Section #8: Theme(s) In the Alchemist, the theme of the journey being just as valuable as the destination is demonstrated throughout the story as Santiago learns about himself and others, which is recognized as the real treasure. When Santiago goes on his journey to find a valuable treasure hidden in the Pyramids, he learns many things from his experiences. When Santiago was asked to follow the omens he was reminded that “the secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.” (Coelho pg. 108) What Santiago learned throughout his journey benefited him in the end. The wisdom he gained was much more valuable than the gold. He realized at the end of journey that the best things in life are those that could be felt within himself, not the things he could hold in his hands. Unlike gold, wisdom cannot be lost or stolen, which makes wisdom that much more cherishable. Santiago was told that “wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”(Coelho pg. 128) Santiago was on a quest to find treasure, which would make him happy. He thought the treasure would be an actual object, but instead he realized his true treasures were the ones he felt along the journey, especially when he found Fatima. Love and knowledge will always have more …show more content…
The Sycamore tree, one of the oldest trees found in Ancient Egypt, was very useful to the Egyptians,“It’s wood had great economic importance.”(Pliny, Natural History Book) and “Physicians used the fruit for calming the vessels.”(Pliny, Natural History, Book XIII, chapter 14) People needed the tree and saw the plant as a benefit for their use. Egyptians found the tree comforting and helpful. When Santiago got to the tree to get his treasure he recalls “the
Santiago's epiphany leads to him pushing forward and finishing his journey of achieving his ultimate treasure of hope and
After Mildred turns him in, Montag and Beatty go to Montag's house. Beatty, knowing that Montag has been infected with curiosity about books, demands that he burn the house himself: "I want you to do this job all by your lonesome, Montag. Not with kerosene and a match, but piecework, with a flamethrower. Your house, your clean-up."
He is a stronger and smarter man because of what happened to him. Santiago hit a lot of adversity at the beginning of his journey and it prepared him for the worst of his journey. “Now he understood why the owner of the bar had been so upset: he was trying to tell him not to trust that man.” (Coelho 43). He lost it all and he was prepared for anything for the rest of his journey.
Santiago’s last step to completing his personal legend was walking through the desert, to find his treasure and completing it. Thus, showing the symbols and meanings behind these little puzzle pieces in the journey and being rewarded with love and treasure helping to support my thesis, through seeing and understanding symbols behind the world people can learn about their own personal legend and live life to the
The Importance of Perseverance At many times in people’s lives, they consider giving up. This is also true for Santiago, the protagonist in Paulo Coelho's fantasy novel The Alchemist. Santiago is on a journey to find a hidden treasure he saw in a dream. Along this journey he continues to contemplate whether he should just give up, or continue his adventure.
Imagine you are entering a garden. You take in the aroma of the air and feel the serenity as the environment affects you. Now imagine you are stranded in a forest. You look in all directions feeling lost and anxious about what might happen next. As you can see, settings that appear within a story can help us determine how a character must feel.
All of these people and objects helped guide Santiago through his journey to get to the pyramids. When Santiago first meets the King of Salem, he is inspiring Santiago to pursue his personal legend. The King says, “In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow.
The Alchemist is a famous book written by Paulo Coelho. It’s about a shepherd named Santiago who travels from his homeland Spain to the Pyramids in Egypt. He does this to find a treasure he was told about. Along his hard journey, he meets some people along the way like a gypsy woman and a king in disguise who all direct him towards his quest. He doesn’t let the obstacles stop him toward his goal and eventually he finds his treasure.
The decision was difficult as both options don’t provide him a steady choice. As being a shepherd does not promise him to be with the merchant daughter and for finding a treasure he need to give up his well settled life. But at the end he chose to find treasure as it allows him to purse his personal legend or dram of travelling throughout the world. He always considers his choice before taking a decision this can be seen through this conversation of Santiago with himself, “Here, I am between my flock and my treasure, the boy thought. He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have.
During his journey, Santiago receives knowledge that he treasures and uses on his behalf when he hopes to achieve his personal legend. During his time with the Crystal merchant Santiago learned the five sacred obligations of all Muslims, and he learned that the Pyramids were not nearly as close as he thought when he arrived in Africa. During his time with the Alchemist he learned how to find life in the desert, and how to
This is illuminated when the Alchemist says, “‘There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure’” (141). This particular moment shows that even though Santiago has both the ability and the knowledge to achieve his dream, it is impossible to attain it if he fears even attempting to reach it. Consequently, this fear acts as his enemy and a barrier that stands in the way of the meaningful and happy life he is destined to accomplish. Furthermore, another one of his fears is the fear of losing what he believes he has already earned. ” He reminded himself that he had been a shepherd and that he could be a shepherd again.
Santiago has an epiphany when he realizes that if you never change and take risks you will never move forward. He wants to find his “personal legend,” or true desire, and to obtain this he needs to change his own nature. He must be willing to give up whatever is necessary to achieve this goal, including freedom. On Santiago’s journey he becomes employed by a crystal merchant that never achieved his personal legend. The merchant resisted change and never accomplished his dreams.
Even Though there was three different people who helped santiago find his personal legend, he had to go find it to fill complete. The king helped him first by explaining what a personal legend is. He tells Santiago about good and bad omens and says that it is the shepherd boy's duty to pursue his Personal Legend. Melchizedek then gives Santiago two stones, Urim and Thummim, with which to
He thought it’s waste of time and money. Later in the novel, the man who beats Santiago does not believe his own dream, but when he describes his dream to Santiago, Santiago recognizes it as an omen telling him where to find the treasure (Coelho 167). Thus, it’s the person loss as he ignored dream. The importance of actual, sleeping dreams parallels the importance of personal, symbolic dreams as embodied by Personal Legends. Thus, dreams require backbreaking work and determination to sacrifice anything to make it come true.
Although the treasure was in the very spot Santiago had the dream and not near the pyramids, through Santiago 's journey through the desert, being rob, being threaten, and meeting the women of his dreams, Santiago learns that everything in life is not easily attainable. And if you want something so much, don’t give up, because of the difficulties you face. Because in the end those same difficulties can positively shape who you are. I believe that Santiago development closely relates to Vygotsky’s theory, which states that social and cultural interaction guide cognitive development.