Antonio continues to seek answers through holy communion but finds none. He knows he is searching for something but doesn't know what he seeks. With conflict both around and inside him, he withdraws from his classmates and becomes more and more obsessed with his questions. Turning to his school teacher for advice, he begins to develop sources of support outside the family.
Antonio feels that everyone is older, and this insight is confirmed when the Vitamin Kid is more interested in walking with a girl than in racing Antonio across the bridge. Antonio knows something has ended and is saddened by the change. Anaya is signaling that an important period has ended in Antonio's life and that a new one is beginning. Antonio must now come to grips with change, the only real constant in life.
He spends time with Ultima but senses that Tenorio is nearby, and he becomes worried about her, especially when he hears that another Trementina daughter is dying. The healing at the Téllez ranch, the second healing in the novel, affirms his view that Ultima's power is good yet different from that of a priest. His faith in the power of the Church continues to erode, yet he deepens his understanding of himself.
Antonio acknowledges the influences that Gabriel, Ultima, and his mother have had on him. He has learned to love the beauty of the plains and the knowledge that he is part of the earth. More and more, he seems to be moving toward the recognition that the views of his parents are compatible rather than mutually exclusive. As he develops cognitively, he moves from dichotomous, polarized views of reality toward the recognition of the dialectical unity of opposites and the relativity of "truth."
In the ninth dream, Antonio is unable to release his brothers from their wanderings. Instead, he casts himself as a provider of pain by baiting his hook with their livers and thereby causing them enormous suffering. Only by removing their livers from his hook is he able to release them from their agony. This dream reveals Antonio's new perception of himself as someone capable of punishment. Moreover, it reveals that he is beginning to accept change and fragmentation. He is unconsciously beginning to accept the wanderings of his brothers and his own loss of innocence. His maturation is measured by his willingness to accept the permanence of change.
