Hybridity as a key element in the process of identity construction in Rudolfo Anaysa's Bless Me Ultima

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2015 im Fachbereich Literaturwissenschaft - Allgemeines Note: 13 Universitt Osnabrck (Anglistik/Amerikanistik) Veranstaltung: Magical Realist Border Fiction Sprache: Deutsch Abstract: The main focus of this term paper are the different steps and binary forces Antonio goes through and has to face in order to finally being able to constitute his transcultural identity. Furthermore the paper should highlight the necessity of difference and a double vision which make the constitution of a new identity possible. Therefore my thesis is: Hybridity as a key element in Rudolfo Anaysa''s Bless Me Ultima in the process of identity construction exemplified in the main character Antonio Mrez. The term paper starts with the magical realist elements and features of the Bildungsroman present in Bless Me Ultima which are part of the novel''s formal hybridity which is discussed in the subsequent paragraph apart from the content-related hybridity. Afterwards I will focus on Antonio''s search for identity throughout the novel with its different steps from alienation at the beginning his loss of innocence in the middle up to his final understanding and therefore the last step of his move from childhood to adolescence. Apart from the novel Bless Me Ultima itself the central literature I will work with is Angelika Khler''s essay The New World Man: Magical Realism in Rudolfo Anaya''s Bless Me Ultima and Juan Bruce-Novoa''s Learning to Read (and/in) Rudolfo Anaya''s Bless Me Ultima . She took my hand and the silent magic powers she possessed made beauty from the raw sun-baked llano the green river valley and the blue bowl which was the white sun''s home. It is this opening paragraph in Bless Me Ultima which introduces the reader directly to Antonio''s state of alienation at the beginning of the novel since these natural surroundings represent separated entities for him. And this is exactly what he is struggling with through