Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Literary analysis everyday use
Literary analysis help
Literary analysis help
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the novel, "The Alchemist", by Paulo Coelho appears to me as a really inspiring, and encouraging adventure that happens to the main character. The main character, Santiago has to experience through many different difficulties, which include Gypsy woman, King of Salem, Soul of the World, and the alchemist. Santiago was trying to find his treasure following his personal n, however, he encountered many obstacles on his way. He has to sacrifice everything to find his treasure,however he deserve what he wants. Santiago meets many challenges, we believe that he can do it because "... when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." (Pg 22) As Santiago got confused by his dream, he meets a Gypsy woman, and ask her to interpret his dream. "It's a dream in the language of the world and this is my interpretation: you must go to the pyramids in Egypt." (Pg 14) This interpretation act as the starting point toward Santiago's personal legend. If it wouldn't been the Gypsy woman who tells Santiago to go to Egypt and find his treasure, he wouldn't have follow his personal legend that continues him on the right path. Although Santiago was a little suspicious of the Gypsy woman, he still choose to believe her. If the Gypsy women act as the starting …show more content…
The alchemist decide to take Santiago to the pyramid and help him find his treasure. The alchemist explain to Santiago if he give up the treasure and stay with Fatima in the oasis, they wouldn't be happy for long. Santiago would eventually follow the omens, because he couldn't ignore the omens. If that happens Santiago would be obsessed with him personal legend. As they're almost reach the pyramids, Santiago is being told that he has to finish the trip alone. The alchemist told Santiago to follow his heart, “‘where your treasure is, there also will be your heart’ the alchemist had told him.”(pg
Santiago then sets out on yet another journey, to see the alchemist. The alchemist tells Santiago that he was going to point him in the direction of the treasure. Once again Santiago is at crossroads. He replies that he has already found his treasure, namely the money he received from the crystal shop and the chieftain, a camel, and also the woman he loves, Fatima. The alchemist reminds him that none of those were found at the Pyramids, which was his initial
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.
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.
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
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles”(Christopher Reeves) continuing to strive forward. This statement particularly adheres to Santiago, the protagonist, in the novel The Alchemist a novel written by Paulo Coelho. The primary basis of the plot line centers around Santiago, a mundane shepherd, whom obtains visions of the great pyramids of Giza venturing off in hopes of discovering a tangible treasure. The aspects of this unprecedented journey would be: his call to adventure, refusal of the call, answering of the call, supernatural aid, and finally the road of trials. With every step, Santiago follows the footsteps of every hero before him.
Santiago thinks about his discussion with the old man. He is annoyed that the old man was right about his being on the verge of giving up just as he finds his destiny. Wandering around the city, he approaches a ticket seller, but he does not buy a ticket to Africa, where he knows the Egyptian pyramids are. He knows that he could buy a ticket with the money he could make from selling only one of his sheep. As he stands at the ticket window, he decides to go back to shepherding his flock. He muses that neither the old gypsy woman nor the old man understand what it means to have a flock of sheep depend on them.
"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
As stated in How To Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster, “quests consist of five things, a questor, a place to go, a stated reason to go, challenges and trials en route and a real reason to go”. Based on the information from these elements, Santiago, the protagonist from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho had experienced a quest in following his ‘personal legend’.
Santiago’s journey is influenced by the Crystal Merchant because the Merchant not only gives Santiago the skills, knowledge and money to keep going, but also inspires Santiago to continue on with his journey. The Crystal Merchant supplies Santiago with
He doesn’t speak the language or know how the people in Africa act; he just knows that his treasure is in Egypt. His innocence and lack of awareness causes him to trust a young Arab boy, who ends up stealing all the money Santiago had, “The boy wanted to believe that his friend had simply become separated from him by accident.” (41) As a result, this causes Santiago to feel helpless and incapable of continuing his personal legend. He sees no point in continuing his journey and decides that he wants to go back to being a shepherd in Spain. However, Santiago remembers the Old King of Salem and his advice on following one's journey. He decides that he wants to continue in order to complete his Journey and not end up like the Baker, who awaits for a chance to accomplish his own journey. For this reason, Santiago is a hero because when tough obstacles come his way, he continues in hopes of finishing his journey and returning back home to his ordinary life and to the Merchant’s
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...
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.
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
Conflict is used in this story to give Santiago the motivation to go out and pursue his Personal Legend. The conflict he has with his dreams are what give him the urge to embark on his journey to the pyramids (13-14). These dreams are a problem for Santiago because he doesn’t understand them, and they are telling him to go find a treasure. These dreams are his heart speaking to him, and telling him to go find his treasure. The gypsy woman that he gets to interpret his dreams just tells him what he already knows (14). When she tells him what he already knows it discourages him and makes him not want to believe in his dreams. He is unhappy with what she has told him so this gives him the extra push to go in search of himself. Another conflict he has is having to give up some of his sheep for information from the king (19-20). He has to decide within himself and listen to his heart here on what to do. He doesn’t really want to do this because he is going to have to give up what he knows to go in search of himself or in other words his Personal Legend. These conflicts are what makes Santiago decide to actually go on his jo...