The Socially Defined Self in "The Alchemist" Essay

Face first draws Mammon into promises of making him the master that Mammon has dreamed of: “I will restore thee thy complexion, Puff, Lost in the embers; and repair the brain, Hurt wi’ the fume o’ the metals” (2.2.25-27). Subtle (as the doctor) does the work of performing Mammon's alchemy as well as trying to silence Surly's doubts/opinion on alchemy. Mammon's trust and belief in Subtle's alchemy is shown in a conversation between himself and Surly: “And do you think to have the stone with this?” “No, I have heard he must be homo frugi , A pious, holy and religious man, One free from mortal sin, a very virgin” and Mammon replies “ That makes it sir, he (Subtle) is so. I buy it”(2.2.115-120). Subtle's most important role in the cozening of Mammon is making sure Mammon does not hear Surly’s opinion on alchemy because if Mammon listens to Surly, his plan would be ruined. In the first half of the play, Surly spends his time mocking and criticizing Mammon's doubts. Mammon describes Surly to Subtle as "An heretic, that I did bring along, In hope, sir to convert him”(2.3.4-5). Surly speaks his doubts of Subtle's alchemy" I’ll

Something I see developing within the first acts of the play is the idea of logic and reasoning amidst a setting of complete chaos. From as early as the first line (“If music be the food of love, play on” (1.1 1)” the characters seem to use conditional statements, disjunctive statements, and syllogisms to reason through the scenarios they encounter, demonstrating the many functions of logic.

Personal Perspective is how an individual view the world around them, different people perceives different things and that could shape their personality. In the novel, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a boy who is a shepherd tries to seek a treasure in which he sees it in his dream. There are many obstacles that he has to overcome, he met numerous individuals along the way and learned valuable life lessons. People may grow differently depends on how they perceive the world, and if the way they comprehend the world changed, they could also change who they are as a

The novel, The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, demonstrates the life of a young boy named Santiago and his journey towards his Personal Legend. Throughout his journey, he uncovered several hidden truths about life which lead him to his ultimate goal. I find that the book can be often related to daily life, especially regarding one’s Personal legend and the different obstacles that one must overcome, such as love, fear and time.

The death of self is chosen as the subject of study in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist for research purpose. The self to the characters in this novel is shadowed in the name of searching destiny and pursuing dream. The study of self is not an easy task. The self concept is discussed below on the basis of some references and the novel, The Alchemist.

Both The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Flowers for Algernon explore cases of self-alienation catalyzed by a quest for self-knowledge. The main character’s self-alienation stems from an attempt to comprehend the fact that both characters see a part of themselves as contrary to the whole of themselves. The only way they can comprehend that part of them is to separate that piece of themselves into an alternate persona. Both

To illustrate, the main message of the story is to always follow your dreams when pursuing them. In the book The Alchemist , Santiago was a young shepherd who was in search for a treasure he saw in his dreams in which he kept constantly dreaming. The young boy went through a quantity of trials in order to be successful in accomplishing his goal. After all the challenges, he was able to achieve his goal and return to Tarifa.

Some writers have the power to relate their audience into their works. The novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is about a young man named Santiago. Santiago is a shepherd who goes on a journey to the Egyptian pyramids to find his treasures at the end of his Personal Legend. With nothing but his sheep and the guidance of others, Santiago makes his way to the pyramids and learns life lessons along the way. Coelho gives the novel an unknown time period and lacks mentioning Santiago’s name which forces the audience to become a character and guides the reader to unearth their unique Personal Legends and along the way.

1.Throughout this story, the author structured the plot in a very fulfilling manner. The plot is constructed so that all the events that occurred are deeply connected to one another. Each of the characters’ experiences correlates with their past actions and will affect the outcomes they will receive later on in the story. A great example of this would be Santiago’s encounter with the King of Salem when Santiago was on the brink of giving up his personal legend. Santiago’s encounter with the King was the inspiration and wisdom he needed in order to set out and follow his lifelong dream. Since most of the story revolves around Santiago’s journey, it is clear that this considerable event is the basis of The Alchemist’s whole storyline. Another excellent example that proves this would be when Santiago met the alchemist while traveling in the desert. This happened as a result of Santiago’s ability to read and interpret omens, which he learned from the King of Salem. While with the alchemist, Santiago gained a more profound understanding on Alchemy, Personal Legends, and the Language of the World. A large portion of the message the author wanted to pass on to the readers occurred during Santiago’s travels with the alchemist. This influential event in the story eventually led to Santiago fulfilling his Personal legend, which was the main intention of the story, ever since its exposition.

