The Fear Of Fear In The Alchemist, By Paulo Coelho

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Fear impacts a person's mental state negatively but how does fear impact our dreams? This novel The Alchemist is written by an influential author named Paulo Coelho. The story revolves around a shepherd boy named Santiago who likes to travel. Santiago gave up being a shepherd in order to travel all the way to the pyramids in Egypt to find his treasure. During his journey, he met a lot of people and overcome several obstacles. Throughout the novel, Coelho uses symbolism to teach the reader many lessons about dreams. The most powerful lesson that was taught was that fear must be overcome in order to achieve a dream. Some symbolic characters he has used are the crystal merchant, the Englishman, and the alchemist.
First of all, the first symbol used to convey the lesson that Coelho was trying to teach is the crystal merchant. Santiago met the crystal merchant after he got robbed. He needed a job. The crystal merchant dreams of going to Mecca but he decided not to because he is afraid. For
The alchemist and Santiago met in the desert. They travel together to find the treasure. Through the journey, Santiago encountered many difficulties and fear was one of them. This is what the alchemist told Santiago, “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself”(Coelho 134). Fear leads to disbelief towards your dreams. People always see the negativity in an action. The alchemist represents a person who motivates others to live life to the fullest. The keyword suffering gives off a pessimistic tone to this quote. This reminds me of a counselor. The counselor is there to help a person conquer their fear and develop into a better person after that process. Throughout the novel, the alchemist teaches Santiago to face his fear and the Englishman not to be afraid. His character symbolized the realization process that fear needs to be controlled in order to move on in your

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