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Theme of the novel the alchemist
The essay about the alchemist
Theme of the novel the alchemist
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In the book The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, a boy named Santiago decides to follow his recurring dream to find a treasure. Throughout his journey, he meets several people that change and teach him lessons that help him on his journey. The most prominent people he meets on his quest show him the importance of following his dreams. To begin with, Santiago meets and begins to work for crystal merchant. First of all, Santiago learns about the merchants dream and religious obligation, to make a trip to Mecca. The merchant wants to live off his dream instead of making it come true. Santiago understands but sees that that is not what he wants to do. Next, Santiago sees that while change is useful, it is important to be yourself. He is filled with
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles”(Christopher Reeves) continuing to strive forward. This statement particularly adheres to Santiago, the protagonist, in the novel The Alchemist a novel written by Paulo Coelho. The primary basis of the plot line centers around Santiago, a mundane shepherd, whom obtains visions of the great pyramids of Giza venturing off in hopes of discovering a tangible treasure. The aspects of this unprecedented journey would be: his call to adventure, refusal of the call, answering of the call, supernatural aid, and finally the road of trials. With every step, Santiago follows the footsteps of every hero before him.
The Three Spanish Coins: As mentioned in the scrapbook they represent to Santiago more than material wealth, they convey to him that though his parents were against his decision of leaving priesthood for the act of mere traveling, his father somewhat understood his dreams. Had it not been for the three spanish coins he may have never possibly began his adventures as a shepard and may have never had the idea of pursuing his legend. But those are simply possibilities and the larger picture lies at the basis that he had received the approval of his father before he had decide to leave everything for a new life. On another note the coins may have been a prediction to what was to come for Santiago, just as his dad found the coins Santiago was destined to find Spanish coins in the treasure too.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” (Coelho 23), these are the words an old king spoke to Santiago. This phrase constantly runs through Santiago’s mind while on his search for his treasure. Santiago, the novel’s protagonist, begins as a quiet sheep herder who has a recurring dream about being transported to the pyramids in Egypt by a child. Once Santiago met the old king, he decides to pursue his dream, find his treasure, and realize his destiny. Throughout The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago embodies curiosity, determination, and a naive nature through events that occur while on his search for his treasure.
Often in works of literature, the main protagonist is force to go through hard task in order to learn a lesson about society or themselves. In the end, the protagonist is often seen as a hero for doing something that would be considered uncommon or untraditional by those in their society. In novels like The Alchemist, published in 1988 by author Paulo Coelho, Santiago is a young shepherd who is oblivious to the fact that he is a hero because he doesn’t seem to have the characteristics of a hero, he isn’t idolize by the community or hasn’t made any drastic changes in his life - he is a shepherd with no aspirations or dreams for change. However, this all changes when Santiago is faced with a recurring dream, he has no choice, but to pursue his
Have you ever encountered problems while trying to fulfill a goal in your life? In the book The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, a shepherd boy named Santiago overcomes obstacles to reach his personal legend. Throughout the book Santiago encounters many friends to help him fulfill his destiny. Santiago encounters many problems throughout the story. He overcomes them with the help of his friends and his wife-to-be. These problems shape Santiago into a dignified man of many traits.
The second half of the book was better than the first half. More surprising and interesting scene existed, and finally, Santiago meets the alchemist. In the first reader’s response, I wrote, “So far, the story doesn’t have a relationship with the alchemist. I hope there will be a relationship as the story progress.” The relationship with alchemist was created.
Maxwell Maltz once said “The 'self-image' is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.” In the realistic fiction book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho there was a boy named Santiago, who’s character changes through out the book. In the beginning of this book, Santiago is just a shepherd in Spain that lives day to day from his sheep. He cared for each of them until he found out about his personal legend. A physic told him that he had to go to Egypt by the pyramids to look for his treasure. From there he went to the north western tip of Africa and had to stay to regain his strength in one of the cities. There he met a crystal merchant, after working for him for a year,
Will Santiago go after his dream? In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago has had the same dream twice. He takes it upon himself to discover what this dream means and where the treasure in the dream is located. The people and challenges he faces along the way all present him with a sacrifice. When trying to achieve his goal, Santiago sacrifices his sheep, Fatima temporarily, gold, and time.
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
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is a very simple novel about a boy named Santiago who goes on a journey to follow his personal legend.This book is very simple yet teaching the audience about life, god and gods plan for us on this earth.While reading the novel, there were a lot of quotes that relate to me and also helped me understand certain characters and taught me a lot about life.This book is timeless and anyone can relate to it.
Most people’s prime directive in life is pursuing their dreams; some would go to any extent to attain their goals. This shows through for Santiago in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. In this book, Santiago pursues his treasure that he discovered in a dream. On his journey, he learns about life through his experiences and learns the importance of following one’s dreams through good examples as well as bad. In this novel, the author reveals that following one’s dreams is essential to finding happiness and how without the hope of a better future, life is menial.
“ Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart”(159). This is what the alchemist said to the main character. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, tells a story of a boy named Santiago, who goes on a long journey to discover his personal legend. As Santiago goes on his journey to pursue his personal legend, he is faced with many challenges, as well as left to make difficult decisions that change him forever. As Santiago travels the world, he becomes a hero. In The Alchemist, Santiago shows characteristics, as well as archetypal characteristics that make him a hero. Santiago displays kindness, bravery and wisdom; also he is considered a hero because he displays many characteristics of an archetypal hero. He displays archetypal characteristics such as: receiving supernatural help, proving himself many times and receiving an apotheosis.
The Theme of “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho is, always follow your dreams and listen to your heart. At the start of the novel Santiago does not know what he should do when he is confronted by his dream. But by the end of the novel Santiago completely trusts his heart to guide him though life. Santiago’s story shows him learning and living out the theme of the novel.
There are many themes in this piece of literature. For example, it teaches you to always follow your dreams and to always to always take note and take action on your said dreams. In my opinion and from what I've read, The Alchemist a recurring theme throughout Santiago's journey to fulfilling his Personal Legend. What i made from out of the theme was to follow your dreams and to listen to what your heart wants. Santiago learns
While in Tangier Santiago is robbed and loses all of his money; Santiago then finds a job with the crystal merchant. Santiago learned many lessons from the merchant, but the most important one is that change is necessary for success. This was the most important lesson because without learning this Santiago would never have left the oasis. While in the desert Santiago met Fatima, who is the love of his life, and he didn’t want to leave her, but Santiago remembered the lesson he learnt and continued his adventure by venturing through the desert to find the success he desired.