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Essay on the theme of the alchemist
Characteristics of what a hero is
What characteristics must a hero have
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What makes a hero be a hero? A hero has to have certain characteristics, such as; bravery, wisdom, etc. No matter what characteristics are pointed out, every story has a hero, or an archetypal hero. From a short stories to really long novels, you will have some type of hero. In the novel The Alchemist, the main character Santiago is a hero. The book is about how everyone should live their dreams and never give up on them. It follows a young man named Santiago who is following his own dream, or his own “Personal Legend”. It follows him and his struggles to achieve said Personal Legend. Santiago is a hero because he is wise, kind, and brave; He is also a hero because he displays characteristics of an archetypal hero..
Santiago is a hero, first off, because he has shown bravery many times during the novel. The first example can be found on pages thirty-three and thirty- four. On these pages, Santiago is seen crossing the Mediterranean Sea after leaving his homeland. This would take a lot of bravery because he not only gave up his living and everything familiar to him to cross the sea, but he also can not speak the language of the place he is going to. The second example can be found on page 110. On this page, Santiago lowers his head to receive a killing blow from a sword from some guy on a horse that Santiago never met before in his life. This takes a whole lot of bravery to do because anyone else would probably have ran if they saw someone with a sword standing over them. The last example of bravery can be found on page 162. On these pages, Santiago has been brutally beaten by bandits, and have gotten them to leave him alone by revealing that there is treasure buried where he was digging. This is a great example of bravery because...
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...s massive treasure from his dreams. Lastly, he found Fatima, which is apotheosis all on it’s own. Santiago even states, “ I also have Fatima. She is a treasure greater than anything else I have won”(115).
Santiago is a hero because he is brave, kind, and wise; he is also a hero because he shows characteristics of an archetypal hero. Santiago is brave because he has sacrificed everything to pursue his dreams. He is also kind because he helps everyone around him. He is wise because he can use all his knowledge in any situation to overcome many obstacles. Lastly, He is an archetypal hero because he gets supernatural help, has to prove himself multiple times, and gets apotheosis. From all the information presented above, one can clearly see that Santiago is a hero, and a archetypal hero.
Works Cited
Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Print.
Santiago’s decision to leave the oasis. After meeting Fatima Santiago doubts his quest. The Alchemist’s
Olympics Games Rio 2016 is on in full swing and the name Michael Phelps has cropped up several times during the past few days. Just recently he won his 19th Olympic gold medal. But getting there was not easy for him. I read an article recently about his journey so far and could find similarities in his journey to those of Santiago in The Alchemist.
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
In this essay I have only shown three, but there are so many more and the traits of a hero are not only restricted to people who save lives, chase bad guys, or change the world. He overcame constant pressures with his determination, led a whole team with his outstanding leadership, and never gave up thanks to his passion. He is a hero to many, no cape, or superpowers needed. So now it’s up to you, is he, or is he not, a
First of all, the author shows that through persevering through adversity anyone can achieve their dreams. During the book Santiago continuously faces problems that he will have to overcome to achieve his Personal Legend. In this scenario, Santiago is in the city of Tangier when he is suddenly robbed of all of his money, by a thief who promised to take him to Egypt. However instead of thinking of himself as a victim of a thief he decides that “I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure” (34). Santiago was able to persevere through a situation that many people would not have been able to overcome and not able to continue their journey. Being able to persevere through
The quest that every hero begins, starts with a mission; be it through a dream, people, an object of some sort, or animals. Santiago’s quest was triggered by the former, a dream. Followed by the meeting of two people, a romani woman and a king. It is at a point after, that Santiago endures a dream of the vast Egyptian desert. Due to the recurring nature of the dream, he pursues a clairvoyant amidst the romani people. Upon discovery of the woman, she asks Santiago of what had ensued during the course of his dream. He inturn he told of how “[a] child took [him] by both hands and transported [him] to the Egyptian pyramids”(13). The romani told him that, in order for her to interpret his dream, as he had gone to her for, he must give her a portion of the treasure.The rationalization that follows with this, is the idea that since a child was the one who had shown Santiago the treasure, that it must exist. Without much time passing, Santiago had came across an old man, who through claim, was allegedly the King of Salem. ...
Santiago had it hard while he was growing up, his parents wanted him to be a preacher but he knew he was destined to be more as he could not implement his lively and traveling nature in a sacristy of a church. His way to the treasure which was bound to be his happy ever after was harder to get to as he had to give up many things. He had to promise The Gypsy Woman a tenth of his treasure he did not even have yet, give up a tenth of his flock of sheep to The King Of Salem for the knowledge he had already but was provided in a more explanatory way, getting robbed, leaving behind loved ones, working harder for something he had lost but, arguably the hardest part was to be patient, hardworking and strong which he had to implement time after time and that is what made the achievement of the treasure worth it for Santiago.
Santiago is a hero because he displays kindness, bravery and wisdom; also, he is considered a hero because he displays many characteristics of an archetypal hero. Santiago displays kindness, bravery, wisdom, receiving supernatural help, proving himself and receiving his apotheosis. Santiago is a hero in many ways. If it wasn’t for all of these characteristics, then Santiago would have never discovered his personal legend or his treasure. Santiago is a hero.
The conflict in the novel that most intrigued me was between Santiago and himself. Throughout the novel he almost gave up hope of ever finding his treasure. When he was robbed in the market place...
A man who spent 20 years trying to get home. A father who took his own life for his family. A woman who risked her life to free strangers. True heroes give anything they can for the sake of other, something as small as a helping hand, or something as big as losing their own life. Heroes aren't bullies, they won't push you down just for their entertainment, they will pull you up back onto your feet. There are many types of heroes we all consider, Odysseus and Harriet Tubman are obvious while Rumpelstiltskin isn't as clear to see. Most of the time, heroes are not the stereotypical ones found in stories; real traits that define a hero are love towards one another, selflessness for others, and a strong devotion for what they believe in.
Joseph Campbell once said “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” This quotes talks about how in order to be a hero, you have to care about other people. It really emphasizes that you cannot be a true hero if you only care about yourself. All traits and functions that people would consider heroic involve others, not just themselves. There are so many heroic traits out there, but 3 are very important. A true hero is courageous, will rescue others in need, and does not look down on people who are not privileged.
There were many heroes in the literature that has been read. Many have been courageous and showed their character through tough times. Through these tough times they were forced to make important decisions and this is where you get the real idea of who is deserved to be called a hero. The most influential though of all these was Huckleberry Finn. Through the innocence of childhood he is able to break through the societal pressures that are brought on him and do right.
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
No one wants to have to deal with a big problem for a little outcome, but even little things like that can certainly help shape a person. If Santiago were not as ambitious as he is and did not have the support that he got from Melchizedek, he could have easily given up many times like a majority of people would do, and he would be missing so much.
In the story Santiago’s bravery is unsurpassed but it is not until he hooks the “great fish” that we truly see his valor and perseverance. Through Santiago’s actions Hemingway teaches the reader about bravery and perseverance in the face of adversity. He demonstrates that even when all is lost and seems hopeless a willful heart and faith will overcome anything. Santiago had lost his “luckiness” and therefore the respect of his village. Through the description of his cabin we also suspect that Santiago is a widower. Although Santiago has had many troubles he perseveres. He has faith in Manolin, in the Yankees, in Joe DiMaggio, and most importantly in himself.