In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the presence of fate in the face of trouble is a very prominent theme that represents the personal struggle of achieving ones "Personal Legend". Frequently throughout the beginning of the book, Santiago is faced with countless unfortunate situations where fate steers his journey in a different direction. When Santiago first arrives in Africa he befriends the only man that he can find who speaks Spanish too, and although he seems to be friendly, fate shows him that you cannot trust everyone. The man offers to show Santiago the pyramids, but first tells him, "...you need money. I need to know whether you have enough" (Coelho 36). Trusting the man, Santiago gave him all of his money, and when he was distracted
In “The Alchemist” Paulo Coelho asserts, “The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being.” Throughout Santiago's allegorical journey he focuses on the centrality of fulfilling his personal legend by undertaking difficult tasks that will question his tenacity to preserve in the face of adversity. For instance, in order to embark on his quest to the treasure he must relinquish all of his sheep to travel a great distance to reach the pyramids in Egypt. As a result, once Santiago sacrifices materialistic possessions the window of opportunity broadens by casting a series of small serendipities that reveal the purpose behind his creation. Through his encounters with Melchizedek he unveils that Santiago’s youthful dreams will later be discarded as he ages if he does not actualize his current propelling desires to travel to the pyramids. Later on, as one becomes older their personal legend will delude them from their young wholehearted hopes of bringing their life’s work into completion. Thus, the soul of the world is comprised of the common people who had the sheer everyman heroism to realize their written destiny which feds the universe with happiness from having achieved the plan that originated from the creator himself. Additionally, Melchizedek serves as an emblem when a
Despite heroes being their own individual characters, they are all represented by a common theme. For example, in the book, The Alchemist the hero, Santiago, takes a journey from his beginnings in Spain to reaching his own Personal Legend, despite his many obstacles. Santiago relates to the big idea in this novel, by overcoming the many hardships, journeys, and sacrifices he endured to reach his destiny. Therefore, the universal theme of “Achieving one’s destiny, creates great sacrifices,” is shown in the novel, through the many hardships heroes endure, the sacrifices they make, and the journey they take to reach their destiny.
The Alchemist Theme is the subject of something such as, talking, a piece of writing, one’s thoughts, etc. In the novel, The Alchemist By: Paulo Coelho, the theme of this novel focuses on personal legends. The Alchemist is about a shepherd, Santiago, who has a dream and is determined to follow it. Santiago goes to the Pyramids in Africa to look for the treasure. Along the way, Santiago learns more about himself and the soul of the world.
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.
“You can always turn a bad kisser into a good one,” Laura Prepon. Santiago, the main character of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist leads a modest and ordinary life as a shepherd. Santiago travelled constantly, exploring the Andalusian terrain. In his travels, Santiago met a woman who interpreted his dreams, and told him his treasure would lie in Egypt at the pyramids. However, Santiago believed that the dream interpreter was a phony, and he continued to herd his sheep. Soon after, he exchanged words with the King of Salem, and Santiago was once again told to venture to Egypt in order to find his treasure. After careful consideration, Santiago sells his precious sheep and begins his journey. An alchemist, somebody who turns lead
All stories consist of a similar structure of stages, ranging from using a couple to all twelve, that help the protagonist in their journey to better themselves or others. The sole concept of this is called a Hero’s Journey. Now in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the whole plot is based off of the hero’s journey. The protagonist, Santiago, goes through all twelve stages in his quest to reach his personal goal which ultimately makes The Alchemist a great example for the hero’s journey. In the book, Coelho introduces Santiago as a boy who is a shepard that was raised to be a priest. He is pleased being a sheep herder but is also fond of wanting to travel and dreams of finding a treasure. This starts off the “ordinary life” stage thus followed
Throughout the book “The Alchemist”, Santiago faces many trials on his journey to Egypt to find the treasure. He is able to follow all the steps of the Hero’s Journey, starting with the call to adventure and finishing with the status quo. Santiago may have started his journey in Spain and made his way to Egypt but key points through this book include the status quo, threshold, and the abyss.
