“The Alchemist” written by Paulo Coelho put a focus on a boy’s journey through life that originally began as a dream that was unfinished, this led the boy, a shepherd named Santiago to his own journey, although the beginning of the book never really drew a parallel to the title of the book. It only focused on Santiago’s travel with his sheep. Later in the story the reason for the title “the Alchemist is revealed, because for all intents and purposes it introduced one of the more important characters in the book… the Alchemist.
Besides the title Paulo Coelho he used various devices to help forgo the boy’s personal legend. And the most important device that he used is the dream, the dream inside an abandoned church where growing inside was a giant sycamore tree, with this dream the boy has an epiphany, “I had the same dream twice; I was in a field with my sheep when a child appeared and began to play with the animals. I don’t like people to do that, because the sheep are afraid of strangers. But children always seem to be able to play without frightening them. The child continued to play with my sheep for quite a while and suddenly the child took my both hands and transported me to the Egyptian pyramids. Then the child said to me, ‘if you come here you will find a treasure’ and just as she was about to show me the exact location I woke up both times.” This quote is a clue into what the legend of the boy’s dream will entail.
The biggest fundamentals of a great book are the setting. The variety of settings are not limited to us specifically when we have no clue what cities are in which countries are like: Andalusia, Tarifa, Al-Fayoum and Tangier, but the clues mentioned in the book by the author like the languages spoken sort of g...
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... many of them were not perseverant to fulfill their own legends, and rather they just did what was easy to do. Most especially is the leader of Santiago's attackers in the pyramids, for he dreamt of the same thing as Santiago's, but he never had the willpower to fulfill his dream thinking that it was stupidity. All of them conspired to help Santiago to fulfill and to put his dream into reality and to be able to realize his own Personal Legend. To bring this to an end, Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" was a very astounding and straightforward novel, worth reading and gives a great impact to appreciative and effective readers who are willing to take time for reading. It is very appealing to almost everyone who reads it and leads the readers to attaining their own Personal Legends and urges almost everyone to follow their dreams and be persistent in reaching their goals.
The knowledge and universal understanding derivative from a journey can leave the traveller positively enlightened. In Coelho’s story, Santiago is faced with recurring dreams which lead him to ‘’traverse the unknown’’ in search of a treasure buried in Egypt, the metaphor for universal connection, and in doing so, comes to the unrelenting realisation of spiritual transcendence. After arriving at the assumed geographical location of the treasure ‘’several figures approached him’’. They demand the boy keep searching for this treasure as they are poor refugees and in need of money, but as Santiago does, he finds nothing. Then, after relentless digging through the night ‘’as the sun rose, the men began to beat the boy’’ , finally relenting with the truth, Santiago reveals his dreams to the travellers. In doing so, Santiago finds out that these men had also been faced with recurring dreams measured around the place where the boy had undergone his own, both relative to hidden treasure. However the leader was ‘’not so stupid as to cross an entire desert just because of a recurrent dream’’. It is with this fact, tha...
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 ...
"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.
When the Englishman lent Santiago his books, it teaches the boy how to read the language of the world which allowed him to spot omens later. While returning the books to the Englishman, Santiago explains that he learned, “ The world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things,” which allows Santiago to spot omens, like seeing the army in the eagle’s dive, later on in his journey (Coelho 83). Santiago also learns that people learn in different ways in order to follow their personal legend. While travelling through the desert, Santiago warns the Englishman, “ you should pay more attention to the Caravan... We make a lot of detours, but we’re always heading for the same destination,” and he replies, “ Books are like caravans in that respect,” showing that both could learn from each other, which allowed him to further his
A shepherd and an alchemist seem to be stark opposites. A poor sheep herder who lives from the land, alone with his sheep compared to an Alchemist. Rich, powerful, and highly sought out. However, the two have more in common than you might think. They both live with a goal, or a “Personal Legend” (21) as the Alchemist may have put it, that gives them a reason to keep going until they achieve that goal. In the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the main character is named Santiago, who happens to be both, a shepherd and and alchemist. Santiago’s Personal Legend is to find the Egyption Pyramids that will give him treasure. Many people help him along the way to achieve this Personal Legend,however there is
Santiago is a shepherd from a small town in Spain and is the main character of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. He is curious person and desires to learn all he can about the world. At the beginning of the story, he resisted his parent's desires that he become a priest and chose instead to work as a shepherd so that he would have the opportunity to travel throughout the country. For a time, being a shepherd satisfies his desire to travel and see the world until he dreams of uncovering a treasure hidden near the pyramids in Egypt. Santiago waits to chase after his dream until he meets Melchizedek, a mysterious old man who claims to be the king of Salem. After Melchizedek demonstrates to him the magical powers of nature, Santiago sets off to reveal
...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.
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...
The president. An astronaut. A spy. A movie star. A veterinarian-- Everyone has their lives planned out when they’re a child. People dream of doing the most impossible things; however, most people never even start to pursue that dream. Practicality wins out and people gradually begin to compromise their dreams until it reaches a point where it is impossible. In the Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, a young shepherd boy stakes everything he’s worked for on his dream of discovering a great treasure. On the way, the boy learns some universal truths of the world. Coelho uses metaphors and similes to show that to achieve a dream one must never give into fear and always stay true to oneself and therefore one’s dream.
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.
Curious, courageous, young, adventurous: these are all words to describe Santiago, the protagonist in the novel The Alchemist. In this novel, Paulo Coelho develops Santiago’s character as a young boy who goes on an adventure to find his life’s purpose. Through the hero’s journey, Paulo Coelho insists that both internal and external struggles often cannot stop people from achieving their goals, ultimately encouraging people to fulfill self discovery and understand who they truly are.
“Even if he never got to the Pyramids, he had already traveled farther than any shepherd he knew. Oh, if they only knew how different things are just two hours by ship from where they are, he thought. Although his new world at the moment was just an empty marketplace, he had already seen it when it was teeming with life, and he would never forget it. He remembered the sword. It hurt him a bit to think about it, but he had never seen one like it before. As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure. "I'm an adventurer, looking for treasure," he said to himself.” Santiago believes that he is an adventurer, looking for treasure, but he may not believe in himself still. Santiago is stuck between looking for the treasure or staying home thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief. It does not matter how many people believe in him if Santiago does not believe in
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
...hen you reach the end the boy has taken a turn and instantly matures in the last sentence. Something like that doesn’t just happen in a matter of seconds. Therefore the readers gets the sense that the narrator is the boy all grown up. He is recollecting his epiphany within the story allowing the readers to realize themselves that the aspiration to live and dream continues throughout the rest of ones life. The narrator remembers this story as a transformation from innocence to knowledge. Imagination and reality clearly become two different things to the narrator; an awareness that everyone goes though at some point in their life. It may not be as dramatic as this story but it gradually happens and the innocence is no longer present.
“We are born with he fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears are imposed by society”, is a quote from the author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist is an epic journey about a man named Santiago, who sets out to find treasure as well as his Personal Legend. Santiago has to overcome multiple obstacle that stop him from living his Personal Legend throughout the novel. Society influences Santiago, the crystal merchant, Santiago’s father and the baker by societal expectations, fear of failure and the desire for success.