women whisper that humans are being punished for competing with the knowledge of God. Gabriel says this is nonsense and that the storms are a result of the Earth being overworked. He cautions Antonio to listen to the natural world as it can lead to his destruction or his salvation.

Antonio attends church, where Father Byrnes teaches the catechism. A boy named Florence tells Antonio that he doesn’t believe in God: Florence is an orphan whose life has been marked by tragedy, and he doesn’t believe that a fair God would make him suffer so much. He opines that Adam and Eve’s sin of desiring forbidden knowledge should not have condemned humanity to a cruel world and asks, “[W]hy should knowledge condemn anyone?” (197). Antonio can’t answer his questions, but he wonders whether God’s kindness and cruelty may come in cycles, like the seasons.

Father Byrnes overhears Florence’s remarks and punishes him by making him stand in the middle of the room with his arms out, like Christ on the cross.