The two books by Markus Zusak and Paulo Coelho tells the stories of two characters, Liesel Meminger and Santiago, each in their own respective stories. In The Alchemist, Santiago’s story is a much lighter tale with an overall optimistic and adventurous air. He journeys from Spain all the way to Egypt and back before his adventure ends. Zusak’s The Book Thief, sharply contrasts Coelho’s story with the much darker and dangerous world of Nazi Germany.
In The Alchemist, Coelho begins Santiago’s journey with an overview of Santiago’s life as he lives the “joys of carefree wandering[s]” as a shepherd. (Coelho 7) Zusak, however, starts his book out with these words: “Here is a small fact. You are going to die.” (Zusak 3) This observation at the very beginning of the book gives the book gravity and starts to set the atmosphere for the rest of the story. The development of the atmosphere is furthered when Liesel’s brother dies and his funeral is held. Santiago’s shepherd life is a stark comparison to Liesel’s bleak situation. When Liesel grieves over her dead brother, Santiago is feeling the uncertainties of love. Their journeys are initiated with a choice and each of these choices will each have many consequences and rewards. Santiago’s choice is to go hunting for treasure. Liesel’s choice is to steal her first book.
“…Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” (Coelho 68) Both of these character’s decisions were influenced by another person. Liesel was only brought into contact with book thievery at her brother’s funeral and Santiago was told to pursue his dream by t...
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...e a variety of other literary devices including imagery and allegories to highlight parts of the book. However, Zusak’s writing is considerably different from Coelho’s as he uses foreshadowing excessively and reveals plot endings in the first few pages of the book.
While each book was written by different authors in different languages, there are many similarities among the two books which accompany the differences. Each is about a single person trying to make his or her way throughout life. However, Ceolho’s story is about learning life lessons on an adventure for wealth and happiness. Zusak’s story is much more sombre with the presence of Death constantly overshadowing every action or event that takes place. While the two books shares many similarities, The Alchemist is much more optimistic when drawn in comparison with the negative atmosphere of The Book Thief.
Literary devices Zusak included in the novel text was personification and metaphor. “The plane was still coughing. Smoke was leaking from both its lungs” (Zusak 9). This device is useful because it deepens the feeling of the plane crashing and makes the scene relatable
Coelho contrasts tradition with Personal Legend to illustrate the individual nature of the pursuit to discover one’s goals and dreams. Tradition stands as a very powerful force that makes Santiago hesitate his quest to fulfill his Personal Legend. The fear of breaking tradition holds people back from living true to their dreams since, “We always observe the tradition” (Coelho 107). Tradition involves practices of older generations and the following of already trodden paths, in hopes of reaching already achieved goals. Meanwhile, the concept of ...
Coelho begins by identifying the main characters as they become timely components to unraveling the plot. The first line of the book, after all is, “The boys name was Santiago” (Coelho 3). We come to find that Santiago dreamt of traveling so he gave up his pursue of becoming a priest and instead, became a sheepherder (8). Santiago is already presented as a motivated character that makes efforts to accomplish his dreams. He exists as a dynamic character, rather than static as The Alchemist later on is portrayed. The Alchemist is cha...
When reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor along with The Alchemist, or any book for that matter, readers are able to dig deeper between the lines and come to conclusions that are not so obvious. Knowing how to digest literature can prove to be helpful since connections inside and outside of the text can easily be seen. The Alchemist sends us different messages throughout the end, leaving the reader to decide if the message is to follow our Personal Legends, or to realize it is just a dream. After reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor thoughts are directed to the follow your Personal Legend since Foster tells us to use Biblical clues to unearth the truth, as well as character actions that point to certainty. When you have an extra reading device to help interpret, the text seems to come alive. Through Fosters ideas I have come to the conclusion that the alchemist referred to on the cover of the book is not the alchemist that we meet in the center of the novel, but rather Santiago and becoming an alchemist is his personal
...In conclusion, we can say that after applying Joseph Campbell's theory of The Monomyth on The Alchemist; it is noticeable that despite The Alchemist being a postmodernism wok of literature, the author Coelho used all major patterns of the hero's journey of ancient myth in his novel and this developed Santiago's journey from an ordinary one into an archetypal one.
The first two obstacles that Santiago faces are that his father tells him he can not do something that he wants to do and that he wants to pursue his personal legend, but he does not want to hurt those that he loves. For example, Santiago’s father said, “The people who come here have a lot of money to spend, so they can afford to travel. Amongst us the only ones who can travel are shepherds.” Everyone is told by their parents and friends that everything we want to do is impossible. Since Santiago did not have money to spend to travel his only choice was then to become a shepherd to fulfill his desire. T...
