Character Analysis: The Alchemist

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As I sat on edge of my bed, questioning all of my thoughts and caught in a storm of overthinking, “I got it!” I said, “I want to become an astrophysicist!” A tornado swept away my dream of becoming an architect and crushed my attitude towards becoming an astronaut...and I couldn’t have been happier. My whole life, nothing has been more confusing to me than my future. I pondered and pondered about what it is I wanted to do, and in doing so, I found a purpose for myself. However useful or useless life may be, I knew I could make something of it, and now the astrophysics has become a part of my identity. I spent hours studying the latest on black holes and understanding exotic particles and other space quandaries. I read 32 hours worth …show more content…

It is best said by Bryant H. McGill when he says, “Having a sense of purpose is having a sense of self. A course to plot is a destination to hope for.” The purpose to life is to notice and follow your dreams. You are the one who creates your purpose and builds towards it, regardless of the challenges you face, you will truly become happy. The novel, The Alchemist is interesting as main character Santiago had been following his Personal Legend, the purpose and dream of his life, and fulfilled it. Throughout his journey he learned and taught many lessons and truly became happy, having fulfilled his dream and finding love. The most striking example of the lesson is when the old king tells Santiago a story about a miner. “The miner had abandoned everything to go mining for emeralds. For five years he had been working a certain river...The miner was about to give it all up, right at the point when, if he we to examine just one more stone — he would find his emerald.”(26) He finally found the emerald after initiative by the old king and was happy that all his work wasn’t for nothing. This story is very credible because people who follow their dreams tend to be the happiest. Success isn’t achieved in an instant and takes a lot of time and planning. Having a solid foundation that builds to your goals is …show more content…

It was best stated by the Alchemist that, “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.”(134) Many are afraid of failure, even though failure is important for success. To be successful one must learn, and the best way to learn is by making mistakes. A great example of a person who embodies this is Thomas Edison. He is known for the creation of the light bulb, but more important than that, he was an inventor, who put many things through trial and error. As a kid in the mid 1800’s, like more kids he had to work in the factory. That didn’t stop his drive to learn, and while working he spent much of his time reading about the telegraph and other machines. During and industrial age of rapid growth, he built his way up and established himself as an inventor. First he created a recorder to speed up the voting process, that was a commercial fail but he continued regardless of his failure. By pursuing his dream as an inventor, he eventually created the lightbulb, even though it is debated that the number of tries was between 1,000 and 10,000 tries. However, it’s safe to say that thats a whole lot of failure. His response? “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” His identity is

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