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In Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist the story of the shepherd boy Santiago and his journey to fulfill his Personal Legend unfolds from beginning to end. On his journey Santiago meets several significant male characters that play very important roles in the development of his character, his journey, and his story. There are only a few female characters in The Alchemist, as men dominate the story; however, one of these female characters also plays a very significant role in Santiago’s story. Santiago falls in love with Fatima and this forever changes both of their lives. On the surface, the development of Fatima’s character seems to come from and speak for a male chauvinistic point of view and perspective. Not much is revealed about Fatima or her life other than her love for Santiago. Fatima fully supports Santiago’s quest and encourages him to leave her in search of it. Fatima seems to define herself by her love and support of Santiago, but this does not mean that Fatima’s character is written as such to emphasize a sexist point of view concerning the role of women. This narrative, with the use of Fatima’s character and her role in Santiago’s life, speaks volumes about the role and power of both women and love.
Women are in a constant battle, not for an upper hand, but for mere equality. Coelho’s Fatima eagerly encourages the man she loves, Santiago, to leave her and fulfill his Personal Legend. This is an act that seems to emphasize Fatima’s belief that Santiago’s happiness is more important than hers, which seems to allude to an equality between the two characters. This characterization of Fatima may cause readers to question the narrative’s view on women. Fatima’s willingness to let Santiago continue with his journey while...
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... like all desert women, knows that just because Santiago must leave, it does not mean that he does not love her. Fatima is not resigning herself to stay behind and play the role of dutiful wife or girlfriend; she is merely prepared to wait for her treasure to return to her after he has found his.
The character of Fatima may not be explored at great depths in The Alchemist, but with her, Coelho has created a complex, strong feminine character. By using Fatima, the narrative is not making a statement about inequality, submissiveness, or resignation in regard to the role of women. Rather, the narrative is making a statement about the power of women and their love and the power of love in general. Santiago is willing to give up his dreams for love and because of love Fatima will not let him.
Works Cited
Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. New York: HarperOne.1998. Print
Upon arriving they said they would stay at the oasis until it was safe to cross the desert. A camel driver tells Santiago that, “There are rumors of tribal wars” (The Alchemist 80). When entering the oasis they had to hand over their arms and stay in tents with locals and fellow travelers. During his short time at the oasis Santiago experiences love at first sight with a girl named Fatima. As the war drags on Santiago tells Fatima about his personal legend and she encourages him to continue on to Egypt. Although she has been waiting for him her entire life she still insisted that he achieve his personal legend. She said if they are meant to be together they will meet again one day. Then Santiago left the oasis with the Alchemist towards the pyramids. Through this he realizes that each challenge he faces on the way to his destination forms part of God's
Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is focused on the hyper-masculine culture of the Dominican, and many argue that his portrayal of the slew of women in the novel is misogynistic because they are often silenced by the plot and kept out of the narration (Matsui). However, Diaz crafts strong women, and it is society that views them as objects. The novel recognizes the masculine lens of the culture while still examining the lives of resilient women. In this way, the novel showcases a feminist stance and critiques the misogynist culture it is set in by showcasing the strength and depth of these women that help to shape the narrative while acknowledging that it is the limits society places on them because of their sexuality
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth chapter, namely the domestic abuse scene, functions as a pivotal point in the Mother Tongue as it helps her to define herself.
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
“ Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart”(159). This is what the alchemist said to the main character. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, tells a story of a boy named Santiago, who goes on a long journey to discover his personal legend. As Santiago goes on his journey to pursue his personal legend, he is faced with many challenges, as well as left to make difficult decisions that change him forever. As Santiago travels the world, he becomes a hero. In The Alchemist, Santiago shows characteristics, as well as archetypal characteristics that make him a hero. Santiago displays kindness, bravery and wisdom; also he is considered a hero because he displays many characteristics of an archetypal hero. He displays archetypal characteristics such as: receiving supernatural help, proving himself many times and receiving an apotheosis.
...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.
Quimet’s attitude towards Natalia throughout their relationship enhances the man’s dominance in the Spanish culture. In the novel, Quimet, “delivered a long sermon about men and
These novels, poems and short stories show how sexism is very much an issue in past decades but also in present and future decades. The America that we live in wants to believe in the fact that all men and women are created equal, it has yet to do anything. Women are still seen as objects to an extent. We are still seen as Daisy or as Charlotte Perkins main character, or the woman Carlos Gomez Andres writes about. The fact that we might die from the loss of freedom, because one cannot escape from an unhappy marriage, is considered ridiculous.
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.
