“The Alchemist” a novel written by Paulo Coelho, is about a boy named Santiago. A shepherd who yearns to travel to search for his a treasure he dreamt of that is extravagant as any ever found. Along the way to his journey Santiago learns from people and becomes wiser. Teaching us things that a few books teach us which is to listen to our hearts and become wiser from the things we come across above all to follow your dreams. Santiago begins his hero’s journey to pursue his dreams and go to an unknown world. A Call to Adventure is the starting point of the main character's journey of life’s purpose. Santiago’s call to adventure is about him trying to follow what he saw in his dream. As well as him finding his personal legend. “The old man …show more content…
looked at the boy and, with his hands held together, made several strange gestures over the boy’s head. Then taking his sheep, he walked away”(pg 32). Santiago’s first response wasn’t so willingly. He was afraid to leave his comfort zone but he was curious so he decided to go. The significance of this stage is to show the character that there is something out there for them and sometimes it's worth taking a risk. Crossing the threshold is the point in a character's life when they’re leaving their comfort zone into a unknown world. His known world is his life being a shepherd and his unknown world is when he leaves to egypt. “ he would never again see the boy, just as he had never seen Abraham again after having changed him his one-tenth fee”(pg 33). Santiago felt afraid but he was curious to find out what the world had for him. This stage in Santiago’s life will affect him by seeing if he can handle the unknown world. The mentor/helper is there to help guide the character and teach them. Santiago’s mentor is Melchizedek because he encouraged SAntiago to follow his journey. His helper is the englishman because Santiago learns from his ways and understands how people view things differently. “Everyone has his or her own way of learning things”(pg 84). Santiago thanks his mentor for the stones to understand omens and is grateful for his helper because they both learned from each other and kept Santiago company while crossing the desert. This stage helps santiago grow and learn from people. The Challenges and Temptations in the Hero’s journey stage are to see how strong the character is and to see if they can keep going with future challenges in their lives.
“I want to stay at the oasis” the boy answered. I’ve found Fatima and as far as i’m concerned, she’s worth more than treasure”(pg 118). The way Santiago responded wasn’t easy for him since he didn't want to leave her but then he talked to the Alchemist. In the end he decided to continue his journey and he felt peace in his heart. This taught Santiago that if it is real love then his over would let him find his personal legend. This stage is where the character dies mentally or emotionally but is reborn and becomes wiser. Santiago death was when he left Fatima and his rebirth was when he was on his way to the pyramids and he began to listen to his heart. “To continue his search for his treasure meant that he had to abandon Fatima”(pg 118). “From then on, the boy understood his heart”(pg 135). Santiago at first wasn’t so willingly to leave but when he left he started to listen to his heart and felt joy. This stage helps Santiago become stronger emotionally and …show more content…
mentally. The Transformation and Atonement stage is where the character is put to the test and they understand the meaning of their own personal legend. Santiago’s transformation is when they get captured by some tribesmen and he is put to the test. His atonement is when he was able to turn himself into the wind. “But the boy was too frightened to listen to his words of wisdom”(pg 141). “The boy reached through to the soul of the world and saw that it was a part of the soul of God and he saw that the soul of God was his own soul”(pg 152). At first Santiago thought he was going to be killed since he couldn't turn himself into wind but as he started to let go of fear and began to listen to his heart he was able to accomplish his goal. This stage is to show how someone can achieve the impossible if they put their mind and heart into it. The Return is a part in the character’s life where they have reached the end of the journey but have become wiser and found their personal legend.
Santiago is accepted by society but now his view of life is different because he believes in the Soul of the World and understands omens. “Well, it's a long list but the path was written in the omens, and there was no way I could go wrong”(pg 165). The character responds to this stage is that he accepted the way things are and that if you are following your dreams the world and everything around you will help you achieve it. The significance of this stage is to show that if you follow your dreams and learn from others you will end up reaching your goals or
dreams. The reader learns that in life people will always find struggles but if it's meant to be and the person is willingly to listen to their heart anything can be accomplished. The author want us to to know that life is almost like a cycle but it isn't the same for everyone but if you are smart and follow through you will come back finding out your own personal legend. The significance of Santiago’s journey is to show that following your dreams will not be easy but like the young boy he was patient and learned how to listen and took the lessons people taught him and put them to practice.
Santiago replies that he was meant to save the oasis. The man then tests Santiago’s courage and tell him that if Santiago manages to stay alive till sunset the next day, then he should come find him. Santiago asks him where he could be found and the man points towards the south. Santiago realizes that the man in the alchemist. The next morning, although the oasis is attacked, all but one of the intruders were killed, thanks to Santiago’s predictions and prompt action. In payment, Santiago receives fifty gold pieces and is asked to be the counselor for the oasis.
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 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
Santiago is a young boy who fits into the flawed hero archetype. His story tells of his journey to find his Personal Legend and the many new people and experiences he encounters. Santiago is flawed in the way that he does not have enough confidence in himself to complete the task set out in front of him. He is constantly putting himself off track and avoiding what he has to do. In the beginning of his journey, he faces a setback and his money gets stolen. While finding a solution and a job, he gets distracted loses sight of his dreams. A couple months into the job, he thinks, “...Egypt was now just as distant a dream as was Mecca for the merchant…” (Coelho 58) and he glorifies his new plan to “disembark at Tarifa as a winner” (Coelho 58) with his improved flock of sheep. However, he continues his journey two years later, despite his break in confidence. When Santiago reaches the Oasis during his journey across the desert, he gets sidetracked once more by a woman. This woman’s name is Fatima. The second time they meet Santiago speaks without thinking and says, “‘I came to tell you just one thing...I want you to be my wife. I love you.’” (Coelho 98). This alone demonstrates his rash actions of an inexperienced hero who causes his dreams to be postponed. However, Santiago is also a successful hero despite his flaws. He still continues his journey, no matter what, and eventually reaches his goal. Even through
Santiago is, undoubtedly, crafted as a Christ figure, from his innocence to his crucifixion. His innocence is derived from the narrator’s doubt and the doubt invoked in the reader, that Santiago deflowered Angela prior to her marriage; he is murdered for this reason. In the novella, Santiago attempts to flee from Pedro and Pablo Vicario once he realizes that they are out to kill him; unfortunately, he does not make it into the safety of his home. As the stabbing progresses, Santiago stops defending himself and lets the brothers continue “knifing him against the door with alternate and easy stabs” (Márquez 118). With the surrender of Santiago, the entire town became horrified “by its own crime” (Márquez 118).
