Honor In The Alchemist By Francisco's '

The alchemist in my opinion is based on the principles of favorability. He had a father and slept in dire means. When he left to go adventuring he had to bring his sheep to a abandoned church, then when he found a good place to sleep in there then he began to read his book a used it as a pillow to sleep on. He went to a town to see a fortune teller about his dream and she told him to follow his heart and it will lead him to the treasure in the pyramids.

“They’d gone three nights without sleeping” (Marquez, 79) this shows that when they began to fall asleep they would think about their crime an the murder scene of Santiago would keep replaying in their minds. This shows that they knew they had committed an iniquitous deed. They probably knew he was innocent but needed to murder him in order to save the honour of their family. The murder of Santiago was a pill that kept them insomniac for life. Pedro even feared that “he wouldn’t sleep again for the rest of his life,” (Marquez, 80) Pedro began to have urine problems and he hadn’t slept in eleven months. The murder of Santiago had been publicised in even nook and corner of their town by the Vicario twins. If they actually wanted to murder Santiago they wouldn’t have told everyone about it. It can be said that there was another motive behind publicising the murder. “Twenty two people had heard everything said........ that the only reason they had said it was for someone to hear them.” (Marquez, 51) this quote divulges that they announced the murder around town in order for people to prevent them from murdering Santiago. Being Angela’s brothers it was their duty to hurt Santiago. But they wanted to be stopped as they probably knew that he wasn’t peccant and that he did not deserve to die. It shows that from within they didn’t even want to kill him. Pablo claimed that Pedro told him to go by himself to kill Santiago as he wasn’t in the

before he decides to get married. He also learns more about love from her. He learns what love feels like, and what you do because of it. He learned what love feels like from her because when he first sees her, he feels as if time is standing still “At that moment, it seemed as if time stood still… When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke... It was love.” (Coelho 94). He also learns about what you do for love. She tells him to finish his journey before getting married even though she loves him back and probably wants him to stay, and that she would wait for him while he’s finishing his journey because she is a desert woman and the desert women are used to waiting. Another reason she told him to go is because she doesn’t want to hold him back and stop him from pursuing his personal journey and it's all because she loves him too.

The Alchemist has many inspiring and relatable quotes that readers can understand and learn from. One of my favorites is when Santiago thinks to himself, “The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being” (72). This quote means that when you commit yourself to achieving some goal or completing some task, the more enthusiastic you will become. That one thing will be what gives you joy in life. Once you put in the effort, you will live a happy life and you will have realized why you are here on Earth. While I haven’t necessarily fully realized my personal legend in my own life, I can relate this idea to my personal experiences. I have been playing and writing music for a pretty

The ending is well-respected, but it could’ve left some sort of closure for the reader. There is a lot of questions that run through a reader’s mind when they read the ending. Some people are left in wonder in regards to Santiago. Readers wonder if Santiago even goes back to Fatima or what happens to the merchant’s daughter. She was important to Santiago and then she was dropped from the story after that.

To begin, Santiago learns a valuable lesson about self awareness. For example, while Santiago is talking to King Melchizedek, he tells Santiago a story of a wise man who gave a spoon with oil to a boy, and told him to walk around the palace. The boy does, but does not see any of the wonderful things around him, yet when he looks at those things, he drops the oil, Santiago learns the lesson from the story:"The secret of happiness is to see all of the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil in the spoon” (35).

The most interesting thing I found about the novel was the way Paulo build up Santiago’s hopes and then destroyed them. Paulo not only did this several times but he also chose to do it right after Santiago thought he had learned a lesson about life. Most books I have read don’t build up and destroy the main characters hopes so perniciously.

In Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist, the alchemist is asked, “Why are you an alchemist?” His response is simply, “I’m an alchemist because I’m an alchemist.” It is as straightforward as that. I am a theatre artist. There is not a cute story about how I saw a show when I was younger and was inspired; it is simply who I am to the core of my being. I am fortunate that my time in theatre has brought me to places like Cincinnati Music Hall’s stage, the mainstage at Playhouse in the Park, the Guignol Theatre at the University of Kentucky, and other theatres that lend themselves to being name-dropped. However, the theatre that I have done that has most shaped my worldview and molded who I am as a person has happened in the most unlikely of places: dormitory

1 Santiago, for his entire life, devotedly attended the seminar every day in order to become a Catholic priest. However, Santiago was not liked by any student in the seminar at all; fellow students perceived him as a brainwashed, Catholic dweeb.

