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Evaluation of the alchemist by paulo coelho
Themes in the alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Theme of the story The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
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12227 English IV Johnson 02/21/17 Alchemist Essay In the prologue of the Alchemist, the author, Paulo Coelho, selected the story about Narcissus. The meaning represented by the Narcissus is that people sometimes are caught up in beauty and lose track of what is going on around them. In the Alchemist, this meaning is portrayed because it shows that people are concentrated on their own beauty and materialistic things that they lose track of the Soul of the World and the true beauty that surround the universe. Paulo Coelho selected this myth as a prologue to his tale because it represents the idea that Paulo is trying to send; people are too caught up in their own lives and personal things that they don’t realize that the true beauty comes from the world around them. The Legend of the Narcissus reveals the idea of looking past beauty and instead understand the beauty of life and the world around. This enhances the Alchemist because it builds on the lesson that Santiago begins to learn on his journey. The main character, Santiago, goes on this journey to fulfill his Personal Legend and find his treasure. On the way, he learns the beauty of the world around him and the Language of the They become caught up in their own language so they don’t understand the Language of the World. “Because people become fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the World.” The Language of the World is a language that everybody can understand. Even though you speak different languages, the Language of the World can be understood without words. Some people don’t understand the Language of the World because they become caught up in the physical world and their own language. This is similar to the Legend of Narcissus because everybody was caught up and fascinated in the beauty of Narcissus that they wind up forgetting the Language of the
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.
“Only time will tell”. This common phrase states that the truth and true essence of everything will be revealed as time endures. Written in 700 B.C.E, Homer’s nostalgic epic poem, The Odyssey, has inspired many writers to follow. Nearly 30 centuries later, this classic indirectly influenced Paulo Coelho's writing of The Alchemist. Despite the myriad differences on the surface, The Odyssey and The Alchemist have many connecting parallels. The protagonist in each of the examples of the hero’s journey learned countless lessons along the way that can be taught to everyone. The most prominent of which are the dangers of fear, the importance of perseverance, and the seriousness of pursuing what you love.
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.
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 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.
Santiago is a heroic figure because he was always kind to others. He was always helping someone with something. For example: when Santiago was working at the Crystal shop, he helped the Crystal Merchant, improve his business. When Santiago was leaving the Crystal Shop, the merchant stated “You brought a new feeling into my Crystal Shop”(61). The Crystal Merchant is talking about how much Santiago has changed his business. Santiago has helped the merchant’s business by making a display case to put outside the store, cleaning all the crystal and adding new things, such as the tea. Santiago also helped an Englishman by helping him find the Alchemist. The Englishman wanted to speak to an alchemist. The Englishman stated “I need you to help me find out where the alchemist lives”(90). Because the Englishman requested for help, Santiago helped him. It took over half a day to find the alchemist, but fi...
In the book, "The Alchemist", vanity is shown as a necessity in the novel in order to reveal the true thoughts of each characters. These moments of vanity explored in, Santiago almost going back to Spain, Melchizedek's fear of being forgotten, and The Alchemist expectations of Santiago. The first sign of Vanity is when Santiago is coming upon a decision of whether or not to go back to Spain or continue his journey. He's having a conversation with the Crystal Merchant in Arabic and it makes him think back to before his Personal Legend had started " There had been a time when he thought that his sheep could teach him everything he needed to know about the world" (Coelho, Coelho, Clarke 1993). This shows the close-minded thoughts that Santiago once had
...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.
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.
...for the most part where the theme is derived from in The Alchemist, they have minor differences in view points. These differences are for the most part in the impact of the theme and not in where the theme is seen. The analysis of The Alchemist and these articles really opens the eyes of the reader to what the true theme of the novel is. It will also help the reader realize the impact that this theme has on Santiago and even in his or her own life. They can apply this theme to their own journey and be one step closer to finding their personal legend.
...t what could happen. They seek to explore it and supposedly put their unconscious into the darkness to further illuminate the alchemical experience. In reality, their own psychic background is projected and that is what is explained in the encounters. The alchemists were fooled into thinking they could actually change base metals into gold substances. The things the alchemists said and the symbols they used were really a part of the process called individuation. Jung called this “circumambulation of self” or a movement toward center or finding “self.” The road to individuation is shown as constant conflict of opposites which turns into psychic energy. In order to succeed individuation, you must bring the opposing forces into to union. This union in alchemy is called the coniunctio. The alchemical stage of nigreto or blackness correlates with depression in patients.
In the case of Narcissus, the question and manipulation of his identity are both humorously and cruelly adjusted to fit his enormous ego. Narcissus is so preoccupied with his own identity (or perhaps more specifically, his appearance) that he completely loses sight of others’ needs due to his self-absorption. Throughout the myth, Narcissus repeatedly spurns the advances of potential suitors. He is pathologically drawn to his own appearance or anything that resembles and imitates his own pe...
The Alchemist conveyed the up-most truthful meaning of santiago’s personal legend by teaching him the soul of the earth. This stage helped santiago and the Alchemist are talking doing what your personal legend is and also doing exactly what your personal legend desires are when they speak in terms of listening to one’s heart. “Whenever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure. Santiago takes initiative on his dreams and pursue them regardless of love affairs and the hurt that comes along with it. The stage encouraged and also motivated santiago to find his treasure and make a better life for fatima and