Alchemist Essay

In the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago finds out that his personal legend is at the Egyptian Pyramids. He travels a very long and adventurous journey to then find out that his treasure was at the church, where he started off all along. Coelho ends the novel with this ironic realization to show the readers that Santiago's journey was never really about the destination but more about the journey. One of the people that helped Santiago grow the most throughout his journey was the crystal merchant

The novel, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho talked about the secret to happiness and how to achieve a happy life. Coelho wrote about a young boy who wished to hear the secret to happiness from the wisest man in the world. When the boy met the man, he told the boy to look around

and a half hours of soccer, I could feel the heaviness of my eyes as I was reading the last words on the page of my book, “It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.” (The Alchemist 21) After I finished, I didn’t think much else about it, except for the fact that I had a quiz tomorrow. Consequently, this quiz was the first grade we would get for the school year, and I had to start out with a good grade point average. Grades

Another example of Santiago overcoming a great obstacle and learning from it, is when he feared that he hadn’t learned anything from the journey, but the alchemist said to listen to his heart. So Santiago slowly learned how to listen to his heart and start to understand the language of the world. Finally, he faced the greatest trial of all, Santiago faced a huge final challenge as when he got to where his treasure

Alike to this harried individual and his determination to keep moving after being reminded of his family, author Paulo Coelho illustrates similar traits in characters as well as the same principles through his works of art. In the novel, “The Alchemist,” Coelho utilizes the motif of omens in Santiago’s journey to reveal themes, and teach readers valuable life lessons. Omens prove to be a significant part of Coelho's masterpiece that guide Santiago on his treacherous journey, and convey a theme

The Hero’s Journey is a pattern created by the American mythologist Joseph Campbell and is a path that every hero must take in order for them to pursue their personal legend as Paulo Coelho describes in The Alchemist, a hero can be a human, animal or a magical creature. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “archetype as the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies” (“archetype”). During this path, the hero will encounter different obstacles that

Everyone knows or should know what a personal legend is, if not here’s a brief lesson. A personal legend is someone’s personal and spiritual purpose for living. In “The Alchemist” we’re introduced to a boy shepherd named Santiago, who in the beginning was content with his normal life until he had a few unexpected events. First, he had a dream, in it he is in a field with his sheep when a little boy playing with them went up to santiago and took him to the Pyramids of Egypt, where the boy told santiago

power to control our own destiny. However, at the same time, we take comfort in knowing that there is some higher power which assures everything happens for a reason. This conflict can be seen in many popular literary works today. For example, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, dives into how man is the creator of his own destiny. It even goes as far as to say that the world’s greatest lie is “that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled

see the theme of fate and destiny in all aspects of life. We see it in our religion, our books, and even in our own lives. No matter how we live our lives our future is already planned out. Destiny is the sole factor in every move we make. In the alchemist, Coelho the author presents destiny as something you need to chase. Our lives are pre-determined, and Coelho portrays this perfectly through his character Santiago. Santiago realizes that everything that happens to him good or bad, all needed to

current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision" (Coelho 70). This quote from Paul Coelho's The Alchemist reflects on that idea that when someone decides to take risks and persevere, they will discover so many opportunities and uncover their own character. Just like the protagonist, Santiago, from The Alchemist, I have experienced my own journey to find myself and who I am, and it all starts with a friend, a river, and a canoe. During the summer of