Literary Techniques In The Alchemist

While people come in all shapes in sizes, underneath it all we are still flesh and blood. Even if people have a different skin color or orientation we are all humans living on this earth. This idea, no this fact was really driven home to me when I was traveling with my family around the world. We met people in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Ecuador and though they looked and talked different they had the same needs, concerns and wants. I found a quote by Santiago, a boy in The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho that really explains this better than I ever could, “I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything in the universe.

Coelho promotes this thought of change numerous times throughout the story through the use of literary techniques. However, two of the strongest examples of this are through his usage of metaphors and foreshadowing during Santiago’s quest for the treasure. A metaphor is defined as a comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated. For example the text says, “The desert is a capricious lady, and sometimes she drives men crazy.” The author used this to define the importance and how dangerous the desert can be for travelers.

He has no clue whatsoever on how to turn himself into the wind so he calls upon the desert. Then he continues to talk to the different forces of nature. Santiago becomes better because he does not know how to at first but learns how to become the wind. When Santiago becomes the wind, he leaves two people smiling, and those two people are happy. They become better as well.

Santiago’s sheep taught him survival. He would sell the sheep’s wool so that he would have money. Santiago was a shepherd who loved to travel. His sheep survived all the traveling with Santiago, so that taught him about how to survive.

Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago a Shepard whose life changes once he finds out about a treasure from his frequent dreams and meets a strange man who helps him to start his personal legend. On Santiago’s journey he starts to see the hidden meanings behind daily life creating the thesis that through seeing and understanding symbols behind the world people can learn about their own personal legend and live life to the fullest. Santiago’s life starts out all about his sheep, he chose to be a shepherd, so he could travel and meet new people. Santiago’s job is to take care of the sheep, but the sheep have more meaning in the story. The sheep represent how he is comfortable in his life and how he is questioning his frequent dream, to sacrifice his comfortable life to find this treasure or to continue without taking the risk.

While traveling through the Sahara Desert, Santiago is captured by a warring tribe and is threatened with death. In order to escape Santiago uses his wits and ingenuity by using a hawk to communicate with the Alchemist, who had been traveling with him. The Alchemist agrees to help Santiago and devises a plan to distract the guards for Santiago’s escape. Through this Santiago learns mental toughness, which is an important aspect in helping him finish his journey. This proves that it is a necessity to have adversity in one's life to promote growth and transformation in one's character.

“‘We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property.’” solemnly states the camel driver (Coelho 79). During the seemingly endless journey through the desert, Santiago has no choice but to talk to those around him and listen to the stories they have to share. As the shepherd travels around the world for the purpose of reaching the destination, he meets many people with different pasts who can teach lessons of the world around him. “‘I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you’” romantically states Santiago to Fatima, the woman he fell in love at first sight with(Coelho 126).

Throughout the journey, Santiago learned many valuable lessons like the importance of identifying your legend. Santiago also learned the importance of living in the moment and how the present was as equally as important as the future. Most importantly Santiago learned that Fear is a bigger obstacle than the obstacle itself. Santiago went from a person who hated having any contact with any individual and having little knowledge of the outside world to someone who learned so much in a short amount of time because he decided not to let his fear stop him from accomplishing his goals and letting him grow as a person. Many fear that we are going to lose everything that we have in our life because of the risks that we take.

As the novel progresses, Santiago learns to be more

For instance, he compares Santiago's journey to that of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, which symbolizes the transformative power of pursuing one's personal legend. Through this metaphor, Coelho conveys the idea that the pursuit of one's personal legend is not only a journey of self-discovery but also a process of transformation. Finally, Coelho's use of allegory is perhaps the most effective way in which he conveys the central idea of The Alchemist. The book is full of allegories, such as the alchemist himself, who represents the wise mentor who guides Santiago on his journey, and the desert, which represents the trials and tribulations that Santiago must overcome in order to achieve his personal legend.

When Beatrice gaines her composer and returns to the room this also relates to Santiago’s story, because in Santiago’s story he also gets a burst of confidence, similar to Beatrice’s. “But the stones had told him that the old man was still with him, and that made him feel more confident” (Coelho 41). Beatrice left her ventures and traveled into the unknown, and no longer had to endure the bullying that had gone on the past two years. “This wasn’t a strange place, it was a new one” (Coelho 41). This is the moment when Santiago is in the unknown, but is calm.

This story begins in New York City and with a girl named Mia Jones. RIght now it’s January 2nd, 2018. Mia is 15 years old and a dancer. Her parents names are Isabel and Adam Jones. Her parents have their own business.

I am sorry I have not written in so long, but I have much to tell you. The money I’ve earned is enough to join a caravan headed for Egypt, so I joined them. There is a man I call The Englishman, who I met while we were travelling. He likes to read, just like me, and he is pursuing his Personal Legend. The dream he has is to learn from a man that can turn lead into gold, The Alchemist, who is said to be in The Oasis.

Treasures Aren’t Always What They Seem A common theme that is shared by the novel The Alchemist and the news article titled “Einstein’s theory and ‘bend light’ reveal a way to weigh stars for first time” has the concept that expected treasures aren’t always what they are seemed to be. In the novel The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho HarperCollins) a boy shepherd named Santiago calls for a treasure hidden in Egyptian Pyramids. The idea of the treasure spread more as more people kept speaking of it. Determined, the boy crossed his land in search of this ‘treasure’.

Santiago is a shepherd in the moving slopes of Andalucía. He cherishes his rush, yet can't resist the urge to see the restricted idea of their reality. Looking for just sustenance and water, they never lift their heads to respect the green slopes or the night falls. Santiago's folks have constantly battled for the nuts and bolts of life, and have covered their own particular aspirations as needs be. They live in delightful Andalucía, which pulls in voyagers to its curious towns and moving slopes, however for them it is no place of dreams.