Magic Realism In The Alchemist

Magic Realism is a literary genre that combines two seemingly contrasting elements and fantasy reality by introducing supernatural or unreal elements into depictions of real life. “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar is a good example of Magic Realism because it has supernatural feelings and events throughout the story in real life events and situation. An example from the story is paragraph twenty five it explains the sister dropped her knitting because her ball of yarn was on the other side of the house,Irene had never been on the other side and for the yarn to be over has a supernatural or unreal feeling to it. This is an example of Magic Realism because it has a supernatural feel to the event that has happened to Irene, this also feels

“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

Magical realism is the unique mixture of fantasy, yet the factor of reality in the story harmonizes with it rather than clashes with it. Magical elements have the ability to blend and still create a realistic, and ordinary reality in a society.

Santiago also demonstrates exceptional resilience throughout the book. One example of this is when he sells his flock and travels to Egypt. Once arriving in Tangier he is immediately robbed by a thief, leaving him with no money. Rather than sulking and giving up, his resilient attitude guides him to looking for an opportunity to better his situation, which leads him to finding the crystal shop. Hear he puts all his effort into doing his work as best as he could, eventually leading to great financial success.

Magical realism is when events, have a magical aspect to them, are entered or set into the mundane world and is naturally accepted into reality. It can include cultural and historical realities placed into ordinary worlds, supernatural people or creatures are otherwise viewed as normal, and even metamorphosis is considered a normal day to day event rather than a miracle. Magical realism may seem like other genres of fiction, however it has its own unique characteristics to characterize it as its own.

The conventions of Myths, Fables, and allegory all have magical elements in common like magical realism. But what sets magical realism aside from these genres is that it portrays magical or unrealistic elements in such a way that it is viewed as natural. Matthew Strecher defines magical realism as “what happens when a highly detailed realistic setting is invaded by something too strong to believe”. Some elements that authors use to support magical realism is using unexplainable things/events in the context to be normal, metamorphosis occurring, and not using regular constructs of time.

- When Santiago was in the pyramids then he was robbed again by the thieves that brought him to a near death experience.

The first significant person to direct Santiago to his personal legend was the King of Salem. The King of Salem is the character that introduces Santiago to his personal legend and what a personal legend is. Through this it adjusts Santiago’s path and desires to find out what the Old King was talking about. “None of what the old man was saying made much sense to the boy. But he wanted to know what the “mysterious force was;” (22). By this little spiel from the Old King Santiago takes a turn in his life. He suddenly is curious about this “hidden treasure” and is determined to find out more. If Santiago never met the King of Salem then he never would've known about his personal legend and continued to meet other important characters in his life. The Old King also encouraged the belief of omen to the boy through the use of white and

Some of the most bizarre, intriguing stories and films out there may seem as though the events are merely a figment of one’s imagination. They might create an image in your head that could only exist in a dream or fantasy. Magical realism is a type of fiction that uses different types of magical elements relevant to that specific setting, however would be viewed as unordinary in our world today.

Santiago talked to a Gypsy women (who interpreted dreams) about his reoccurring dream that he would find hidden treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. Later in the city, he talked to Melchizedek (King of Salem) about Personal Legends. The boy did not know the meaning of a Personal Legend, Melchizedek said “It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young knows what their Personal Legend is.” (Coelho 23) Now that Santiago knew what a Personal Legend was he could discover his.

Magical realism is a genre that portrays both reality and fantasy. As defined by Faris (2004) in Ordinary enchantments, magical realism is a genre of writing that includes an irreducible element of magic and details that suggest phenomenon (Faris, 2004, p. 7). He describes the irreducible element as: “…something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as they have been formulated in Western empirically based discourse…” (Faris, 2004, p. 7). In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, The handsomest drowned man in the world, the facets of magical realism are rife. He uses magical realism to enchant the reader. The story is of a small cliff-side and coastal community

Magical realism portrays magical elements while being able able to blend into a real world setting. Magical Realism is a type of realism using

Miranda Hamm Bergdale ENG (11-world literature-period 1) 14 September 2015 Literary Analysis Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Alchemist, is an extraordinary story about a young boy chasing his dreams. When the main character, Santiago, was sleeping by a sycamore tree in an old run down church, he had a dream of a child telling him to travel to the Egyptian pyramids and find the hidden treasure. Santiago was confused and didn’t know what to think of the dream. He decided to go talk to a gypsy woman in town and get a second opinion.

Every night he has this dream, but wakes before he finds the “treasure”. Santiago is reluctant to take action upon the messages portrayed in his dream until he meets an old man who calls himself the king of Salem, Melchizedek. After Melchizedek shows him the powers of nature, Santiago seeks to discover his treasure and sets off to fulfill the destiny one has, to accomplish their greatest desires, aka a “personal legend”. Melchizedek described a personal legend as "what you have always wanted to accomplish.” and he said that ". . . when you really want something, it 's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.” pertaining to the consistent dreams of the hidden treasure, and his desire for Fatima. In essence, Melchizedek said that the “Soul of the World” is fed by people 's happiness, and that a person 's only real purpose in life is to realize their destiny and accomplish their “personal legend”. Melchizedek concluded with Santiago basically by saying that “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” I think that is a very important quote throughout the book because with all of the turmoil Santiago withstands, and all the obstacles he must pass, he finds his personal legend because he put his heart and soul into it. I think with the influences of other people, it’s often times easy to get

The Alchemist is one of Ben Jonson's four extraordinary comedies. The most earliest recorded execution of the play happened in Oxford in 1610 by the King's Men. In The Alchemist, Jonson unashamedly ridicules the imprudences, vanities and indecencies of humanity, most quite eagerness prompted credulity. Individuals of every single social class are liable to Jonson's heartless, sarcastic wit.