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Dreams otherwise known as Personal Legends in the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, are concepts, goals and aspirations a person has not only in their dreams while asleep but also in reality. Therefore, dreamers have set ou these ideas with hopes and wished that one day they'll be able to acieve them. Everyone in the world ends up having a dream, they may not all realize their dream at the same time, and all dreams may be unique but everyone has them. However, only a few are capable and successful of accomplishing it, and others who decide to give up along the way to their goal. In the novel, The Alchemist it shows people that personal legends can be hard to accomplish but are still possible to fulfill through time. Furthermore, …show more content…
However, one who does not always act upon bringing it into reality, does not always become into success. In the novel, Santiago becomes frustrated with the Alchemist, due to him thinking that he would teach Santiago how to turn into the wind but does not. The Alchemist states "It's through action. Everything you must know you have learned from your journey" (Coelho 125). The boy assumes that everything he hopes to learn, will be taught to him. Although, this isn't the case, Santiago doesn't realize that everything the world does during his journey will help him. Therefore, when he does not recognize something that is happening to him, he ends up depending on other people. Furthermore, a personal legend that is possible to achieve comes easier when actions are being taken towards your goal, not only by others but by one …show more content…
Two of the many things contributin to this idea are whether to follow one's heart versus their mind. These two particular ideas are main contributors because the mind tells us to follow what society might want, due to the belief of whatever someone says may become in stilled in their mind. Adding to this idea, anything said could be thought to be the right idea or may matter more. However, with a dreamers heart, it paints an image of what they want to do in their life without letting anyone or any opinions get in the way of what they desire. In the novel, Santiago becomes bewildered as to why he should follow his heart when he was told that Fatima could potentially be the dream in his heart. Santiago asked the Alchemist "Why do we have to listen to our hearts" he then responded with, "because wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure" (Coelho 128). Santiago becomes so concentrated on the dream he had in his mind to travel to the pyramids and find his personal legend, that when a dream from his heart arose, he couldn't comprehend as to
Dreams are there to make the illusion of the impossible, you must always strive to do the impossible. Two people have shown that it is possible to achieve the impossible, and those two people are Althea Gibson and Barbara Jordan, and those two people had done their absolute best to make sure that they make it, and to make sure they make they succeed in life. In the article Althea Gibson and Barbara C. Jordan, both written by Frank Lafe They were both faced with obstacles that didn't want them to succeed, they had dreams that had seemed impossible for them to be able to achieve at that time. Both of them had different environments that affected their future, the environments around people affect the person too. All of those describe the 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
In the novel, The Alchemist, Santiago is an archetypal hero who embarks on the most common forms of a hero’s journey. From when he received his calling from his dream, the gypsy woman, and the king, his denial and refusing of the call with his thoughts of assurance of a stable livelihood, his acceptance and beginning of adventure, his help throughout the ways with the aid of the mystical alchemist, to finally the trials that he faces from the start to the conclusion. Therefore, so Santiago is what now, and always has been considered to be the all-known hero.
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
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...
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
“…Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” (Coelho 68) Both of these character’s decisions were influenced by another person. Liesel was only brought into contact with book thievery at her brother’s funeral and Santiago was told to pursue his dream by t...
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.
In the book the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago’s call to adventure was to travel the world , experience life, and find his hidden treasure. This meant he would stop at nothing until he achieved so. This troublesome stage is a period where santiago is tested to grab his dream before it leaves without him.“I’m not going to charge anything now, but I want one tenth of the treasure if you find it.”This stage was very confusing for Santiago because he didn’t know why or how foreign people knew about his personal legend. Santiago chooses to pursue his legend due to a fortune-seer’s knowledge. This significance of this stage so prominently prone to santiago’s view from the inside, he finally chose to go because he knows that everything happens
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
"They come in search of new things, but when they leave they are basically the same people they were when they arrived. They climb the mountain to see the castle, and they wind up thinking that the past was better than what we have now. They have blond hair, or dark skin, but basically they're the same as the people who live right here." Santiago’s father is saying that no matter how much Santiago travels, or how much of the world he sees he will come back the same person. Santiago’s father is an important person in his life. Without his father believing in him Santiago might not believe in himself either. Santiago seems to know what he wants in life, but with his father practically telling him it is wrong he might not succeed. Santiago needs others believing in him or he will not have the motivation to succeed in finding the treasure. Not only does Santiago need others believing in him, but he needs to believe in himself as
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.
Although Melchizedek's actions were of pure heart, his desire for praise reveals a selfish aspect of himself. Finally there's the vanity in the Alchemist's expectations of Santiago knowledge of the language of the world. When Santiago questions his own ability to turn himself into the wind, the Alchemist replies with "Then you'll die in the midst of trying to realize your Personal Legend" (Coelho, Coelho, Clarke 1993). This shows the unnecessary danger that the Alchemist puts Santiago through to test and prove that what he's learned so far was a vital for him to reach the pyramids. This approach Is very aggressive but it unveils the overwhelming belief of Santiago that The Alchemist has to bet his own life on the abilities of Santiago. The novel shows that someone can’t move forward in life unless they relinquish themselves of their own narrow-minded thoughts and become open to new ones, however having a slight amount of vanity helps a person gain belief of their capabilities to progress in their journey because a small dose of vanity is essential to gaining conviction in not only finding but seizing a Personal
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.