The Adventure of the Alchemist According to the king, one's Personal Legend is what one always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their personal legend is, but only some have the vitality to achieve it. In the book the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the characters explain the importance of following one's dreams. It explains what a Personal Legend is, and how it will affect someone's life. The novel is about a shepherd boy following his Personal Legend, and how three people help him. It presents the topics of persistence, and hardship. In the book, the theme of hardship is represented by Santiago on his long journey in trying to achieve his Personal Legend. Some of the hardships he faced were having his strength tested, being stolen from, being under attack, and being threatened. When …show more content…
He decided to stay right there and wait for his return… The sun began its departure, as well. The boy watched it through its trajectory for some time, until it was hiding behind the white houses surrounding the plaza. In addition, he couldn't fall back and living by being a shepherd as he had nothing, not even money to return and start everything over” (Coelho 38). Sometimes we can use hardships to prevent future harm, and never be painful. Another theme in Coelho’s novel was persistance. In his long journey he was discovering how to turn himself into the wind. As long as he was trying to turn himself into the wind, he was showing persistence and never gave up. “ Somewhere you are holding the person I love,’ the boy said. ‘So, when I look over your sands, I’m also looking at her. I want to return to her, so I need your help so I can turn myself into the wind,’” (Coelho 144). Furthermore, Santiago showed persistence by asking the desert, the wind, the sun, and then the creator himself for help, just to get to his Personal Legend, and taught them all about
In society, there is a thing called a hero’s journey. It is when our destiny is before us, and with the choices we make, depict our course for the rest of our lives. In the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Cinderella Man directed by Ron Howard show how the hero’s journey affects Santiago and Jim Braddock lives.
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.
No one is born without a reason or purpose. While it differs from person to person, there is no greater journey than the quest to fulfill it. From a shepherd searching for the treasure of his dreams, to the son of Indian immigrants who must discover the value in the treasure of accepting in his own identity, following a Personal Legend is a significant part of one’s life. Santiago and Gogol, from the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and the film adaptation The Namesake respectively, encounter obstacles as they embark on the life altering journey to discover and fulfill their destiny. Both protagonists are faced with the challenge of realizing the importance of their Personal Legend and the quest to reach
(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
Santiago guides his flock throughout the fields of Andalusia. He finds an old abandoned church and churchyard where he and his flock can spend the night. He sleeps on the stone floor using his book as a pillow. He anticipates his approach the Andalusian village where, one year prior, he met a merchant's daughter. Santiago and his flock approach the town. He has been herding this flock for two years. He often reflects about what he has learned from his sheep and what they have learned from him. He observes that the sheep depend fully on him to lead them to food and water. Not having to forage food for themselves, they have forgotten their instincts.
“The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being” ~ Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist (75)
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.
In the beginning of the book, Santiago travels to visit a Gypsy who is said to be able interpret his recurring dream. As a child he had always heard stories about Gypsies capturing children, taking them to their camps and making them their slaves. These stories translated into one of his largest fears for Santiago as a child and that fear returned when he visited the Gypsy, “As a child, the boy had always been frightened to death that he would be captured by Gypsies, and this childhood fear returned when the old woman took his hand” (17). The Gypsy eventually tells Santiago that there is treasure located at the Egyptian Pyramids. Without being able to overcome his fears of Gypsies, Santiago may have never went on a journey to Egypt in order to achieve his personal legend. Another example in the book that shows Santiago overcoming his fears is while Santiago and the Alchemist are travelling towards the Pyramids. They are suddenly captured by a desert tribe at war, who mistakes them for spies. In order to save his life Santiago has to turn himself into the wind. Coelho states, “But the boy was too frightened to listen to words of wisdom. He had no idea how he was going to transform himself into the wind” (83). Two days later Santiago is standing in front of the tribal chieftains trying to turn himself into the wind. He is able to stay calm while his life is on the line and
Basic Buddhism states that everyone should live a moral life and everyone has something to live for. This theory is a part of the buddhist path, this gives the idea that everyone should respect life and follow what they were made to do(Basic Buddhism). In the Alchemist this is also known as a “Personal Legend’. A Personal legend is a spiritual guide to your purpose in life. Comparably, in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago sells all of his belongings to earn enough money to travel across the desert in search of his personal legend. Santiago has dreams that cause him to go on an adventure across the desert in order to complete his legend in hopes to live a moral life(8). Both The Alchemist and the buddhist believe that everyone has an ambition in life. To life a happy and fulfilled life, one must finish out their intentions in
The Alchemist conveyed the up-most truthful meaning of santiago’s personal legend by teaching him the soul of the earth. This stage helped santiago and the Alchemist are talking doing what your personal legend is and also doing exactly what your personal legend desires are when they speak in terms of listening to one’s heart. “Whenever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure. Santiago takes initiative on his dreams and pursue them regardless of love affairs and the hurt that comes along with it. The stage encouraged and also motivated santiago to find his treasure and make a better life for fatima and
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.
"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
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.
Throughout a person’s life, there is a force that drives that individual into achieving his or her Personal Legend. This term may seem daunting, but in fact, it is not as horrifying as it seems. A Personal Legend is just a goal, or a dream, or better yet, a road that a person takes to achieve something that is near and dear to them. Personal Legends can vary from becoming a doctor, to finding a someone’s own identity; ranging from a multitude of different ideas, a Personal Legend is meant to be unique. People should meet other individuals, and take their own choices in order to make their Personal Legends successful and unique. In Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist, Santiago seeks out his Personal Legend, meeting characters like the alchemist, and maturing through the choices he makes. With the 2014 film, The Hundred Foot Journey, Hassan Kadam takes creative culinary risks while being taught life-lessons from his family to help understand who he is,