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Theme of the book alchemist
Theme of the book alchemist
The interpretation of dreams
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The Beauty of Dreaming: How Dreams Drive the Individual From a toddler’s first steps to a senior graduating high school, dreams have been embedded within an individual for their entire lifetime. It is these dreams that drive an individual to take certain risks and struggle periodically in order to achieve their ultimate desires. It is these dreams that bring individuals to challenge their capabilities to higher standards. It is these dreams that would help one’s well being, and inspires others to perform better as well. The formation and creation of dreams have inspired fictional characters such as Santiago of The Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho. It also applied to the real life Mirabal sisters of In the Time of the Butterflies written …show more content…
Along the way, he meets many individuals who guide him along his quest, such as the King of Salem, an Englishman, and an alchemist. These individuals emphasize recurring ideas throughout the novel such as achieving a Personal Legend, or talk of the Soul of the World. They have similar philosophies and ways to live life, so they are able to tell Santiago similar messages to why they believe certain things. Personal Legends are a euphemism for dreams or goals. Furthermore, Santiago hears from the Alchemist that dreams come from a special place. He explains, “Wherever your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure”(Coelho 132). This idea leads the reader to believe that the heart, soul, and mind are a combination of what forms dreams, as explained by other characters that helped the reader understand this …show more content…
For instance, Maria Teresa’s passion truly ignited thanks to Minerva’s work. She writes, “I don’t know where my crazy sister gets all this courage!...Everyone was beating on the bars, calling out Viva las Mariposas! Something big and powerful spread its wings inside me. Courage...this time I felt it”(Alvarez 238). The reader can develop the conclusion that the quote demonstrates Maria Teresa’s development to Minerva’s status of a radical, and how Minerva’s dreams affected Maria Teresa herself. Seeing Minerva would drive Maria Teresa to become a more powerful individual. Likewise, Dede had been largely influenced by other people’s dreams. Dede has once more been influenced by Minerva’s goals of fighting El Jefe. When stopped by police, Dede had told them, “My name is Minerva Mirabal” (Alvarez 277). This signifies Dede representing Minerva in terms of her dreams and motives, showing that she is one of them. Since the Mirabel sisters had a common dream for freedom thanks to each other’s struggles and successes, they can together be named Las Mariposas, which symbolized
In 1938, Minerva’s father permitted her to go away to boarding school along with her two older sisters, Patria and Dedé. Alvarez’s writing on behalf of Minerva speaks volumes as to the point of view Minerva had growing up. “And that’s how I got free. I don’t mean just going to sleepaway school on a train with a trunkful of new things. I mean in my head after I got to Inmaculada and met Sinita and saw what happened to Lina and realized that I’d left a small cage to go into a bigger one, the size of our whole country,” (Alvarez 13). Minerva’s father, said that out of all his daughters, Minerva should have been born a boy. The other Mirabal sisters said that she was their father’s favorite daughter because Minerva acted the most like a son to him. She almost became the son he had always wanted, but never had. Due to her father’s influence, as Minerva grew up, she aspired to being a lawyer. Something which was unheard of for a woman in the ‘40s.
Dreams are there to make the illusion of the impossible, you must always strive to do the impossible. Two people have shown that it is possible to achieve the impossible, and those two people are Althea Gibson and Barbara Jordan, and those two people had done their absolute best to make sure that they make it, and to make sure they make they succeed in life. In the article Althea Gibson and Barbara C. Jordan, both written by Frank Lafe They were both faced with obstacles that didn't want them to succeed, they had dreams that had seemed impossible for them to be able to achieve at that time. Both of them had different environments that affected their future, the environments around people affect the person too. All of those describe the lives
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
In conclusion, Santiago’s journey had different stages that got him closer to achieving his personal legend. Overall the Hero’s Journey of santiago was about him going through challenges and for him to trust in his heart. This can also be compared someone when wanting to accomplish something but then you would think you won’t be able to accomplish it. Clearly, he has been able to complete his journey through stages which had also got him closer to the end every time he has accomplished one of the stages, so the stages are also there so when passing a stage you will be able to keep going without any
The knowledge and universal understanding derivative from a journey can leave the traveller positively enlightened. In Coelho’s story, Santiago is faced with recurring dreams which lead him to ‘’traverse the unknown’’ in search of a treasure buried in Egypt, the metaphor for universal connection, and in doing so, comes to the unrelenting realisation of spiritual transcendence. After arriving at the assumed geographical location of the treasure ‘’several figures approached him’’. They demand the boy keep searching for this treasure as they are poor refugees and in need of money, but as Santiago does, he finds nothing. Then, after relentless digging through the night ‘’as the sun rose, the men began to beat the boy’’ , finally relenting with the truth, Santiago reveals his dreams to the travellers. In doing so, Santiago finds out that these men had also been faced with recurring dreams measured around the place where the boy had undergone his own, both relative to hidden treasure. However the leader was ‘’not so stupid as to cross an entire desert just because of a recurrent dream’’. It is with this fact, tha...