The Hero’s Journey is a pattern created by the American mythologist Joseph Campbell and is a path that every hero must take in order for them to pursue their personal legend as Paulo Coelho describes in The Alchemist, a hero can be a human, animal or a magical creature. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “archetype as the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies” (“archetype”). During this path, the hero will encounter different obstacles that will prevent him/her from achieving their destiny.Coco is a movie that talks about a Mexican tradition that celebrates dead called Dia de Los Muertos. Throughout the movie, we see families coming together, so they can honor and remember the family
TBD In literature, and also in reality, our dreams and "destinies" are a lot more complicated to accomplish than we originally think. Most of the time our dreams are layered with obstacles that we must overcome to achieve what we want. While these obstacles prove to be difficult to deal with and rise above they teach us lessons that we need to learn in order to fulfill our potential. Obstacled teach us how to grow and adapt, the key to overcoming them is using them to your advantage and learning everything they have to offer you.
In the book The Alchemist, the crystal merchant and I have different spiritual dharma. I’ve always set goals for myself to reach. It’s something that drives me and motivates me to keep going, and when I reach the goal it is the greatest feeling in the world to be successful at your end goal, because I know that I’m gonna have another goal after that; however, the crystal merchant it the opposite. He is afraid to fulfill his spiritual dharma by not wanting to complete his five obligations. He is afraid of change, and what would happen next after his goal is completed.
The Alchemist, a novel written by Paulo Coelho teaches us about the importance of self-discovery and exploration by taking us through the journey of a young Andalusian shepherd, Santiago. Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 24th 1947, to Pedro Quiema Coelho de Souza, an engineer, and his wife, Lygia, a homemaker. Paulo early on had dreamed of an artistic career and then after his surroundings in Jesuit school, he discovered his true vocation was to be a writer (Coelho 195). Upon telling his mom, she told him that his father was an engineer, a reasonable and logical man and had a clear view of the world. At the age of 16, Paulo’s opposition against following a traditional path led to his parents committing him into a mental institution (Paulo Coelho). To satisfy his parents, he enrolled in law school. However, it led him to mental illness and failing his career. After many years, he gave a shot at his dream profession and started to write. Paulo wrote The Pilgrimage: Diary of Magus which described his experiences and his discovery that the extraordinary occurs in the lives of ordinary people. He was the recipient of numerous international awards, amongst them the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. The Pilgrimage was published in 1987 and The Alchemist was published in 1988, a year after. Both novels appeared on the best sellers list but The Alchemist continued to sell more copies than any other book in Brazilian literary history. The Alchemist,
Santiago is a student who studied theology. He chooses a life as a shepherd to travel worldwide. And while wandering around, he repeated to have same dreams in an old church. The dream suggested that If he goes to the pyramids of Egypt, he will find many treasure.
People grow both mentally and physically in their lifetimes; however, the unique ways in which people grow and develop create the wonder of diverse human life. Paulo Coelho contradicts this idea in his novel The Alchemist when he states, “And my heart and soul is your heart and soul” (IX). This underlines Coelho’s whole idea all of humanity’s stories are the same. Coelho shares this idea as he attempts to describe what he believes this shared story is through a boy named Santiago. However, while the humanity and Santiago may share the same goals, the way that Santiago achieves them is unrealistic compared to most of society. Santiago begins innocent and unknowledgeable of the world, and goes out on a mission to find his Personal Legend.
What is a goal? A goal is something you try to achieve in your everyday life. In “The Alchemist” Paul Coelho writes about a boy named Santiago who strives and follows his goals in finding his hidden treasure, but along the way he discovers that the word treasure may have more than one meaning. In “The alchemist” the book uses the symbols of sheep, dessert, alchemy, and treasure to explore the theme that people must follow their own dreams and overcome obstacles in order to achieve there goals and gain wisdom.
Coelho uses characters such as the Alchemist to help guide and teach Santiago very important lessons that he desperately needed in order for him to find himself. On pg. 0 Coelho writes “Don’t give in to your fears…...If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart…..And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of dreams, because every second’s encounter with God and with eternity.” The Alchemist teaches Santiago to overcome his fears and turn them into confidence which in the long run helps Santiago gain “the Soul of the World” and help awaken his spiritual consciousness. These things he gains and learns helps Santiago really discover himself and really learn what “the journey” is truly about.