Vinh Jones
English [Clark]
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The Innocence of Youth
A Study of Bless Me, Ultima

What is innocence? Was it the blissful days of childhood, where one was enwrapped in a coat of naiveté? When time was nothing, and enjoyment reigned supreme? And if innocence was youth, then when does youth end? When one is introduced to the cynical, darker part of life? There are so many questions, yet many shall never be answered.

Antonio strikes me as a child desperately clinging to the life he knows, as he is thrown into an ever-swirling mist of revelations. He asks himself literal questions that cannot be answered by words, such as, "How would I ever wash away the stain of blood from the sweet waters of the river?" Unfortunately, Antonio was forced to mature quite sooner then anyone expected. Although he was not without his moments, such as when he dreaded leaving his mother to go to school. What young child is not filled with anxiety when he must first leave his mother?

But Antonio's parents fight a constant war of words, striking and parrying each other with the lash of a tongue. And the boy is the battlefield, as he is plagued both in his dreams and while he is awake with the decision of what to do. However, Antonio, for all his experiences, is still a young boy and tries to please both at once. Antonio has shown deep understanding of the world at certain times throughout his life. He already knows to abide by the laws of God, and why he should. The boy mentions that, "Losing your innocence and becoming a man was learning to sin," and such perception is uncommon in a one who possesses childlike innocence.

Perhaps there is more to the children then meets the eye. When Antonio asks why kids so mean, his friend Cico replies, "I don't know, except that people, grown-ups and kids, seem to want to hurt each other-and it's worse when they're in a group." Already they must confront the cold face of hatred as it stares back at them. Slowly but surely, Antonio and his friends begin to lose what they have known as innocence. A boy becomes a man and for that, he must sin. I once heard that, "Adults are just children who have learned to behave in the eye of the public." Perhaps the same could be said for children about adults, that children are merely adults, untainted by the revulsion of life.