The Alchemist is centered around a shepherd named Santiago, whose repetitive dreams lead him on a journey to succeeding his personal legend and finding his true love. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty revolves around Life Magazine’s negative asset manager named Walter Mitty, who frequently daydreams about an adventurous life until when an important negative goes missing, he must go on a global trek to find the photographer whose location is unknown. Although on different quests, Santiago and Walter follow the archetypal hero’s journey, moving them from dissatisfied action with their lives to finding purpose in them while showing a rebirth and renewal emphasized by symbolism. The archetypal hero’s journey requires a defined set of events in …show more content…
“You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his personal legend.” (Coelho, 124) This is a turning point in the story because Santiago is willing to give up everything he has worked for in order to stay with Fatima. The Alchemist explains that love comes with pursuing personal legends and it won’t stand in the way. Next, Santiago must face the fear of failure. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” (Coelho, 141). There may be tough times and tests along the way but he must remain focused on his dream. Finally, the last obstacle Santiago goes through is the guilt of success. Once Santiago arrives at the pyramids and begins to dig for his treasure, two men approached him and beat him up. Once they were finished, one of the men told him that he shouldn’t believe in dreams. “You'll learn that a man shouldn't be so stupid. Two years ago, right here on this spot, I had a recurrent dream, too. I dreamed that I should travel the fields of Spain and look for a ruined church where shepherds and their sheep slept. In my dream, there was a sycamore growing out of the ruins …show more content…
Symbolic Imagery is used in The Alchemist; Santiago’s sheep, alchemy, and the desert. Santiago’s sheep symbolize the sort of existence lived by those who are completely blind to their Personal Legends. Santiago loves his sheep, but he also believes that his sheep do not appreciate all the wonderful lands that Santiago discovers during his travels. These sheep symbolize the characters in the book who do not pursue their Personal Legends, such as the crystal merchant. Like the sheep, the merchant was content with his material desires and social acceptance. Furthermore, he lost the ability to appreciate certain aspects of creation, and tends to miss out on many opportunities because of his limited perspectives. Alchemy, in which a base metal is transformed into a more valuable metal like gold, represents Santiago’s journey to achieve his Personal Legend. In The Alchemist, the metal must rid itself of all impurities to achieve a higher state. Similarly, Santiago must rid himself of his impurities, in order to realize his own Personal Legend and achieve a higher state. The desert symbolizes the difficulties that await anyone in pursuit of their Personal Legend, but it also serves as a teacher to Santiago during his journey to the pyramids. Santiago begins to understand his environment, and to see the signs of life. Eventually he learns to recognize all the creation in sand, and in the greatest test he
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.
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
“Alchemy” is the perfect metaphor for this book because like an alchemist, Santiago attempts to find his Personal Legend or for an alchemist, trying to change simple metal to gold. Santiago also had many setbacks, like an alchemist failing to make gold. Like alchemists, he continues his trip until he realizes his Personal Legend, or like an alchemist finally making gold. “But the alchemists were strange people, who only thought only about themselves, and almost always refused to help him,” (66, The Alchemist). Santiago, like an alchemist, was estranged from the culture, and were forced to become accustomed to their situation. Santiago kept trying, much like alchemist, until eventually they either grasp their Personal Legend or find a way to make gold. When Santiago met the alchemist, he learned to be open-minded and to problem solve, he also taught Santiago how to connect with the
When Santiago saved up enough money, he took a caravan across a desert to get to the pyramids where he met the leader of the caravan and a real alchemist. The alchemist taught him new ways of viewing life. Santiago’s call to adventure was his dream of the child telling him that there was treasure waiting for him
Santiago faced a lot of difficulties in order to achieve his. When Santiago first got to egypt, he trusted the wrong person. A boy stole all his money, which he had gotten from selling his sheep. Santiago meets a crystal merchant when he had lost all his money. The merchant helps Santiago by allowing him to work for him. With Santiago’s help and ideas the Merchant started doing better than before. Santiago had a dream to travel to Egypt and find the treasure that he had dreamed of. The merchant also had a dream, however, the merchant was satisfied with what he already had and didn’t want more. Santiago had gone through a lot of situations and almost gave up on his dreams when he got robbed. He had no money to complete his
Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Alchemist, recounts the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels from his hometown Spain to the Egyptian desert in order to find the treasure buries in the Pyramids. During the journey to Egypt, he meets a lot of people: the King of Salem, the Crystal merchant, Fatima, and an Alchemist. All of them help Santiago to towards to his destination. Throughout the journey, he learns the importance of one’s dream, the language of the world, and the soul of the world. All of the experiences he goes through help him to achieve his Personal Legend.
"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.
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.
The Alchemist “The Alchemist” is a novel written by Paul Coelho. This novel is about how a boy named Santiago who was once a Shepard and now is a rich man .Santiago is the protagonist of the novel. He was determined to fulfill his personal legend. There was also the alchemist, he was a two hundred year old man who understands the importance of personal legends.
Everyday, humans live their lives in fear of the world surrounding them. They awaken to the apprehension of a new day, unnerved at all the challenges that will undoubtedly present themselves. It is often thought that through the perseverance of facing these challenges, dreams are born. In The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, dreams and aspirations play an essential role in the tale of Santiago. Santiago is a shepherd who decides he wants more out of live after perceiving premonitions about a supposed hidden treasure near the Egyptian Pyramids.
This final test will be the biggest our hero faces and will require the culmination of all the knowledge gained throughout their adventure, termed the Supreme Ordeal. In the case of The Alchemist, the Supreme Ordeal is when Santiago is forced to somehow turn himself into the wind. “‘What is an alchemist?’ he asked, finally. ‘It’s a man who understands nature and the world. If he wanted to, he could destroy this camp with just the force of the wind.’ The men laughed. They were used to the ravages of war, and knew that the wind could not deliver them a fatal blow. Yet each felt his heart beat a bit faster. They were men of the desert, and they were fearful of sorcerers. ‘I want to see him do it,’ said the chief. ‘He needs three days,’ answered the alchemist. ‘He is going to transform himself into the wind, just to demonstrate his powers. If he can’t do so, we humbly offer you our lives, for the honor of your tribe.’ ‘You can’t offer me something that is already mine,’ the chief said, arrogantly. But he granted the travelers three days.” To accomplish this feat, Santiago needs to pull together all of his knowledge on the inner workings of the Soul of the World, part of which had been gained through his first two trials, otherwise he would forfeit his life. Even though Santiago set out with the goal of finding a forgotten treasure, that
The alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho and it is a book that has inspired many readers. This novel is about an Andulasian shepard, Santiago, that goes along a journey traveling to find his treasure. Furthermore, along the way he discovers new things such as the importance of listening to his heart and discovering his own Personal Legend. However, Santiago encounters many problems throughout the story.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it. The Alchemist is the story about a young man from Spain who desires to travel. His name is Santiago. He has a deep wish to be traveler, so he becomes a shepherd.
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.
In the literary book, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coleho it talks about how a young boy named Santiago goes on a journey to find his Personal Legend. He counters many obstacles and meets different people and visits different places. Santiago in the end is a very different person. Paulo Coleho includes the characters of the baker, the crystal merchant, Santiago, and the Englishman to show readers that one must conquer their goals or fears to find true happiness and to accomplish their desires. Paulo uses the baker in this story to show how when we hold back from pursuing our dreams then we end up in a constant place of delusion thinking we are happy. For example, on page 25 of “The Alchemist” it states, “When he was a child that man wanted to travel,