The Alchemist is a novel about an Andalusian shepherd, who strives to reach his treasure hidden inside the Pyramids. One night, while sleeping among his sheep, Santiago dreams a strange dream about his destiny in the desert. Being emerged by the frequency of the same dream, the boy decides to visit a gypsy woman in order to interpret his deviating dream. The gypsy woman tells him apparently that his destiny will take him to Egypt, where he will find a precious treasure. Santiago sells his flock and begins his challenging journey to the Pyramids, being affected by what the king has told him. In Tangiers, his first stop, he is robbed by a thief and works with a local merchant to make money by taking vast risks. The shepherd joins a caravan travelling through desert to Egypt. Disrupted by the on-going tribal wars, the caravan stops at an oasis where the boy gets to know his love and an alchemist, who understands the boy’s intrinsic ability to identifying omens. The alchemist guides the boy …show more content…
It’s kind of a novel that it is impossible to guess what may happen further. I was really impressed by the alchemist’s quotes about the life and destiny throughout the book.The story explicitly focuses on the concept of life and destiny, not alchemy. Paulo Coelho implies with this novel that once you dream something, you have to fight for it until the end. Therefore, he scattered Santiago’s obstacles through the book to depict that challenge is inevitable if someone strongly wants to achieve something. I think the author designed the character, Santiago, to prove that everybody, even a shepherd, could have unique experiences as he aspires and takes actions. Throughout the story, I observed the obstacles that the shepherd goes through to acquire the treasure that is Maktub- means written in Arabic. That’s why the novel taught me: “When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve
The child grabs his hand and takes him to the pyramids of Egypt and tells him about a treasure there. This dream was his call to adventure. He returns home to find treasure, but realizes his true treasure was Fatima. In The Alchemist, the female protagonist is Fatima, the girl he met by the well at the oasis. Even though in the book Santiago doesn’t spend an immense amount of time with Fatima, and the book doesn't tell much about her, she plays a key role in the book and in Santiago’s heart.
Then, he continues to travel to the pyramids and gets directed through the desert where he finds the alchemist and turns himself into the wind. Santiago then returns back to his hometown
For example, after Santiago travels back to Andalusia and digs inside the abandoned church, he finds a chest full of treasure. He thinks about how he was able to reach his treasure and achieve his Personal Legend; “It's true; life really is generous to those who pursue their Personal Legend, the boy thought" (170). Santiago decided to follow his dream and never gave up, even when he was robbed in Tangier. As a result, he met many people, including Fatima, the love of his life, and learned many important lessons from them. Finally, he found his treasure.
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.
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.
Paulo Coehlo’s, The Alchemist, explores the Hero’s Journey through the story of a shepherd, Santiago. Throughout the novel, Santiago becomes more aware of his potential as he pursues his Personal Legend. He faces temptations and obstacles as he develops as a character. The hero crosses the threshold when they leave their old reality in search for a new one. Santiago crosses the threshold by selling his sheep and taking a boat to Africa.
From A Young Boy To A Mature Man Paulo Coelho’s novel “The Alchemist,” is about a boy named Santiago and his journey to find lost treasure. Along his journey, the young boy comes across mentors, falls in love with a girl named Fatima, and most importantly throughout his journey, he evolves into a mature and wiser individual as the story goes on, but how does he reach his full potential? This essay will argue and break down the steps taken throughout the novel for Santiago to be able to evolve from a young boy into a mature adult while presenting the theme of growth. This is proven by Santiago showing his determination to follow his dreams despite what others think while showing great decision-making skills, and making the world a better place
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.
“When men are at war with one another, the Soul of the World can hear the screams of battle. No one fails to suffer the consequences of everything under the sun.” (140) He had to face his fears in order to get to the pyramids. If he didn’t face any barriers, then Santiago would have never completed his Personal Legend, things can’t always be easy, there will be challenges in life which make you better, just like they made Santiago.
However, through disregarding everything but his dream, Santiago understands his real potential. In this way, he inserts to the Soul of the World. With this under consideration, many questions can be brought up. What is the attitude of The Alchemist towards material wealth and individualism, and how does this relate to significant religions? Unlike various religions, The Alchemist does not differentiate between the material and the spiritual world.
During the whole story Santiago is trying to find his personal legend, he is trying to find his purpose in life. Therefore in the Alchemist, the most important thing is personal legend. Everything is based off Santiago’s personal legend, if he wouldn’t of became a shepherd the book wouldn’t be all about him following his personal legend and trying to figure out what his was. Santiago has to figure out a bunch of new things that lend his to his personal
Santiago is a young boy who yearns for adventure and purpose in his life.from a young age he knows he wants to see the world and becomes a shepherd to experience new places. Santiago still struggles to find meaning and purpose throughout his many years of travel though. It's not until he goes on the journey to follow his personal legend that he truly develops as a character. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, challenges readers to acknowledge their self-worth and realize they are strongest when they love themselves.