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essay on the theme of the alchemist
characteristics of what a hero is
what characteristics must a hero have
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What makes a hero be a hero? A hero has to have certain characteristics, such as; bravery, wisdom, etc. No matter what characteristics are pointed out, every story has a hero, or an archetypal hero. From a short stories to really long novels, you will have some type of hero. In the novel The Alchemist, the main character Santiago is a hero. The book is about how everyone should live their dreams and never give up on them. It follows a young man named Santiago who is following his own dream, or his own “Personal Legend”. It follows him and his struggles to achieve said Personal Legend. Santiago is a hero because he is wise, kind, and brave; He is also a hero because he displays characteristics of an archetypal hero..
Santiago is a hero, first off, because he has shown bravery many times during the novel. The first example can be found on pages thirty-three and thirty- four. On these pages, Santiago is seen crossing the Mediterranean Sea after leaving his homeland. This would take a lot of bravery because he not only gave up his living and everything familiar to him to cross the sea, but he also can not speak the language of the place he is going to. The second example can be found on page 110. On this page, Santiago lowers his head to receive a killing blow from a sword from some guy on a horse that Santiago never met before in his life. This takes a whole lot of bravery to do because anyone else would probably have ran if they saw someone with a sword standing over them. The last example of bravery can be found on page 162. On these pages, Santiago has been brutally beaten by bandits, and have gotten them to leave him alone by revealing that there is treasure buried where he was digging. This is a great example of bravery because...
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...s massive treasure from his dreams. Lastly, he found Fatima, which is apotheosis all on it’s own. Santiago even states, “ I also have Fatima. She is a treasure greater than anything else I have won”(115).
Santiago is a hero because he is brave, kind, and wise; he is also a hero because he shows characteristics of an archetypal hero. Santiago is brave because he has sacrificed everything to pursue his dreams. He is also kind because he helps everyone around him. He is wise because he can use all his knowledge in any situation to overcome many obstacles. Lastly, He is an archetypal hero because he gets supernatural help, has to prove himself multiple times, and gets apotheosis. From all the information presented above, one can clearly see that Santiago is a hero, and a archetypal hero.
Works Cited
Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Print.
In conclusion, Santiago’s journey had different stages that got him closer to achieving his personal legend. Overall the Hero’s Journey of santiago was about him going through challenges and for him to trust in his heart. This can also be compared someone when wanting to accomplish something but then you would think you won’t be able to accomplish it. Clearly, he has been able to complete his journey through stages which had also got him closer to the end every time he has accomplished one of the stages, so the stages are also there so when passing a stage you will be able to keep going without any
There were many heroes in the literature that has been read. Many have been courageous and showed their character through tough times. Through these tough times they were forced to make important decisions and this is where you get the real idea of who is deserved to be called a hero. The most influential though of all these was Huckleberry Finn. Through the innocence of childhood he is able to break through the societal pressures that are brought on him and do right.
He first struggles internally when he wants to understand the dream he is having repeatedly. During the call to adventure in the hero’s journey, Santiago heads to an old gypsy in order to understand the dream he has. However, after listening to the interpretation, Santiago decided to “never again believe in dreams” because the gypsy only told him things he had already known (Coelho 17). This internal struggle, which sets the stage for the rest of Santiago’s struggles, had restrained Santiago for some time because he wasn’t able to pursue his personal legend if he didn’t believe in it, However, he later overcomes this struggle and continues on his path to achieving his personal legend. Santiago struggles internally later when he meets with the chief of a camp in the desert who tells him that he wants to see him turn into the wind. The alchemist, a man Santiago met to help him achieve his personal legend, told the chief that Santiago will be able to turn himself into the wind to show his powers, and if he can’t, “[they’ll] humbly offer [them] [their] lives” (Coelho 145). Santiago has never turned himself into the wind, so he has to dig deeply within in order to find the
In this essay I have only shown three, but there are so many more and the traits of a hero are not only restricted to people who save lives, chase bad guys, or change the world. He overcame constant pressures with his determination, led a whole team with his outstanding leadership, and never gave up thanks to his passion. He is a hero to many, no cape, or superpowers needed. So now it’s up to you, is he, or is he not, a
Santiago had it hard while he was growing up, his parents wanted him to be a preacher but he knew he was destined to be more as he could not implement his lively and traveling nature in a sacristy of a church. His way to the treasure which was bound to be his happy ever after was harder to get to as he had to give up many things. He had to promise The Gypsy Woman a tenth of his treasure he did not even have yet, give up a tenth of his flock of sheep to The King Of Salem for the knowledge he had already but was provided in a more explanatory way, getting robbed, leaving behind loved ones, working harder for something he had lost but, arguably the hardest part was to be patient, hardworking and strong which he had to implement time after time and that is what made the achievement of the treasure worth it for Santiago.
