The tragic consequences of life can be overcome by the magical strength that resides in the human heart.

This sentence sums up the major thematic claim of Bless Me, Ultima—through all of life’s injustices and hardships, the power of the human heart prevails. Antonio has this realization in Chapter 22, when he realizes what Ultima has been trying to teach him all along. Antonio can experience the suffering of his friends and family and the string of tragic deaths that he witnesses, and still persevere and thrive. This quotation also resolves the tension between innocence and experience that arises from the moment that María first claims that it is a sin to grow up. Innocence is fleeting, but the “magical strength” of the heart is not. This “magical strength,” and not innocence, is the ultimate source of human goodness and hope.