Fear In The Alchemist

Fear is a common human emotion, but the way some people react is different than others. Although, it is harder on some humans unlike other people. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,” Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” I think that means that fear harms more people than anything else does in the whole world. Also that people can scare themselves way easier than normal and it’s not healthy.

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.

In the beginning, when I was reading the Alchemist, I wondered on how this novel could translate into fifty-six languages and sold over sixty-five millions of copies because the story was not appearing to me. The story begins about a shepherd, whose name is Santiago, talking to himself and his sheep all the time, and having a recurrent dream about there is a treasure at the Pyramid. It was a boring beginning. As the story continues to be dull until the old man, the king of Salem, tells the boy a that “..the world’s greatest lie [is] that at a certain point of our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate” (Coelho, page 18). His conversation with the boy catches my attention, and makes me want

Fear: a simple word with an abundance of meanings. To one, fear can be losing a loved one and to another it can be being alone for their entire life. Ghandi once claimed that the enemy of every soul is not hate, but fear itself. This enemy, however, can be derived from hate, for everything you loathe is the reason for your distress. Taking the Salem Witch Trial as an example, fear portrayed an enormous role in the lives of many. During the time period of 1692 to 1693, fear controlled an entire village by manipulation and hatred. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible perfectly captures how fear is exploited by characters in the play because these characters used their hatred towards others to build up horror in the sacred town of Salem. Although this classic novel was written over fifty years ago, Miller touched on timeless societal fears that still apply to the existing world today. As seen through Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, fear can prompt people to denounce their beliefs in order to save their own lives, prevent their reputation from being tarnished, and it can make one take extreme measures in order to protect the ones they love.

Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” in 1952 and about forty years later explained his purpose in an article titled “Why I Wrote the Crucible.” Miller expresses some of the emotions he went through as his book gained popularity saying, “I remember those years...but I have lost the dead weight of the fear I had then. Fear doesn't travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory's truth.” At first, he refers to fear as dead weight as if it was useless but still pulling him down but then he explains the importance of fear. He claimed that fear can warp our judgement which seems realistic because when people are in a situation the causes fear they are known to take out of the ordinary action. Miller also suggests that fear is a crucial part of our memory and without fear our memories can fade and the truth of the issue as well. Miller was likely fearful of the

Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat. Our own emotions, especially fear, make us do the things we never saw ourselves doing. In the play “The Crucible” many of the characters actions are driven by fear. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. This emotion doesn’t have to control our actions.

In the story I predict that the children will end up not meeting Boo, because they are too scared to even walk across the sidewalk by his house. The children were playing baseball and they threw the ball over the fence, and said it is gone forever. That is how scared they must be to not even try and go get it. The children think that he will do the worst possible thing if they even consider getting their ball back. The children believe that if they walk near his house or even grab something by his house that Boo will come out and kill them all. Therefore many of the children are scared because the they believe that Boo will come and hurt them. Some of the kids also say that he goes up to their windows at night and watches them sleep, and if

Obviously, to not believe in what Christ’s taught and fought against, inevitably becomes the same thing as not believing in Him.

Some may refer to The Alchemist as a best-selling novel written by Paulo Coelho which explains the ideas of having a dream, or Personal Legend, and going through obstacles to conquer it. The book starts off like any other, introducing and describing the main characters, in this case Santiago is the first to share the interest of peers reading the story. He is said to be a small town shepherd boy who will do anything for his flock of sheep. In the opening scene of the story, Santiago takes his flock to an abandoned church and lies down under a sycamore tree hoping to get some rest. He is soon woken up from a disturbing dream which foreshadows further into the story of his own Personal Legend. Later in the book, Santiago is faced with multiple tests to be successful in finding his treasure. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure” (Coelho 15). Paulo continues to add characters in the book that help Santiago throughout his journey.

The alchemist is a well written book that accurately describes every concept about life and explains it through a story. The Alchemist is a book about a shepherd named Santiago, who discovers his personal legend and receives help from others to help achieve his Personal Legend and learns many major life lessons along the way. Santiago gets advice that when life puts him down, keep getting back up and to focus on the task at hand, which is Santiago’s own personal legend. Along the the journey, Santiago receives help from many different characters but only three characters who helped him the most throughout his quest for his Personal legend is the alchemist, the Old King and the Englishman. The best advice a reader is able to gain from this story is the advice the the Old King taught Santiago, which is” there is only one thing that makes achieving a dream impossible to achieve, the fear of failure” which means is to never be afraid of failures and to follow your own path God has laid out for you because if you are too afraid to pursue your personal legend, meaning if people are too afraid to take risks to make their own life better than it already is now, then they will not have the opportunity to accomplish their own goals. In Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago learns the Soul of the World through experience, patience, time and help from the Old King, the Englishman and the alchemist.

The theme of fear of change in The Alchemist shows how Santiago has many fears in moving forward in his life and those fears sometimes hold him back from what he might learn and experience if he otherwise embraced change. Santiago's whole life had been focused on exploring the world, specifically Spain, and learning from his sheep. As a Shepard he would travel from place to place learning. His sheep taut him, what he thought, all he would need to know about the world. When Santiago met the King he was fearful of giving up his flock In order to pursue his "Personal Legend." He only knew about how to be a Shepard and care for his flock. He knew what was a good price for each and how to shear and care for them. With this being the expanse of

For most people, fear is a strong motivator to accomplish goals, do well on a test, or on other circumstances that could give people trouble. In one of my sports, I play, Cross Country, fear motivates me to work harder, run faster, and possibly gets me better results. When I hear, see, or know someone is behind me, I don't want the embarass of them beating me, or encouraging other people when they see that happen, they think they can pass me to get a better time or to pass someone so I don't get critism or live down that worse time or place. In the book, The Outsiders, fear plays an important role throughout the book.

“The Gift Of Fear,” a psychology book written by Gavin De Becker, is an extremely useful and informative read. It gives valuable advice about how to act upon human intuition, how to recognize threats, and defines what real fear is and it’s purpose. I found the book to be extremely interesting. This book provided me with a sense of understanding on violence and fear and I feel much better prepared when it comes to recognizing dangerous situations.

To start of the novel Fear, by Gabriel Chevallier, Jean Dartemont is in France observing all the civilians celebrate the start of the new war. He criticizes their behavior and strongly disapproves, however, he admits a curiosity in him that convinces him to volunteer for the war for it will be a ‘remarkable spectacle.” After being approved to go to war, Dartemont heads to a training camp. There he becomes a private after failing to become an officer. Here he commands a group, but realized he finds the maintenance of soldiers to be tedious and useless work. Already he becomes quite eager to arrive at the front lines, which soon happens.

In Dr. Strangelove, the main fears represented in the film are about Russia and war. Throughout the show, we see the American’s negative and hostile attitudes towards the Russians. For example, the pilot captain of the bomb place called the Russians ‘Ruskies’ which shows a clear disrespectful tone towards the Russians. Also, the American war general immediately bragged about the U.S.’s achievements while putting down the Russians. The general of the base even thought that Communists poisoned the water in order to control people.