An Analysis of Mirage Symbolism In The Alchemist Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago, a young shepherd living in an abandoned church in a small Andalusian town, who is stripped of his comfortable and safe lifestyle after an encounter with Melchizedek, an Islamic king who tells him of his “Personal Legend” (21). Melchizedek points Santiago in the direction of his treasure only after taking one-tenth of his money, giving him two stones, and a lesson on reading omens. Throughout his journey, Santiago meets new friends, has everything stolen from him three times, and travels the vast and unknown Sahara Desert all while achieving personal growth and an understanding of his life’s meaning. His journey leads him to an Oasis …show more content…
After being promised a guide to the pyramids and a short travel period he was instead left alone and without money. What had minutes beforehand seemed like a perfect way to his treasure was now only an empty promise. Soon after, Santiago is forced to work for a crystal merchant in the hopes of replacing his lost money and continuing on his quest. He works for the merchant for eleven months and during this time, continues to think less and less of his Personal Legend. He becomes skilled in this practice and begins to work towards instead, replacing his flock of sheep and returning to his past lifestyle. During this time, Santiago perceived reaching the pyramids as an impossible feat claiming “Egypt was now just a distant dream for him” and that, like a mirage, it would always be just out of his reach (56). In this way, Coelho shows that Santiago’s morale is lessening. The more that he stays at the crystal shop, the more he sees his treasure as a mirage instead of a physical object. Not only can the boy’s journey be related to mirages, so to can his relationship with Fatima. He first meets her at the oasis by the water well. They next day he returns and tells her that he loves her. From there he begins to tell her of his life as a shepherd and his search for treasure. Fatima listens patiently for a month and then finally tells Santiago her true feelings for him. She explains that she is a woman of the desert and
Social isolation is a social issue where people avoid contact with one society. They are commonly seen nowadays preventing people from interacting with another as well as creating reliable relations, abating any chances for one to realize their destiny. This negative spiral immensely affects the opportunity for people holding a feeling of love and community toward others.
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.
Santiago made a reasonable sum of money working for the crystal merchant, and decided it was time to abandon his job to continue his search for his treasure. Along the way, he was halted by a tribal war in the desert and forced to stay in an oasis. During his visit he met a young woman named Fatima. After only a few interactions, Santiago decides he wants to marry this woman, “‘I came to tell you just one thing,’ the boy said. ‘I want you to be my wife. I love you’(Coelho, 95). What once was negative became positive. Santiago’s journey had been paused multiple times, and he was stuck in an oasis instead of venturing to the
In The Alchemist by Paul Coelho the obstacle that is most significant to Santiago's growth is the fear of defeat because he is able to become more successful after being left with nothing in Morocco, able to prove himself to the Oasis after convincing the chieftains of and oncoming attack, and able to transform himself into wind after being forced to do so for his life.
Throughout the book, Coelho addresses the attractive quality and the sense of security that wealth and acceptable social status bring. Nevertheless, he also illustrates that one must reject the lure of riches and reputation in order to attain one’s highest potential. At first, Santiago ignores his dream to travel to Egypt because of his strong desire to earn back the money that he has lost due to the robbery. As such, Santiago becomes employed at a crystal shop and works “incessantly, thinking only of putting aside enough money so that he could return to Spain with pride” (62). Instead of saving his money for a trip across the Sahara desert to pursue his dream, at this time, Santiago wishes to return to Spain to become a shepherd once again. Here, Santiago is tempted to permanently settle down and live among people. Furthermore, Santiago also encounters a group of tribesmen and becomes a prisoner along with the alchemist. When the alchemist gives up all of Santiago’s gold, Santiago gets upset and says “You gave them everything I had! Everything I’ve saved in my entire life!” (141). Santiago is frustrated because he has saved up enough to live a life luxurious back home. Although Santiago’s sacrifice of wealth is unwillingly done by another individual, it allows him to continue his path of becoming his Personal Legend as it spares his life. By sacrificing his earthly desire and obsession with fortune, Santiago’s
The book I read is called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist is about a boy from Spain, whose name is Santiago and is a shepherd. The book tells how he gets around countries, and how he deals with his problems and how he solves them. It shows how he follows his dreams, and who helps him along the way.
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.
Not before long, Santiago meets a crystal merchant. Trying to run away from his Personal Legend once again, he gets a job at the
In conclusion, the book the Alchemist illustrates the hardships and decisions we all must go through in life. It emphasizes that listening to your heart and going on your Personal Journey can be a hard and relentless road to embark on. However, the lessons learned and experiences gains can lead you to immeasurable rewards and
Paulo Coelho uses allusions throughout The Alchemist to relate the story to biblical figures. What is currently occurring in The alchemist is, that a strange man named Melchizedek is asking Santiago to give him one tenth of his heard and he will tell him how he has to get to the pyramids. Melchizedek told Santiago many ideals of following your dream in life, and he guided him and explained to him why it is always so important to follow your dream in life. Santiago gives him the sheep and Melchizedek tells him how to get to the treasure and then the book reads “Melchizedek… He would never again see the boy, just as he had never seen Abraham again after having charged him his one-tenth fee…That was his work” (Coelho 21). This alludes to the biblical story the biblical figure Melchizedek. Melchizedek was the King of Salem, and it is said that when Abraham was returning after a battle Melchizedek met him, blessed him, and brought him bread and wine. In return,
` In The Alchemist Santiago makes two agreements with himself that will determine his personal legend. When he makes the assumptions he ends up being pained from the experience but learns from his mistakes. When all hell breaks loose and he's lost everything he's worked for he learns to try his best and not give up hope. These two completely different pieces of literature share similar ideas is keeping a strong headed attitude and striving for your
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
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,
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.
Allegory: A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.