I view Santiago as someone we can all relate to as a person with a dream, and after reading this book, I see that life does try to help us in some way. It could be through people we meet, similar to Santiago meeting all theses people that shaped his life, or events happening in the universe itself. At first, the language of the book and its contents were confusing, but after rereading and examining the material thoroughly, I understood the messages and references the author were making. I liked how he involved realism within his writing, such as the mentions of Christianity and the Islamic religion, how it is related with the “Soul of the World”, and of the universe itself. As a Christian, I have somewhat of an advantage in understanding the allusions and memos made throughout in the story. There is also the ways of alchemy, which I am already intrigued upon. It elaborates how alchemy is not only turning metals into gold, but in understanding the elements of the universe, which I thought were fascinating. One key point I saw within the writing was the mentioning of characters, where the author stopped calling Santiago by his name, and only referred to him as “the boy”. I felt it evokes a different type of storytelling, in the same way of a fable or moral are told rather than a novel being read. It gives the story more of a personal level and in a way, easier to

*Love is what can cause a person to do their best in the toughest situations. From the very beginning, Paulo Coelho introduces Santiago’s first love interest who happened to be the merchant’s daughter, a girl the shepherd never stopped thinking about (8). This first love is what gave Santiago the strength to do better for himself. Later in his journey, he arrived at the oasis, but he and the Englishman wanted to find the Alchemist. They started questioning the people who crossed their path if they know about him. Soon after he met Fatima, who he quickly claimed that he loved and wanted to marry (95-98). The feelings Santiago had towards Fatima were the genuine kind that would sacrifice everything for her, yet he knew he had to continue his path. While dreaming about hawks Santiago suddenly got a vision and soon after, is told that the information should be told to the tribal chieftains and although he first does not want to he thinks about Fatima and does it for her (103-107). Although Santiago was scared that they would laugh at him, he soon realized it must have been a sign from god and pushed his worries aside to protect Fatima. Lastly, even after everything Santiago suffered on his attack he was happy for he would finally be able to return to Fatima (171). Perhaps if it was not for his

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.

Santiago quickly makes friends and trusts people and in turn gets all of his money stolen. Instead of his usual angry response, Santiago weeps. He is still not taking responsibility for his actions at this point and still plays the blame game saying “He wept because God was unfair, and because this was the way God repaid those who believe in their dreams.” P 42 After his unfortunate situation Santiago has some personal growth as he remembers he promised to make his own decisions from here on out and he starts to feel desperate. He realizes that Africa isn’t a strange place; it’s just new to him. Santiago starts showing some optimism and

Santiago was an Andalusian shepherd that lived in the past. Santiago had a dream every night that that a boy tells him to go to seek treasure in egypt. Next he decides that he goes to a gypsy to see what the dream actually meant. She then tells him he should go but he has to hand over 1/10th of his treasure that he finds. A few days later he was sitting on a bench in a park and a mysterious man sits next to him and asked him what booke he was reading and the thought he cant read he is old. They get to talking and the mysterious man was actually a king. The king of salem. He

Conflict is something that humans have dealt within their entire existence. It is always there and always will be. The Alchemist shows that conflict does not have to be a bad thing it can be used to push forward in life and find a treasure that is awaiting everyone to find. The Alchemist is a compelling story of a young shepherd, known as Santiago, who finds a prophecy in a dream of his. While other people usually ignore this calling the lively Shepard decides to follow his personal legend. After meeting with an old man who disguises himself as a homeless hobo and afterward reveals himself as a rich king. Santiago chases after his personal treasure by selling all his sheep and getting money to go to said location of the treasure. Along the way he finds a young boy around his age to show him around and take him to the pyramids of Egypt, who we later find out was actually a thief that stole his money. After getting his money stolen in a foreign place Santiago feels the need to get money and return home to buy sheep and go about his life as it used to be. This leads to Santiago going to the top of a steep hill to find a small town with no customers in any of the shops. He found a crystal shop that looked like it had no business in some time. The shop belonged to a man that was close to his late 30s. The shopkeeper was thinking of closing his shop until a young man (Santiago) walked into his shop asking if he could clean some of the crystals for glass in exchange for a meal.