Henry David Thoreau, a transcendentalist, introduces the philosophy that, "What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate." From this it can be said that, nowadays, people think too much of others opinions rather than their own. According to Thoreau, one should not conform to society's belief, as he will lose his individuality and his own sense of purpose. Society's belief simply acts as a mere obstacles that one must overcome in order to achieve his fate. One's own mindset will determine their destiny, not society's ideologies. Paulo Coelho depicts Thoreau's philosophy through his novel, The Alchemist. Santiago, a young shepherd, embarks on his journey to pursue his Personal Legend, yet is confronted …show more content…
Primarily, Santiago listens to the omens of the desert and changes the oasis's fate, as well as his, by believing in himself and disclosing his vision to the chief. Throughout the novel, “In his pursuit of the dream, he was being constantly subjected to tests of his persistence and courage. So he could not be hasty, nor impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would fail to see the signs and omens left by God along his path” (Coelho, 93). One of the many advices his "teachers" give is to listen to omens. Clearly, Santiago does that by disclosing the omen and vision he received from watching the hawks fight. Though what is most crucial is the fact that Santiago had the courage to explain his vision. Of course without his courage, Santiago would not have been able to communicate his vision to the chief, thus leaving the oasis and his Personal Legend in shambles. However, Santiago indicates his fate by showing courage and sharing his vision. Santiago and his mindset prove that "What we as adults fail to realize is that everything is possible until the moment we believe it is impossible. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” (). This saying comes to life when Santiago has to turn himself into the wind. Santiago faces many confrontations against society, yet this confrontation is different. Santiago must achieve the …show more content…
Barriers can come in different shapes an sizes, though, in the end they all have one purpose–to get one closer to one's personal calling. In Santiago's case, love, robbery, war, and thieves were major obstacles that temporarily prevented him from coming close to the treasure. Yet, the main purpose of both Coelho and Thoreau's telling is to not think about others opinions and physical barriers, but about the outcome. Both convey that one's dream is within their grasp, and all he has to do is
In The Alchemist Paulo Coelho presents a character, Santiago, torn between following tradition and his Personal Legend. Santiago tries to live true to his Personal Legend, which is a path pursued by those who strive to fulfill their purpose in life. Yet throughout the novel tradition, a motif, presents itself as a roadblock holding Santiago back from reaching his dreams. Coelho juxtaposes tradition against Personal Legend to illustrate its purely individual nature and the necessity of the acceptance of change to reach one’s dreams and goals.
People often do not realize their differences, but the differences in people are what set them apart from all others. In Paul Coelho’s “The Alchemist” two characters do such actions. The main character, Santiago, and the arguably secondary character, the Englishman, do such aforementioned actions. The two characters meet in a caravan that is traveling across the Saharan Desert. Although they do have some pretty interesting similarities, their differences are what intrigue the reader more.
(Coelho 26) For example, Santiago’s first true test was to decide to leave behind his flock of sheep on the rolling hillside and follow his heart for adventure and head to Egypt in search of unknown treasure. Deep within himself, Santiago is questioning life and the meaning of it. But, it is only through a series of trials, adversities, and successes, that he comes to find his “Personal Legend”. (Coelho 26) Throughout the entire process Santiago does not lose sight of his objective, he maintained his focus on reaching the end of his goal. The qualities that Santiago personified of fate, commitment, love, and listening to the omens are what Paulo Coelho is teaching his readers to examine regarding their own “Personal
One of Santiago’s first and most impactful teachers were his flock of sheep. Even though they could not speak to Santiago, they still shaped him into the person he was and ended up being. The lessons that the sheep taught Santiago were through his observation of the flock. “Once again he saw that, in the strange land, he was applying the same lessons he had learned with his sheep.” The prior quote shows that the lessons that the flock unintentionally taught Santiago stuck with him throughout his journey to find his personal legend. Some of the lessons that Santiago learned from his sheep were to treasure his independence and how simplicity and minimality was not always the best ways to live life. Santiago learned to treasure his independence through his sheep because while he was crossing the desert, he observed that the sheep would die without him and that he was their only lifeline. By this observation he came to value the fact that he is independent and does not live his life depending on another being to aid him in life. He learned that simplicity is not always key by observing the way his flocked lived. He noticed that the sheep only required the basic necessities, food, water, shelter, and sleep. He made the connection that the sheep are still alive off those basic needs, but that they are living on the most minimal amount possible. Santiago realized that he
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...
