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The alchemist summary
The alchemist summary
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The Alchemist
The Alchemist was a great book about a young boy, Santiago, who wanted to travel the world. In the beginning of the book Santiago’s family wanted him to become a priest, but Santiago wanted to travel the world. Santiago’s father told him that the only people that travel the world are the rich and shepherds. When Santiago heard the information he then told his father he will become a shepherd. In response to his son’s decision, he gave his son one gold coin to buy his flock of sheep. As time went on Santiago began having a dream, a dream that he kept having. Eventually he met a merchant that he sold his wool to once a year. The boy had fell in love with the merchant’s daughter and the next year the dream was finally going to
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be told. When preparing to see the merchant and his daughter, Santiago came across a fortune tellers both. Santiago entered the booth hoping to get an answer about his dream. Upon entering he had told the fortune teller about his dream and he was informed that the dream was to lead him to a real treasure in Egypt. When Santiago heard this he did not believe her.
And when he wanted to pay and leave, the fortune teller said instead of paying me what little you have find the treasure and when you do I will take one fourth of it. Later that day he met a man who claimed to be a king and traded two emeralds that were not worth much for his flock of sheep. Once he had lost it all and realized that he had gotten scammed he climbed a hill and found a crystal shop where he then ended up working at for a year. He had helped make the shop thrive with his ideas and eventually made enough money to buy many flocks of sheep and still make it to Egypt. Once he had decided to go to Egypt, on his voyage with the caravan they ended up stopping in a desert town. While in the desert town Santiago met a girl named Fatima and once again fell in love. Soon after he went on his voyage to the pyramid’s and found his treasure, but he was then robbed and was left with nothing but his two useless emeralds that he had only used once. The Alchemist talks in its own way, it is a very well put together book that has and uses many literary devices. One of the many literary devices that is heavily used was irony, such as “He thought that, with some patience, he’d be able to transform everything into gold”,
(Coelho page 81 - 82).
Santiago is a shepherd trying to pursue his personal legend. His personal legend is the recurring dream about the hidden treasure at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. In his dream he starts playing in a field with his sheep, when a child appeared and began to play with the animals. This was strange to him because sheep are afraid of strangers, but the sheep and children play along just fine. Then a child grabbed his hands and took him to the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. He begins his journey locally trying to find answers from a gypsy and a man named
Curious, courageous, young, adventurous: these are all words to describe Santiago, the protagonist in the novel The Alchemist. In this novel, Paulo Coelho develops Santiago’s character as a young boy who goes on an adventure to find his life’s purpose. Through the hero’s journey, Paulo Coelho insists that both internal and external struggles often cannot stop people from achieving their goals, ultimately encouraging people to fulfill self discovery and understand who they truly are.
In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho an Andalusian boy named Santiago leaves Spain to travel to Egypt in order to achieve his Personal Legend. During his journey he meets four people, a Gypsy, a King named Melchizedek, an Englishman and an Alchemist, all of whom help Santiago along his journey towards his Personal Legend. However, only the King and the Alchemist teach Santiago lessons that he can learn from and use along his journey. The King teaches Santiago two lessons, to follow omens and that it is not always about the destination but that it is also about the journey. The Alchemist teaches Santiago to listen to his heart for guidance, what the Language of the World is and what the Soul of the World is. He eventually arrives in Egypt after
"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.
Have you ever been so close to reaching something you could almost grasp it, only to have it slip between your fingers before you ever truly got hold of it? I feel as though my life has been made up of these moments. Near misses, passing by before ever given the chance to occur. One such incident occurred in Spring of 1995. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were going on tour. Needless to say, my friends and I were very excited at the mere thought of going to the concert and breathlessly began preparing to purchase our tickets. At the time, I worked at Music Plus, a local music store in San Clemente, CA. This allowed me to earn my own money for my concert tickets, which basically was my true passion at the time. Finally, the exciting
Santiago is a shepherd from a small town in Spain and is the main character of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. He is curious person and desires to learn all he can about the world. At the beginning of the story, he resisted his parent's desires that he become a priest and chose instead to work as a shepherd so that he would have the opportunity to travel throughout the country. For a time, being a shepherd satisfies his desire to travel and see the world until he dreams of uncovering a treasure hidden near the pyramids in Egypt. Santiago waits to chase after his dream until he meets Melchizedek, a mysterious old man who claims to be the king of Salem. After Melchizedek demonstrates to him the magical powers of nature, Santiago sets off to reveal
“ Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart”(159). This is what the alchemist said to the main character. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, tells a story of a boy named Santiago, who goes on a long journey to discover his personal legend. As Santiago goes on his journey to pursue his personal legend, he is faced with many challenges, as well as left to make difficult decisions that change him forever. As Santiago travels the world, he becomes a hero. In The Alchemist, Santiago shows characteristics, as well as archetypal characteristics that make him a hero. Santiago displays kindness, bravery and wisdom; also he is considered a hero because he displays many characteristics of an archetypal hero. He displays archetypal characteristics such as: receiving supernatural help, proving himself many times and receiving an apotheosis.
Throughout the years, certain writers were able to set off a deep sympathetic resonance within readers by their usage of archetypal patterns. One of those patterns is known as the hero's journey, which Joseph Campbell gave an understandable idea of in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. According to his book, while comparing world's mythology, he found that no matter how far cultures are from each other, they will still have the same structure of hero's journey in their legends (Voytilla vii).
In the novel The Alchemist it tells a story of a boy who is in search of his Personal Legend. A Personal Legend is the means in which a person can live a satisfying life, in other words ones destiny in life. As the novel states the only way to achieve perfection is if all natural things continuously undergo a cycle of achieving their Personal Legend, evolving into a higher being with a new Personal Legend, and then pursuing that new goal. This concept, that the individualistic pursuit of a Personal Legend exists as life’s dominant—perhaps only—spiritual demand, lies at the center of the unique theology of The Alchemist. As we see when Santiago must give up his flock, material success and even love pose obstacles to Santiago achieving his Personal
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.
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.
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 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,
The novel follows a shepherd boy named Santiago who in the beginning of the novel is content with his life. He knows the sheep, he understands them, speaks their language, and is “accustomed to their schedule.” While camping out by an abandoned church Santiago has a recurring dream about a child who takes him to the pyramids and tells him that she will help him find the treasure.
After the knowledgeable interference with the old man, Santiago begins his journey to the Pyramids. While at Tangier, a man he meets in a bar robs Santiago. But without the incidence, Santiago would not have met the crystal merchant, who without intent, helps Santiago realizes that money is not everything. But Santiago decides to continue with his journey of finding the treasure. At Tangier, Santiago realizes that his Personal Legend is to continue with the journey and not to stop in order to learn more about himself and about the