The Alchemist is a wonderful fiction novel by Paulo Coelho. The novella, published in 1988, is a huge success, selling over 150 million copies and making it to the top charts. (addicted2success) . Coelho succeeds in delivering his message smoothly and innovatively throughout the story; one should forever live to pursue his personal legend and never give up on his dream. (Coelho). The monomyth applies to the main character of the novella, Santiago, a young Shepard with enough passion and will to uncover his personal legend. The boy gets called to start his search for his personal legend through a dream, a dream of a child grabbing on his hand to the pyramids of Egypt, unleashing a secret of a treasure buried under the deserts sand. Later on,

Say one day you are sitting in an old shop that you managed to emerge from your little town, and you get the urge that you were meant to do something great with your life. That little urge could be the universe telling you that what you're doing now is not meant to be. At any point in life this can happen, and it did happen to a boy by the name of Santiago. Through Santiago’s journey he learned that something very important that would change his life for forever. In the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Santiago learned everyone on earth has a personal legend, and the universe will conspire to help you reach your personal legend. Throughout the book Santiago learned that just because he was called to do something greater, does not mean it is going to be easy. During the book, a boy started out as a shepherd. From that day on he was forever changed. As the book continues he takes many risks and even gets to travel across the desert. In these next few paragraphs, you will learn what kept him from his personal legends and what helped him achieve his personal legend.

“Nothing is impossible” were the words that came out of 43-year-old Shirin, originally, from Kazakhstan. Shirin left her home country at only the age of 15 to go to America on a search for better education, funded entirely by her Mom. Her greatest challenge on her journey was having to learn a new language, adapt to the new culture. Shirin says that when she first arrived here she “cried a lot, talked to [her] Mom almost every day, and read books every day.” The first book she ever read when she came to America was The Alchemist which became her all time favorite book because it inspired her in a way she had never felt before. It inspired her to because The Alchemist is about “never giving up on your dreams” and that if none of us had dreams, we would only be “surviving, not living”. Shirin adds, dreams are what challenges us to progress and become better people. She references that in the Alchemist, the young Shepard went through many trials and tribulations while trying to uncover his personal legend, and for that reason she deeply admires the character. During our interview, I asked Shirin to name her all time favorite movie choice. She named “The Woolf Of Wall Street”. In this movie, Shirin not only admired the money-making, playboy lifestyle of it all, but she continues to go deeper by explaining that the main character was hard driven, and deeply passionate about going after his dreams, he knew exactly what he wanted and knew somehow, he was going to achieve it. She

One of the themes The Alchemist shares is with an article titled “ESPN anchor Stuart Scott’s rare cancer” Stuart Scott, like Santiago, shows that it is important to follow your dreams even when you encounter struggles. In the novel, Santiago didn’t want to become a priest, like his father wished; instead his dream was to travel the world. His father gave him three gold coins to buy sheep to travel with, but when he went to Tangier a man stole Santiago’s coins by lying, saying that he was going to buy him camels to guide him to the pyramids. However, that didn’t stop him from following his dream of wanting to travel. The novel states that, “The secret of life is to fall seven times to get up eight times” even after you encounter obstacles in life, it is important to stay focused on your goals and never give up on your dreams. After Santiago got robbed he found a job and worked extremely hard for years to save enough money to make the trip to the pyramids. This novel also reads that, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” Never let fear conquer your mind’s ability to achieve your dreams as fear is your dreams worst enemy. Similarly, the article published by CBS news “ESPN anchor Stuart Scott’s rare cancer” discusses Stuart Scott’s life story and his difficult struggles. It reveals that Stuart Scott experienced stomach pains in 2007 and was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed

Have you ever just been yourself and done something nice and felt better? You might not know the joy you caused, but lots of people do nice things for example helping an old lady cross the street. You may not know it, but you probably made that person's day by just being yourself and lending a helping hand. 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.” On his journey, Santiago encounters a king and learns some important lessons. Second, Santiago works at a crystal shop to earn money and helps the shopkeeper make money. Finally, Santiago learns about courage from the Alchemist.

The prologue of The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, describes the legend of Narcissus. Narcissus was a man who kneeled by the lake everyday just to admire his own reflection; however, he became so infatuated with his reflection that he drowned in the lake from trying to kiss the beautiful being that he had seen within the waters. The lake then grieves over the loss of Narcissus because his eyes reflected the beauty of the lake back to itself.