Happiness In The Alchemist

“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

How would one feel if books got outlawed and someone would burn them if found? In the book Fahrenheit 451, a man is faced with some tough decisions regarding burning books. Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a dystopian future. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, think independently, or have meaningful, deep conversations. Instead, they watch excessive amounts of television on wall sets, drive really fast, and listen to the radio sets on “Seashell Radio” sets attached to their ear. When Montag encounters a placid seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan, his eyes open to the emptiness of life. This essay will focus on the fake or artificial happiness that is displayed in this dystopian future. In this novel, everyone thinks that they are living happy lives without books, but Montag discovers that it's not real happiness; it’s artificial.

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, it seems that nobody is happy. The characters of the novel perceive themselves as happy, but in reality it is only their imagination. People in this society, such as Mildred Montag, fill their days with superficial activities and as a result they became depressed. Mildred keeps herself busy by watching television all day, and refers to the characters as her family.

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury an important theme is happiness. The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman whose job is to burn books. Montag realizes the importance of the books he has burned and how happy they can make people. Happiness is a theme because everyone in Montag’s community is looking for happiness, because the people who read books are happy, even though books have been outlawed, and because Montag changes his whole life when he began to question his happiness.

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury uses the character Mildred to convey how many people in society are discontent, even though they may seem happy. Throughout the novel Bradbury creates many characters that seem satisfied with their life of work and electronics, but Mildred in particular suggests that even one radiating happiness can still be broken and depressed inside.

One may overcome his/her journey with the guidance of others. Throughout Santiago's never ending journey, he meets a crystal merchant who gives him a new and different view on his personal desire. Santiago tells him about the dreams he keeps having, and the old king dealt with Santiago by helping him try to figure out what is it. The king said he would tell him what his treasure is for the price of six sheep. Stating, “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon,” proves that getting to Santiago’s dream will give him new lessons and opportunities to learn (Coelho 35). The old king implies that without spilling the oil from the spoon, one will be on the right path to their Personal Legend. The old king has now given Santiago his first

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” –Abraham Lincoln.

He was having the same dream for a few weeks, and he knew that the dream had some type of meaning. He dreamt of finding his treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. Santiago knew that he needed to find his treasure, but he also knew that he would have to leave a lot of things behind if he went on this journey. Santiago finally made the decision to go on this mission. During his journey, Santiago learned a lot more about what was affecting his life and the things he needed to do in order to find his treasure.

Santiago starts out as a normal young man that has the same reoccurring dream when he sleeps under a sycamore tree that grows out of an abandoned church where a young boy tells Santiago to find the treasure at the Pyramids in Egypt. Santiago, not trusting his instinct of what the dream means, goes to a Gypsy dream interpreter

The passage gives the analogy of carrying a spoon of oil around a castle. If we are tasked with not allowing any oil to drop from the spoon, we may become too focused and find ourselves ignoring the beauty and wonders surrounding the castle. However, when we become to focused on he wonders around the castle, we drop the oil from the spoon, defeating the purpose of carrying the spoon. We can apply this teaching to the world when we focus on our life goals. If we try to fulfill our desires while we appreciate what the world has too offer, we will feel joy and happiness. When we become infatuated with our goals and desires we tend to push aside wonders and reasons to be happy that the world has already given us, and vice versa. When we push aside the world’s wonder we may become discouraged when achieving our goals, because it may take too long to find happiness. Little reasons to be happy may encourage us to persist our pursuit to achieve goals and discover true happiness

Santiago finds his treasure at the place where he first dreamt of. The ending, then, can be interpreted as Santiago needs to go in a difficult situation and time to gain the knowledge or wisdom.

An individual’s Pursuit of Happiness can be achieved in many ways. Throughout the year we have read a good amount of literature that contains either characters pursuing happiness or the authors themselves showing their own ways of pursuing their dreams. There are always ups and downs, but the end result is people will follow what they believe will make them happy. Whether it is Gatsby following Daisy, becoming rich for her and following her to New York, or it is George trying to find a better life for him and Lennie, the end goal is the same. Even in The Crucible, John Proctor is searching for happiness when he tries to save his family from being accused of witchcraft, even if it ultimately fails. All of these pieces of literature are similar

“If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then your wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better,” said Will Smith, an actor and a singer. Throughout Santiago’s journey, he helps many people along the way, including himself. The boy also learns many life lessons so he can follow his heart and find his treasure. By going on this journey, Santiago makes himself and the things around him better. In the novel, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, Santiago learns, “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” First, Santiago wants to earn money, so he works for a crystal merchant. Next, Santiago asks the alchemist for help so he can fulfill his dreams

14) Earlier in the story, the alchemist told Santiago "when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed." At the end of the story, how does this simple lesson change Santiago’s life? How does it lead him back to the treasure he was looking for?

In conclusion, “The Pursuit Of Happyness” is not only a movie but it is a real situation in our life that in pursuing our dreams we must have gone through difficulties and sacrifice is needed for the dream to come true. We must always keep in mind that there is no shortcut to success and even it does, it is just temporary. Like a quote says, “No pain, no