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.
To begin with, the fear of losing beloved things or people presents people with dilemmas that influence the continuation of their journey and they can only bypass these dilemmas by getting rid of the fear altogether. To begin, Santiago’s fear of losing everything he already earned makes him second guess his plans and therefore discourages him to continue his journey. Santiago expresses his doubts by stating that his “‘heart is a traitor…it does [not] want [him] to go on.’ ‘That makes sense,’ the alchemist answered. ‘Naturally it [is] afraid that, in pursuing [a] dream, [a person] might lose everything [they] [have] won’” (Coelho 145). Throughout the novel, Santiago learns to always listen to his heart, but in this situation if he did, it would result in abandoning his journey. The alchemist encourages Santiago to move on from this fear by stating that it is normal to feel scared, but not normal to give up on a dream because of a feeling. Santiago’s best solution in this situation is to conquer his fear of loss altogether and erase the doubts in his mind for a smoother journey. Next, the fear of losing life in the midst of the journey makes Santiago wonder if it is appropriate to risk his life to pursue a dream. Santiago learns how to handle this situation as “the camel driver had [once] said, to die tomorrow [is] no worse than dying on any other ...
The Old Man and the Sea is novella written by Ernest Hemingway in 1952. It tells the epic journey and struggles of the old fisherman, Santiago, and his younger fishing partner, Manolin. The story goes into detail the day to day life struggles that a fisherman off the coast of Africa endures. The majority of the story focuses on one particular trip out sea. In life, one will go through a number of stages in life. Infancy, Youth , Adulthood, and Old Age are all key stages. As one grows, they mature through these various stages. When one reaches old age, there is often a lot of doubt surrounding their lives. Serenity, and independence are often the two most questioned. These are some questions that Santiago has to ask himself as well.
Santiago’s journey was all about courage and strength. When Santiago travels to sell his sheep’s wool in the story, he is confronted by a stranger calling himself the King of Salem. He shared these words with Santiago, “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” This inspires Santiago to achieve his goal of getting the treasure in his dreams. Later on in the story the Alchemist tells Santiago, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” Many struggles come Santiago’s way on his journey, but this quote sums up how Santiago conquered his fear of failure, and was able to achieve his dream. Santiago followed every step of the hero's journey, and passed all of his challenges, and because of this Santiago is a true
He decided to stay right there and wait for his return… The sun began its departure, as well. The boy watched it through its trajectory for some time, until it was hiding behind the white houses surrounding the plaza. In addition, he couldn't fall back and living by being a shepherd as he had nothing, not even money to return and start everything over” (Coelho 38). Sometimes we can use hardships to prevent future harm, and never be painful. Another theme in Coelho’s novel was persistance. In his long journey he was discovering how to turn himself into the wind. As long as he was trying to turn himself into the wind, he was showing persistence and never gave up. “ Somewhere you are holding the person I love,’ the boy said. ‘So, when I look over your sands, I’m also looking at her. I want to return to her, so I need your help so I can turn myself into the wind,’” (Coelho 144). Furthermore, Santiago showed persistence by asking the desert, the wind, the sun, and then the creator himself for help, just to get to his Personal Legend, and taught them all about
This is held true to the first person Santiago meets who tricks him into being his friend but ends up stealing all of his money. This event brought even more blessing to Santiago to learn The Language of the world that allows Santiago to communicate with any person or thing because of the soul of the earth, the idea that everything is essentially alive and is in existence for cause and effect. In case Santiago is able to adapt to the Arabic lifestyle and clothes. It is essential for Santiago to blend in into society because people treat him differently when known that he is from a different land. How this influenced Santiago’s life is that it was a huge setback from his personal legend, nonetheless it is as the alchemist said, “What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way.
The Alchemist: Synopsis The novel ‘The Alchemist” is written by Paul Coelho. The inciting incident that would initiate the plot and sets the protagonist on his course towards his goal is whenever Santiago would sleep under a sycamore tree that grew inside of a ruined church, he gets a re-occurring dream but he did not know what happened. Later on, he met with a gypsy woman who is a dream interpreter. The vision got during his dream would be Santiago in a field with his sixty sheep and all of a sudden a child comes to pet the sheep.
In the story Santiago is able to pursue his own dreams and is able to follow what his heart agreed for. It is a unforgettable story about the essential wisdom of listening to our heart and above all to following one own dream. A book of magic , dreams and treasure which is dwelling within each individual , which we seek else where and then find within us. Coelho shows his readers that for many people the biggest fear is to overcome their fear. In the story Coelho emphasize on a universal language , one that all creation speak.
When he was 38 years old he had a spiritual awakening that allowed him to write his 1st book. The book; The Alchemist, is a very moving story about following your dreams and listening to your hearts desires. The author Paulo Coelho wrote this story to inspire people to be confident about themselves despite the trials and circumstance one is facing. The strong message of the book is to follow your heart and drams, one must be fearless and be ready to sacrifice regardless of what might entail.