First of all, the author shows that through persevering through adversity anyone can achieve their dreams. During the book Santiago continuously faces problems that he will have to overcome to achieve his Personal Legend. In this scenario, Santiago is in the city of Tangier when he is suddenly robbed of all of his money, by a thief who promised to take him to Egypt. However instead of thinking of himself as a victim of a thief he decides that “I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure” (34). Santiago was able to persevere through a situation that many people would not have been able to overcome and not able to continue their journey. Being able to persevere through
In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho continuously shows how Santiago conquers fear and is greatly rewarded for it. In order to get his treasure and achieve his personal legend he must first travel through the well-known dangers of the desert. It is an extremely expensive trip that many do...
In the book the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago’s call to adventure was to travel the world , experience life, and find his hidden treasure. This meant he would stop at nothing until he achieved so. This troublesome stage is a period where santiago is tested to grab his dream before it leaves without him.“I’m not going to charge anything now, but I want one tenth of the treasure if you find it.”This stage was very confusing for Santiago because he didn’t know why or how foreign people knew about his personal legend. Santiago chooses to pursue his legend due to a fortune-seer’s knowledge. This significance of this stage so prominently prone to santiago’s view from the inside, he finally chose to go because he knows that everything happens
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
Olympics Games Rio 2016 is on in full swing and the name Michael Phelps has cropped up several times during the past few days. Just recently he won his 19th Olympic gold medal. But getting there was not easy for him. I read an article recently about his journey so far and could find similarities in his journey to those of Santiago in The Alchemist.
"They come in search of new things, but when they leave they are basically the same people they were when they arrived. They climb the mountain to see the castle, and they wind up thinking that the past was better than what we have now. They have blond hair, or dark skin, but basically they're the same as the people who live right here." Santiago’s father is saying that no matter how much Santiago travels, or how much of the world he sees he will come back the same person. Santiago’s father is an important person in his life. Without his father believing in him Santiago might not believe in himself either. Santiago seems to know what he wants in life, but with his father practically telling him it is wrong he might not succeed. Santiago needs others believing in him or he will not have the motivation to succeed in finding the treasure. Not only does Santiago need others believing in him, but he needs to believe in himself as
Santiago had been rewarded with the treasure earned when completing his journey, “In my dream there was a sycamore growing out the ruin of the sacristy… there were precious stones, gold masks adorned with red and white feathers.” (Coelho 170). Santiago was able to accomplish his personal legend, which he had to go through many stages in the journey that got him closer to completing his goal. In this final stage of his journey was a good thing to accomplish, because he’s gone through all of the stages that had been placed there to challenge and see if he actually wants to accomplish it, so he did not give up and gained trust in himself to keep going. This is an important part of the journey because this had taught him to not give up and trust in his heart to accomplish his personal legend, such as when others believe that it is hard to accomplish what they want to complete and do in their life.
At the start of the novel, Santiago is summoned to embark on his adventure several times. He states that he continually has a dream that is quite strange and unfamiliar. In these dreams he meets a boy who tells him, “if you come here, you will find a hidden treasure”(13). The story later reveals that this dream is in fact a hint of his upcoming journey to find a hidden treasure. The second call is when Santiago strikes a conversation with a fortune teller. He asks the fortune teller to interpret his strange recurring dream. The fortune teller reveals to him that a grand treasure is waiting for him in the Egyptian Pyramids. While these news are not new for Santiago, this ultimately lead him one step closer to answering his call. The next and final call, is when Santiago met the King of Salem. The king gives Santiago the final push by explaining to him all about personal legends. The king gives him a sense of reassurance by telling him that, “in order to find the treasure, [Santiago] will have to follow the omens”(29). All of these examples tie in with Santiago beginning his hero journey.
Societal expectations of financial stability influenced the crystal merchant to never go to Mecca, even when it is his life’s dream. Other societal expectations also cause Santiago tells the crystal merchant that he will buy sheep but really he goes to search for his Personal Legend, because of his fear of failure. The fear of failure is a societal ideology that has been taught during Santiago’s child-hood by his father. His father was also taught the ideology and therefore society influenced him he to never achieve his life dream. This ideology from his father taught Santiago to doubt himself throughout his Personal Legend. The baker wanted to travel, yet the desires to be success in life from the societal ideal that being successful means a fulfilled life over rode his Personal Legend. Santiago’s life was also influenced by this society ideal, which lead him to have doubts and concerns about his Personal Legend. Society can and will always be able to influence people’s lives, but that doesn’t mean you have to let it control
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.