The entire book was about him going on a journey and finding his treasure. This required a great amount of courage. To get to his treasure, he had to face many emotions, and it takes a great amount of courage to do that, because if we don’t pay attention to our emotions to certain things than it becomes slightly scary to find out how you react to the emotions when you are paying close attention. Also, an obvious example of courage is when Santiago becomes the wind to escape the desert warriors. Not only does he have the pressure of having his life taken away, but he also tries to do something he has never done before, under pressure.
Santiago showed everything he knows about fishing to Manolin. Santiago had been with Manolin for years and he loves him. Manolin loves Santiago as well and looks at him as a father figure. Santiago did everything for Manolin. Santiago was a true hero. So why should anyone care about this, you may be thinking. Ernest Hemingway himself didn’t really care about courage, bravery, friendship, etc. He only cared about the actual act of doing those things. Not just doing it just once, but doing it constantly. Someone can be brave once and then never again. So then that means that person isn’t brave just because of that one act. To be considered something it has to be part of you and what makes up your personality and you as a person. Discipline is key to follow Ernest Hemingway’s “Code Hero”. Santiago demonstrates what a true person that is courageous, friendly, and can handle anything what comes their way. For doing so, and following Ernest Hemingway’s “Code Hero” it’ll make you into a better person. By reading The Old Man and the Sea you learned about “Code Hero” through the main character Santiago. He is an inspiration and is the perfect example on how a person should
Santiago is a heroic figure because he was always kind to others. He was always helping someone with something. For example: when Santiago was working at the Crystal shop, he helped the Crystal Merchant, improve his business. When Santiago was leaving the Crystal Shop, the merchant stated “You brought a new feeling into my Crystal Shop”(61). The Crystal Merchant is talking about how much Santiago has changed his business. Santiago has helped the merchant’s business by making a display case to put outside the store, cleaning all the crystal and adding new things, such as the tea. Santiago also helped an Englishman by helping him find the Alchemist. The Englishman wanted to speak to an alchemist. The Englishman stated “I need you to help me find out where the alchemist lives”(90). Because the Englishman requested for help, Santiago helped him. It took over half a day to find the alchemist, but fi...
...lso contains a road of trials. The road of trials is simply his journey across the desert. Crossing the desert has been the whole issue since start of the book. He meets many obstacles, such as lack of money, lack of motivation, love, and lack of trust. One of the more notable obstacles is when he falls in love with Fatima,“I want to stay… as far as i'm concerned, she’s worth more than treasure.” (118). If it were not for the Alchemist, Santiago would have stayed with Fatima and would have not continued his journey through the desert.
A man who spent 20 years trying to get home. A father who took his own life for his family. A woman who risked her life to free strangers. True heroes give anything they can for the sake of other, something as small as a helping hand, or something as big as losing their own life. Heroes aren't bullies, they won't push you down just for their entertainment, they will pull you up back onto your feet. There are many types of heroes we all consider, Odysseus and Harriet Tubman are obvious while Rumpelstiltskin isn't as clear to see. Most of the time, heroes are not the stereotypical ones found in stories; real traits that define a hero are love towards one another, selflessness for others, and a strong devotion for what they believe in.
What makes somebody a hero? According to Campbell there are only four things that every hero needs to occur in a story: a special birth, early recognition, a great deed, and a loss of power. Hamlet is a hero that follows this basic outline. “King Arthur and the Tales of the Round Table” is another one of the most fitting tales for this archetype.
When santiago was tested to turn into wind, he began to reach into the sandstorm and communicate with all the naturistic attributes.This represented his death. Santiago getting robbed for his gold & finding a solution to where his treasure was represented his rebirth in my opinion. “Tents being blown from their ties to the earth and animals were free from their tethers. The boy stood up shakily and looked once more at the pyramids. They seemed to laugh at him and he laughed back, his heart blasting with joy. This stage in santiago’s life represented resilience in its finest form, causing santiago to glide across this stage so profoundly. Santiago’s victory was a long time that was in deserving of coming. He deserved his treasure for believing in
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
Secondly, Santiago experiences material success because of the augmented physical strength he attains from the obstacles that he is forced to face. The old man is walking home to his shack after he returns from his strenuous journey, “He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack” (121). The old man is exhausted from his trip because he had spent so much energy catching the fish. Plenty of strength must have been gained from the exertion of this much energy. During the shark attacks, Santiago is optimistic about what good the bleeding from his hands will bring. “The bleeding may keep the left from cramping” (111). The old man is so strong that he uses the bleeding pain to suffocate a different source of pain. Not only that, but just the fact of keeping a positive attitude about a situation like this is a great accomplishment which can only be obtained from strength.
... the character of Santiago. He is not as determined as Ahab when it comes to his own nature. He is able to accept that humility and love do not take away his pride and in fact they are life sustaining. Ahab cannot give up the only thing he knows, his passions. Knowledge does not come in the face of a world that remains as mysterious and evil when we leave it as it was when we entered it. For Santiago, there is some measure of relief from the indifferent universe through the interdependence of human beings. Ahab never finds this measure of relief. Yet, they both retain some measure of dignity because they know they cannot conquer the universe but they do not let it conquer them either.