The story of Marcela is first encountered second hand through a male character who describes her in the most negative way. In his criticism “Competing Narrative Discourses: (fe)male Fabulation in the Episode of Grisóstomo and Marcela,” John P. Gabriele agrees that Marcela is misinterpreted by the male characters who describe her to Don Quixote (509). The men plea that she is very cruel and “does more harm in this land than the plague” (Cervantes 85). Even though Marcela has asserted her independence and rejected a countless number of men desiring to obtain her love, the men still objectify her by “waiting to see where her haughtiness will end and who will be the fortunate man to conquer so difficult a nature” (Cervantes 85). Referring to her as something to be “conquered” demonstrates how women were respected as nothing more than property and a source of pride. Yvonne Jehenson describes Marcela’s situation as “a male fantasy, a microcosmic image of man’s gender-inflected wish fulfillment” (Gabriele 510). This explains why the men have so much built up frustration towards Marcela for being the complete opposite of their
Lastly, the man who made a big impact on Santiago was The Alchemist. The Alchemist is the person that he bumps into after he is finish talking to the tribal chief man. The Alchemist asks Santiago, “Who demands knowing who has read the Omens in Hawks flight”. He is starting to test Santiago’s courage, which he believes is his life’s essentials. At the start in this part of his journey, Santiago starts expressing his fears and doubts to The Alchemist. He starts telling the Alchemist (a spirit) that maybe his heart is a traitor/enemy because it fears the journey that is yet to come. It tells Santiago he has already found his treasure, which means he is referring to Fatima's love, and it wants him to go back to her. The alchemist says that he thinks that it is a natural reaction for the heart to start to have, now that Santiago is finally starting to follow his dream. Santiago starts to also tell him that his heart is kind of afraid of the suffering and losing what he has
In Latin America, women are treated differently from men and children. They do lots of work for unexplainable reasons. Others for religious reasons and family orders and others because of the men involved. Women are like objects to men and have to obey their orders to either be rich or to live. Some have sex to get the men’s approval, others marry a rich man that they don’t even know very well, and become slaves. An important book called Chronicles of a Death Foretold is an example of how these women are treated. Purisima del Carmen, Angela Vicario's mother, has raised Angela and her sisters to be good wives. The girls do not marry until late in life, rarely socializing beyond the outsides of their own home. They spend their time sewing, weaving, washing and ironing. Other occupations include arranging flowers, cleaning up the house, and writing engagement letters to other men. They also keep the old traditions alive, such as helping the sick, comforting the dying, and covering the dead. While their mother believes they are perfect, men view them as too tied to their women's traditions. The men are afraid that the women would pay more attention to their job more than the men. Throughout the book, the women receive the respect they deserve from the men and others around them.
Clarice Lispector, a Brazilian female writer of Jewish descent, tied her writing with her very life, for her writing reflects her viewpoint on many aspects of her life. She was well-known for her existentialist writing involving themes revolving around women’s roles. Through the characters and their interactions in her works, Lispector explores the societal status of women. The male subjugation of women influences many of the themes found in her works and a better understanding of women’s social status ultimately leads to a better understanding of the relationship between the characters in her works and actions by those characters. Thus, the evaluation of women in the society contemporary to the era Lispector lived in influences the overall existentialist ideas and the motif of women’s roles in her work.
Santiago realizes “The caravan and the desert speak the same language” as he travel through the desert. A big emphasis in the story is the language of of the world which all of creation understands and all of creation is also connected by the language. In this situation, the caravan and desert are united because of the language of the world and that is the reason “The desert allows the crossing”. Also, in the desert Santiago “Became so emotional over the desert sunrise that he had to hide his tears” when looking over the horizon. Santiago interacts with the desert in an emotional way that makes him tear up because of the unity he experiences with the desert. A person’s emotions are found in their soul, and when Santiago exhibits emotion towards the desert, both his and the desert’s soul connect with each other through the soul of the world. In like matter, Santiago thinks, “The same omen he had sought to find with his sheep, and in his books, in the crystals and in the silence of the desert” after he discovers the omen of love.When Santiago first looks at Fatima’s eyes, at the moment he realize all of the universe and nature had united in the form of the language of the world to bring him to Fatima.Throughout his journey he been shown glimpses of love through his books, sheeps, crystals, and silence of the desert but when he meets eye to eye with Fatima he knew this was what the previous glimpses had led to. Additionally, Santiago tells the Alchemist, “I don’t know the language of the desert, but my horse knows the language” when looking for life. Santiago, knowing life attracts life, let’s his horse lead him to life because he understands that all living things speak the same language of the world and will attract to each other, By all of nature being in unity, Santiago’s horse is able to find in the desert where there’s little promise of life and
...The Alchemist tough Santiago to go and achieve his dream and then to go back to the Fatima his true love and she will be waiting for him because she is a women desert and she must wait for the man she loves to return to her on the oasis.