What happens in Chapter 10 of Bless Me, Ultima?
Chapter Ten—"Diez"—takes place after the violence that has affected the Márez household. Antonio goes back to school, where the familiar rhythms of the classroom provide only a thin layer of normalcy. This chapter focuses on a crucial confrontation: Ultima employs her curandera abilities to lift the curse that Tenorio Trementina's daughters cast on Antonio's uncle Lucas, who has been deteriorating since witnessing a forbidden Black Mass. Antonio observes Ultima throughout the night as she grinds herbs, burns effigies, and instructs Lucas to expel the evil that has taken hold of him. The remedy is harsh and physical—Lucas vomits a mass of hair and needles, remnants of the witchcraft. Antonio helps Ultima by holding candles, fetching water, and bearing witness. By dawn, Lucas has recovered, finally eating his first meal in weeks. The Márez and Lunas families come together in stunned relief. However, Antonio can't simply celebrate; he is left contemplating what he has witnessed—healing that seems no different from the very magic it seeks to counter—and questioning how Ultima's power can coexist with the Catholic God he has been taught to believe in.
Analysis
Anaya presents Chapter Ten as a compact ritual drama, and the skill lies in the pacing: the cure takes place over a single night, compressing time so that each part of Ultima's work feels like a sacred act. The comparison to Catholic sacrament is intentional and disquieting—candles, incantations, the laying on of hands—yet this rite doesn't fit into any catechism Antonio recognizes. Anaya employs this duality to intensify the novel's main theological conflict: if Ultima's curanderismo brings healing, can it genuinely be deemed evil? The narrative never provides a clear answer; it instead brings the question to life.
The theme of witnessing is vital here. Antonio doesn't just watch—he actively engages, and Anaya ensures he is physically involved (holding the candle, steadying the bowl). His involvement transforms into a type of understanding. The chapter's most striking image is the vomited mass of hair and needles, a stark representation of internalized pain that echoes Antonio's own repressed fears regarding sin and salvation.
Tonal shifts are executed with precision: the cozy atmosphere of the Luna farmhouse transforms into a suffocating, almost Gothic tension during the cure, then opens up to morning light and the aroma of food. This tonal shift doesn't signify resolution—Anaya deliberately holds back comfort—but it indicates that, for the moment, the world remains intact. Antonio's silence at the chapter's end speaks louder than any statement; Anaya prioritizes the image over explanation, a practice that characterizes the novel's most compelling sections.
Key quotes from Chapter 10
“Take the herbs and make a paste, she said, and I did as I was told. I was her assistant, and I was not afraid.”
Antonio describes his role during Ultima's healing ritual, marking the moment his participation shifts from passive witness to active collaborator.
“The ball of hair and green bile that Lucas retched up seemed to pulse with a life of its own before Ultima threw it into the fire.”
The climax of the curandera's cure, in which the physical manifestation of the witchcraft curse is expelled and destroyed.
“I had seen her work and I knew that good and evil were not simply one thing, but many.”
Antonio's interior reflection at dawn closes the chapter, crystallizing the moral ambiguity that the night's events have forced upon him.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 10
- bile
- A bitter, yellow-green digestive fluid produced by the liver; here it appears as part of the foul, cursed matter that Lucas vomits up during Ultima's healing ritual, symbolizing the evil being expelled from his body.
- retched
- Made the convulsive movements and sounds of vomiting; here it describes Lucas violently bringing up the cursed matter that Ultima's healing ritual draws out of him.
- paste
- A thick, soft mixture made by grinding or blending herbs together; Ultima instructs Antonio to prepare it as part of her curandera healing treatment.