Throughout the book Bless Me, Ultima, Antonio goes through a time of great learning and maturing in which he must establish a new principle of moral independence from his Catholic roots. Ultima teaches Antonio to be open in his convictions of the world and use all aspects of everything he learns. Ultima wants Antonio to incorporate all of her teachings and all of his learning with his Catholicism and form his own conclusions from the conglomeration of ideas. The basic theme of Bless Me, Ultima is for one to keep his mind open and form his beliefs from many different sources of moral and religious principles rather than keeping one's mind closed to all but one faith.

As Antonio grows up, he faces many adverse ordeals. He overcomes many tragic events, such as the death of Lupito. Antonio eventually goes to school, where he meets many friends and...