How is the book autobiographical?

Bless Me, Ultima is a semi-autobiographical novel based on the New Mexican community of Rudolfo Anaya’s childhood. Anaya used his memory of his town, the Pecos River, Highway 66, the church, the school, and the surrounding villages and ranches as the inspiration for their depiction in his novel. Anaya also created clear similarities between the characters in the book and the characters in his childhood. Antonio’s parents are based loosely on Anaya’s parents: his father was a vaquero who was raised on the llano, and his mother grew up in a community of Catholic farmers. Anaya’s brothers were fighting in World War II for most of his childhood in the same way that Antonio’s three older brothers are fighting overseas in the novel. Moreover, similar to Antonio’s family and their treatment of Ultima in the novel, Anaya’s family was extremely respectful of the role played by the curandera in their community, reconciling the importance of folk medicine with their Catholic faith.