The Alchemist Reflection

“The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it (James Bryce). If measured by the rule of the quote, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow has tremendous worth. Randy Pausch, a professor dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” at Carnegie Mellon in 2007. In the book, he reflects upon the lessons of his life experiences mentioned in the lecture. The lessons addressed ways to lead a fulfilled life. At first, his experiences seemed to be entertaining stories from his past, but as he progressed through each chapter, I began to realize the mentoring quality of the stories. From the lessons, I carried away invaluable advice. While it would be difficult to visit and elaborate upon every lesson, there were three that were most memorable to me: the importance of obstacles in our life, how honesty is a better character builder than false praise, and the uselessness of complaining.

If Santiago is lost or confused during journey, he will always have Urim and Thummim to guide him and help him understand where the omens want him to be. They also act as a reminder that he cannot complete his quest alone and must call for help at times in order to be successful.

‘’ The desert will give you an understanding of the world; in fact, anything on the face of the earth will do that. You don’t even have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will se in it all the marvels of creation.’’ (127)

Santiago is having trouble parting with the life he has built for himself as a shepherd. The old king thought it most appropriate to tell a parable in order to ease Santiago in his decision to follow his Personal Legend. “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drop of oil on the spoon.”(Coelho 35). What the king was try to tell Santiago was that you can travel the world without parting with what you have built for yourself. This was able to give Santiago some piece with his decision to sell his sheep and set out on something new.

The third and fourth obstacle Santiago faces is his fear of defeat and realizing his dream. For example, “They made him continue digging, but he found nothing. As the sun rose, the men began to beat the boy. He was bruised and bleeding, his clothes torn to shreds, and he felt death was near.” The obstacle he defeated was the fear of defeat people will meet on the journey to fulfilling our destiny. People have to be patient in difficult times and know that the universe is conspiring in our favor, even if some do not know. Santiago had patience and allowed the men to beat him. Because of his patience they eventually left him alone

Life lessons can come from anywhere. For some, they come with it on their own, for others, they require a little assistance from those they interact with. For instance, at the university, some life lessons have come to light. Through the discussion earlier in the semester, the life lessons throughout Marian Wright Edelman’s Measure of Our Success have left several life lessons as a takeaway. For instance, life lesson eleven, “Sell the shadow for the substance,” which basically means that the substance, is something that takes up space, is more important than the shadow, a superficial being that does not stay with you at all times. To sell the shadow, things in our life that do not really mean anything, for the substance, objects that help achieve a higher version of ourselves, is important and helps with understanding that if a person focuses on bettering their selves than achieving meaningless belongings, they will be able to proceed through life with the knowledge that substance outweighs the shadow of material objects; likewise, life lesson nineteen, “Try to live in

The forces of the universe have crucified both Santiago and the marlin.  We see this when Santiago carries his mast cross-like to his shack and the author's description of his exhausted repose "face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms up" (Hemingway  122).  Yet, through this struggle, through this pride that made him go far out beyond all people, Santiago learns the meaning of life in a meaningless universe is humility and love.  We see this expressed most clearly in his mentor-like relationship with Manolin.  Human solidarity and interdependence may not make a man any more capable of beating the forces of the universe, but they are sustaining as much as the courage and dignity with which Santiago faces life "the boy keeps me alive, he thought.  I must not deceive myself too much" (Hemingway  106).  Before coming to shore, Santiago recognizes he has gained humility and he is loved.  He is appreciative the other fishers will worry about him.  They bring him food and newspapers to

The Alchemist is a novel first published in 1988 by Brazilian-born author Paulo Coehlo. It has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling books of all time, and has been translated in over 60 languages. The book follows an adventurous shepherd boy named Santiago who has recurring dream leads him on a journey to find hidden treasure. The book begins Santiago has the same troubling recurring dream, when sleeping under a sycamore that grows out of the ruins of a church, of a child telling him to seek treasure at the base of the Egyptian pyramids. After a gypsy tells him to go to Egypt once hearing his dream, a strange old man appears, claiming to be the King of Salem, tells him it is his

When someone has the right motivation, anyone can overcome adversity. In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a boy named Santiago is on a journey to find his personal legend with the help of many characters. Consequently, he develops into a well-rounded person from the obstacles he overcomes. Coelho explains that if an individual persists in dreaming about a “treasure,” not only should one search for it, but also learn from the journey. This comes into act when Santiago is constantly in search for his desire. The author shows how Santiago defeats the challenges he must face in order to get to his treasure. As well as meeting other characters to help him alongside with his travels.

In the novel "The Alchemist", Santiago is a young shepherd in search of his personal legend. To find your personal legend you need to have qualities like intelligence, understanding, and perseverance. The quality that is key to success is perseverance. Perseverance is doing something despite the difficulty in achieving success. Through searching, for his personal legend, he has gone through many obstacles like losing his sheep, crossing the desert, and turning himself into the wind. He persevered through it all and found his personal legend.

Santiago knew his Personal Legend was to find the hidden treasure at the pyramids. On his quest, he crossed the desert during a war, left Fatima (his love) and turned himself into the wind. When the boy did not know how to turn himself into the wind the Alchemist said “Then you’ll die in the midst of trying to realize your Personal Legend. That’s a lot better than dying like millions of other people, who never even knew what their Personal Legends were.” (Coelho 146) Santiago had now conquered many struggles to work toward completing his Personal

In conclusion, I believe that this quote is very important in life. It is about getting in touch with your own soul. In The Alchemist, they reference the Soul of the World. The Soul of the World is within everyone, you just have to look hard and you will find it. Within your soul there is a desire or a want. One must listen to that desire and pursue it for how ever long it takes. This desire is your destiny and your own Personal Legend. You just have to know where to

First, through these lessons, it helped Santiago to be a better and happier person because he learned it is up to you alone to live your greatest life. One of Santiago’s mentors, The King, gives him advice about the Soul of the World and what he needs

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,

Scarlet Pimpernel starts with giving the background of the situation about how famed the scarlet pimpernel is and how badly the French want to kill him, through dialogue in France. The book moves the set to The Fishermen’s Rest and we see some of the aristocrats who have just escaped thanks to Scarlet Pimpernel and his crew. Lots of celebration continues as we get introduced to the main character Marguerite, she says good bye to her brother/Best friend/substitute dad, who is secretly helping scarlet pimpernel by going to France, the French Spy, an old friend of Marguerite, asks for her help to figure out who scarlet Pimpernel is she denies. Later that night, the French Spy captures some letters from Scarlet Pimpernel and notices a letter