Comparing Siddhartha And The Alchemist

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Can the path be known before hand? Or is it discovered along the way? The main characters in the books “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse and “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, Siddartha and Santiago, long to find their path. They aren’t quite sure what to do but along the way they are being shown the right way to go through various lessons.The lessons that helped Siddhartha and Santiago reach their goals/ purpose was listening to the world, listening to a inner voice, and knowing that the path is not easy.
To find their path and reach the goal Siddhartha and Santiago have to be able to listen to the world. When Santiago from “The Alchemist” begins his travel he learns that the world will be useful to him so he should listen to it. “ When you want …show more content…

To reach the knowledge that he desired, Siddhartha must follow the samana way. “ The flesh disappeared from his legs and cheeks” (Hesse 13). The samanas lived a very poor life without the necessary objects( food, house, money, etc.). Due to this Siddhartha wanting more knowledge followed the ways of the samanas and was almost fully starved if he didn’t beg for his food. Santiago was prepared to live to the fullest but he soon realized it wasn’t like that. “He was no longer a shepherd, and he had nothing, not even the money to return and start everything over” (Coelho 41). Santiago was robbed of his fortune that he had made the past year working with the crystal merchant. He was left penniless and had to recover from this and everything over. Life does not come easy which is something that Santiago and Siddhartha learned along the way.
The lessons that helped Siddhartha and Santiago reach their goal was listening to the world, listening to a inner voice, and knowing the path is not easy. Both character learned new things that were of value throughout their journey. This helped them stay on their path and eventually reach their goal/personal legend. Throughout a lifespan life will be difficult but staying on the path is all that matters no matter the hardships you have to face. The lessons that they learned were of value even after they reached their goal/personal

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