Comparing Siddhartha And The Alchemist

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

something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it” (Coelho 64). Santiago has been working with the merchant for a year now but he has he has paid attention to the omens which were sent to him by the world. Santiago was able to listen to world to know both good things and bad things which helped him avoid the unwanted things. Siddhartha learned to understand the language of the river, “Siddhartha looked into the river and saw many pictures in the flowing water” (Hesse 134). SIddhartha was told by the ferryman to listen to the river because he can clear his mind from hesitations. The river is part of nature which is why he was able to hear it. Santiago was taught to listen to the world, as was Siddhartha which was a key to them staying on their path.
To get anywhere in life you must be able to listen to an inner voice to be able to pick a path. Siddhartha knows what he can and cannot do but sometimes he needs a inner voice to remind him. “ At that moment he heard his inner voice and the voice said ” NO!”” (Hesse 50). Siddhartha longed for sex when he saw the woman and almost gave up to it. His inner voice reminded him that it would lead him off his path of finding himself. Santiago’s inner voice has helped him more than he thinks. “ And his heart told him something else that the boy had never noticed: it told the boy of the dangers that had threatened him, but that he had never perceived” ( Coelho 139). By listening to his inner voice he was able to avoid getting in trouble. It helped him not get robbed by the people who waited to ambush him back when he had just became a shepherd. To both characters the inner voice helped them avoid anything that would throw them off their path in finding their self/personal legend.
To reach you goal you must know that the path will be full of hardships.

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

legend.