In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho an Andalusian boy named Santiago leaves Spain to travel to Egypt in order to achieve his Personal Legend. During his journey he meets four people, a Gypsy, a King named Melchizedek, an Englishman and an Alchemist, all of whom help Santiago along his journey towards his Personal Legend. However, only the King and the Alchemist teach Santiago lessons that he can learn from and use along his journey. The King teaches Santiago two lessons, to follow omens and that it is not always about the destination but that it is also about the journey. The Alchemist teaches Santiago to listen to his heart for guidance, what the Language of the World is and what the Soul of the World is. He eventually arrives in Egypt after
There are many obstacles in everyday life, but none as detrimental to ones future as fear. Fear can cause people to not only avoid achieving their goals in life but it also forces them to think about it throughout every day. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist shows that those who wallow in fear will never achieve their personal legend, and those who conquer fear will achieve anything they strive for. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a commonly analyzed and criticized piece of literature. One of these articles is Rejendra Kumar Dash’s “Alchemy of the Soul: A Comparative Study of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist”. Dash’s article is a literary criticism of the different parts of the character’s journey in The Alchemist. He talks about, in his article, how the theme in The Alchemist is found through analyzing the different parts of Santiago’s journey and what those parts mean. Another one of these articles is Lily Hasanah’s “Decision Making in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist”. Hasanah’s article is a literary criticism of the main character in The Alchemist, Santiago. She searches for the theme in The Alchemist through analyzing the decisions, and the outcomes of those decisions, made by Santiago. Paulo Coelho provides access to his theme, for the most part, though the actions and adventures of the main character, Santiago. Although this is the method of delivery he had in mind, Dash and Hasanah view the delivery of his theme differently.
Coelho incorporates many internal struggles into Santiago’s life in order to prove that they don’t restrain people from achieving their personal legend. Through the use of the hero’s journey, Santiago faces many internal struggles such as when he attempts to understand
The Alchemist is about a young boy from Spain by the name of Santiago. He went on a journey to pursue his personal legend. While on his personal legend he gains knowledge from the experiences and feels love with a girl he met. At the end of the journey, Santiago gets 2 types of rewards. One tangible and one un-tangible. The rewards he got were knowledge and love and he also got gold. He only realizes this at the end of the journey when he reaches the pyramids. He finds out the actual treasure is at where he started.
"If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear ideals of how other people should lead their lives, but none about their own.” That is one of many deep quotes that makes the reader truly think about life in The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho. The book is about a young boy named Santiago, who loves travel and adventure, but he does not have the money to do so. He was raised to be a priest, but decides that he would rather be a shepherd, so that he can travel. Santiago’s father gives him two spanish coins, and tells him that he will learn one day that no place is as beautiful as the one he lives in. It seems like Santiago’s father believes in him, but not the way Santiago wants him to.
When wanting to accomplish something in life, there will be a decision that will affect the outcome of leading to the right path. It will either help in achieving the goal that was made or take it further away from being able to accomplish it. In the novel “The Alchemist” written by Paulo Coelho, is about a young boy named Santiago. He is a shepherd wanting to travel with his sheep all around in doing so he goes through the experience called "The Hero’s Journey”. The Hero’s Journey are stages taken to accomplish your Personal Legend which is a goal you want to get accomplish in life. He also goes through stages in the journey that help him overcome any challenges he faces. They also bring him closer to the end of completing
Throughout the novel, Coelho uses symbolism to teach the reader many lessons about dreams. The most powerful lesson that was taught was that fear must be overcome in order to achieve a dream. Some symbolic characters he has used are the crystal merchant, the Englishman, and the alchemist. First of all, the first symbol used to convey the lesson that Coelho was trying to teach is the crystal merchant. Santiago met the crystal merchant after he was robbed.
I wanted to read every book by him and so I picked up “The Book Thief”. Zusak is one of the most amazing authors that I have read. He makes words come alive and uses such interesting descriptions. His word choice is unique and unlike anything I’ve read. This book was no different. When I began reading this, I was taken in. It felt like I was experiencing the same things that Liesel was. Zusak also uses interesting characters. Zusak can make a reader cry and then in the next scene make them smile. He easily made me feel sadness, happiness, anger, etc. I love when writers can easily change a reader’s thoughts and emotions. I have always thought that that was a good indicator if they were a good writer or
The conflict in the novel that most intrigued me was between Santiago and himself. Throughout the novel he almost gave up hope of ever finding his treasure. When he was robbed in the market place...