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
This is evident in two key moments in the story, both of which involve Minerva’s sisters. In the first, the manifestation of her inspiring Maria Teresa comes when Maria Teresa stands up to her. Behind the virgin mary, maria teresa is infuriated that Minerva won't tell her what they’re talking about so she confronts her about their conversation. This is very similar to the attitude that Minerva would have had in this situation, further illustrating Minerva’s inspiration of Maria Teresa. A second demonstration of Minerva’s inspiring courage in others, once again, comes through Maria Teresa joining of the revolution. While some will say that Maria Teresa’s real reason for joining the revolution came in the form of the man delivering guns, it’s clearly evident that without her sister's involvement in the rebellion, she would not have joined. This shows Minerva true inspirational impact. Even without being the principal reason for her sister’s decision to join the rebellion, the fact that she was a major part of the rebellion, a leader of the rebellion even, was enough for Maria
even died for this cause. Minerva Mirabal is a heroine because of the way she stood up to
Santiago and the Englishman have many common interests, as mentioned before. One of many is they both go after their personal legend. A personal legend is what you were put on the earth to do; a dream of some sort. Santiago and the Englishman both realize their personal legends and follow omens to get to them, which then sends them on an adventure across the desert. Another similarity shared between the two characters is the enjoyment and longing to learning. Both characters are often found throughout the book, eagerly learning from their adventures. For example, riding in the caravan,
The entire book was leading up to the murder of the notorious Mirabal sisters which also put into perspective how oppressed these people were. Not only did this book give the reader an insight on the life of a citizen of the Dominican Republic between the years of 1930 and 1960 but, it showed how an oppressive government could affect the people in both negative and positive ways, using the sisters as examples. Obviously, negative aspects included citizens being jailed and killed by their own government. In a situation such as this, fear was in every person, whether they were brave enough to join the resistance or not. Families were torn apart, as shown in the book. Minerva, Maria Teresa, and their husbands, along with Patria’s husband, were taken from their children, home, church and family to be jailed for going against the government. Alvarez vividly describes the hurt that came to the families when they were broken apart. In jail, the sisters and husbands were also physically ill. They were being starved and being diagnosed with pneumonia which was not unheard
Santiago is a heroic figure because he was always kind to others. He was always helping someone with something. For example: when Santiago was working at the Crystal shop, he helped the Crystal Merchant, improve his business. When Santiago was leaving the Crystal Shop, the merchant stated “You brought a new feeling into my Crystal Shop”(61). The Crystal Merchant is talking about how much Santiago has changed his business. Santiago has helped the merchant’s business by making a display case to put outside the store, cleaning all the crystal and adding new things, such as the tea. Santiago also helped an Englishman by helping him find the Alchemist. The Englishman wanted to speak to an alchemist. The Englishman stated “I need you to help me find out where the alchemist lives”(90). Because the Englishman requested for help, Santiago helped him. It took over half a day to find the alchemist, but fi...
Dreams are not just empty ideas, they give people ambition, and it is the pursuit of that ambition, which shapes a person. However, society instils an illusion about what can be achieved. Dreams can be tied to identity, but they can be good or bad. The Great Gatsby [F. Scott Fitzgerald] and Shattered Glass [Teresa Toten] share the similes in which both main characters dream of finding themselves and reach their end goals, through pressure and love. Both authors imply that dreams should be verified that they are possible before you start following them, otherwise they can ended up deadly.
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...
A common definition of dreams according to “Patterns for College Writing” is “the symbolic representation of mental states”, but this sparse definition does not begin to encompass the complex mechanisms behind dreams and its effects on human culture around the globe. Dreams have long been the topics of folklore and urban legends. Since human beginnings, people have sought to uncover the origin of dreams. The ancient Greeks believed dreams came from the God Oneiroi. The Chinese believes that dreams happened when the hun or spirit leaves the body for the land of the dead. The Ishi Indians believed that dreams were sacred messages from the Gods. Yet even now, with the current technological and intellectual advancements, scientists and psychoanalysts have still to find the true reasons and meanings of these dreams. Some argue that dreams are the products of overactive subconscious minds while others argue that dreams are solely randomized emotions from the limbic system during sleep. Despite these contrasting theories, the truth of the matter is that the topic of dreams and the reasons behind them remain a mystery.
Individuals may look deep within to summon courage that is necessary to move past triumphs and tragedies. The theme of people looking deep within to summon courage can be portrayed through the actions of Santiago, Manolin, and Manolin’s parents. It takes quite a bit of strength for people to be truly valiant. This is prevalent throughout society because many people face situations in which courage is greatly needed. Certain individuals are required to look deep within to find enough courage to face their problems and triumphs.