"The Alchemist" - Paulo Coelho
"Often in literature a character has a decision of which "path" to choose. Explain how a character in the book your read deals with this type of decision/conflict." "The Alchemist" is a novel written by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho in 1988. It tells the story of an Andalusian shepherd known as Santiago and his journey of fulfilling his "dream" which he names his "Personal Legend". Throughout his voyage, he met many different people and was forced under many different circumstances, and we are able to experience his emotional states throughout every part of his journey. He undergoes many revelations, and we could argue he becomes wiser and more aware of the spiritual value which everything in the world possesses. He ends up finding his "Personal Legend", but despite actualizing his "dream", he was a victim to the negative emotions that come with being human, and therefore we could argue that the main conflict in "The Alchemist" is within Santiago himself.
…show more content…
At the beginning of his journey when he first set foot in the continent of Africa, he meets another man, who ends up robbing Santiago of all his money, which left him discouraged and he began doubting his decision. He ends up using the two stones given to him by a king, and he regains his inspiration and decides to continue on in search of his "Personal Legend". Another example of a time Santiago began abandoning his dreams was when he began working at the crystal shop in Tangier. He began building a comforting life with a routine. For about a year, Santiago put off ideas of achieving his goals, and he succumbed to the temptation to give
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.
Santiago’s journey is influenced by the Crystal Merchant because the Merchant not only gives Santiago the skills, knowledge and money to keep going, but also inspires Santiago to continue on with his journey. The Crystal Merchant supplies Santiago with
Coelho begins by identifying the main characters as they become timely components to unraveling the plot. The first line of the book, after all is, “The boys name was Santiago” (Coelho 3). We come to find that Santiago dreamt of traveling so he gave up his pursue of becoming a priest and instead, became a sheepherder (8). Santiago is already presented as a motivated character that makes efforts to accomplish his dreams. He exists as a dynamic character, rather than static as The Alchemist later on is portrayed. The Alchemist is cha...
Without determination, Santiago would probably have stopped searching very early on. When Santiago began working for the crystal merchant, he showed determination. Although at the time he did not have getting to the pyramids in mind, he was determined to make enough money to buy more sheep. Santiago worked very hard and devoted himself to his work. He helped the crystal merchant innovate new ideas to improve business. Business rapidly improved and Santiago’s determination paid off while working for the crystal merchant. Santiago’s determination was not only shown through his work for the crystal merchant but also his desire to find the treasure. After Santiago travelled with the alchemist, he saw a scarab beetle which was an omen to him because they are a symbol of God. While digging, tribal war refugees found Santiago and began beating him up but through determination, he warded them off by creating the illusion he is crazy. Once they left, he realized exactly where his treasure is. Santiago was still determined to find his treasure and went all the way back to the church and sycamore tree were. “Half an hour later, his shovel hit something solid. An hour later, he had before him a chest of Spanish gold coins” (Coelho 176). Santiago’s constant perseverance and determination led him to the treasure through all the hardships he faced along the
In the time he spent with the Crystal Merchant he realized that it is important to continue moving forward. He learned all that he could from his sheep, so he sold them and through the continuation of his journey he met new people and was taught new things. With his newly found understanding of the world, Santiago realizes that achieving one’s Personal Legend does not necessarily guarantee a treasure of material wealth, however, one will almost certainly acquire treasure in the form of personal
...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.
The first two obstacles that Santiago faces are that his father tells him he can not do something that he wants to do and that he wants to pursue his personal legend, but he does not want to hurt those that he loves. For example, Santiago’s father said, “The people who come here have a lot of money to spend, so they can afford to travel. Amongst us the only ones who can travel are shepherds.” Everyone is told by their parents and friends that everything we want to do is impossible. Since Santiago did not have money to spend to travel his only choice was then to become a shepherd to fulfill his desire. T...
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
There are many obstacles in everyday life, but none as detrimental to ones future as fear. Fear can cause people to not only avoid achieving their goals in life but it also forces them to think about it throughout every day. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist shows that those who wallow in fear will never achieve their personal legend, and those who conquer fear will achieve anything they strive for. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a commonly analyzed and criticized piece of literature. One of these articles is Rejendra Kumar Dash’s “Alchemy of the Soul: A Comparative Study of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist”. Dash’s article is a literary criticism of the different parts of the character’s journey in The Alchemist. He talks about, in his article, how the theme in The Alchemist is found through analyzing the different parts of Santiago’s journey and what those parts mean. Another one of these articles is Lily Hasanah’s “Decision Making in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist”. Hasanah’s article is a literary criticism of the main character in The Alchemist, Santiago. She searches for the theme in The Alchemist through analyzing the decisions, and the outcomes of those decisions, made by Santiago. Paulo Coelho provides access to his theme, for the most part, though the actions and adventures of the main character, Santiago. Although this is the method of delivery he had in mind, Dash and Hasanah view the delivery of his theme differently.
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.
After Santiago has had his dream interpreted, he sets out on a journey with the guidance of many people such as a king and a new friend. Firstly, Santiago meets a king who tells him that he can help him find his treasure if he gives him a tenth of his sheep. Santiago then sold all but one tenth of his sheep, which left him with a lot of money and a treasure he sought (Coelho 31). Now that he has no sheep left, he has nothing left to go back to, and has to start his journey. During the crossing of the first threshold stage, Santiago has to decide to take a step in which he gives everything up to pursue his personal legend. Now that Santiago has a lot of money, he is able to make the voyage to his treasure, but first he must get guidance. A boy he meets in a bar serves as a guide who holds his money for him, until when Santiago is not looking, the boy runs off with all of his money (Coelho 41). Santiago now has no money left and no sheep left. During the belly of the whale stage, Santiago faces a very impactful hindrance in which he is left with nothing but hope for finding. Lastly, Santiago faces many external struggles while on his journey across the desert towards the treasure in his dream. After traveling with a caravan during the hot days and very cold nights, Santiago learns that it is unsafe because there are tribal wars
"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
At the start of the novel, Santiago is summoned to embark on his adventure several times. He states that he continually has a dream that is quite strange and unfamiliar. In these dreams he meets a boy who tells him, “if you come here, you will find a hidden treasure”(13). The story later reveals that this dream is in fact a hint of his upcoming journey to find a hidden treasure. The second call is when Santiago strikes a conversation with a fortune teller. He asks the fortune teller to interpret his strange recurring dream. The fortune teller reveals to him that a grand treasure is waiting for him in the Egyptian Pyramids. While these news are not new for Santiago, this ultimately lead him one step closer to answering his call. The next and final call, is when Santiago met the King of Salem. The king gives Santiago the final push by explaining to him all about personal legends. The king gives him a sense of reassurance by telling him that, “in order to find the treasure, [Santiago] will have to follow the omens”(29). All of these examples tie in with Santiago beginning his hero journey.
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.