Christopher Thaphorn Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Trobaugh English 2 26 January 2023 Hero’s Journey in The Alchemist What does a person have to go through to become a hero? In Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey he describes the path a person has to take to become a hero. The hero’s journey is used in many different stories. It describes a circular path a person has to take to become a hero like meeting a mentor,being trapped, and the road back. In The Alchemist a shepherd named Santiago goes through this journey to find his treasure. In the book The Alchemist, Santiago obtains his personal legend by completing the steps of the hero’s journey. In the beginning of The Alchemist, Santiago gets a call to action but refuses and he gets tested. Santiago gets a call to action via his dreams. He goes to see a dream interpreter but it does not help. Santiago then gives up and refuses to go to Egypt for his treasure. The dream interpreter does not give Santiago …show more content…
Santiago gets trapped because if he does not turn himself into the wind by the deadline he will be killed. Santiago’s mentor, the Alchemist, knows how to turn into the wind but would not tell him. Santiago loses his source of guidance and has to figure it out himself. Another part of the hero’s journey in The Alchemist is when Santiago learns his treasure is back where he started. Santiago makes his way back to Spain to collect his treasure. After he obtains the treasure, he decides to head back to Africa for Fatima as a master of both worlds. In the church under the sycamore where it all began “The boy smiled, and continued digging. Half an hour later, his shovel hit something solid. An hour later, he had before him a chest of Spanish gold coins… ‘I'm coming, Fatima’ he said” (Coelho 170-171). Santiago returns to where he started because the hero’s journey is a circle. He digs for his treasure and finds it. As a master of both worlds Santiago decides to return to Africa with his treasure to find
In the book, Santiago’s falls in love at first sight with her. He is absolutely star struck when he sees her. “At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still... It was love”Alchemist(page). She almost stops Santiago from finding his treasure because he would rather stay with her in the oasis, but she urges him to go to Egypt because she believes that if it’s meant to be he will return to her, thus inspiring him even further.
The Alchemist Santiago has many mentors along the way during his journey. He had the alchemist, the crystal merchant, and his own sheep. The alchemist helped Santiago turn himself into the wind. Turning Santiago into the wind saved his life, he was being held captive and when he turned into the wind he was able to escape from the people holding him captive.
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.
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.
Santiago's temptation is when he has the choice whether or not to stay with Fatima and abandon his Personal Legend. After leaving Fatima he has a difficult time coping with the separation, even if Fatima is a woman of the desert, who knows he will return. The Alchemist offers him a sole piece of advice, “love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend.” (120) Santiago’s heart is aching for the loving arms of Fatima. He realizes that he needs to focus on what he needs, pursuing his Personal Legend and not what he desires to be with Fatima.
The lessons he learns from the Alchemist are significant since he obtains the knowledge on how to achieve his Personal Legend and how to accept/embrace failure with open arms. “Wherever your heart is, that’s where you’ll find your treasure” (132). Santiago learns that everything in the universe has a mutual dependance with each other. If he follows his heart, his heart will lead him to his treasure. If he looks at the bigger picture, recognizes the omens and follows his undying love for Fatima, he will succeed in finding his treasure near the pyramids.
In return, I need money to get to Egypt tomorrow.’” (Coelho, 49-50) This shows Santiago's resourcefulness and determination to achieve the goal of reaching
Santiago then tells the alchemist: “My heart is a traitor. It doesn’t want me to go on.” The alchemist replied with a smart answer and said “That makes sense. Naturally, it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.” A fear of uncertainty is what Santiago is feeling and he worries he’ll lose everything he’s accomplished so far.
Her treasure to him was spirituality, not money. He now had a purpose in life after finding his treasure. He started to worry about less of the material treasure and more of his surroundings, like taking a scenic route through life. The story’s ending came when Santiago got to the pyramids.
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
Santiago had the same dream underneath the tree of finding treasure at the Pyramids of Egypt, he travels a long journey and finally arrives. When Santiago diggs for the treasure two men approach him and beat him sharing that they too had a dream of finding treasure in an abandoned building under a sycamore tree. Santiago then fled back to Spain and returned to where it all began only to discover that all along the treasure was beneath the tree. Santiago had the same dream underneath the tree, finding treasure at the Pyramids of Egypt, he travels a long journey and finally arrives. When Santiago diggs for the treasure two men approach him and beat
The Alchemist Literary Analysis How does one become successful in life? We all have a goal that we want to achieve but some of us never do. It’s probably because we aren’t ready to take the next step. Paulo Coelho’s book The Alchemist tells a story of success and explains the rules of life to be successful. He lets us view how 2 characters in the story, Santiago and the Englishman are on a journey to reach their goals.
Fatima was more important than his treasure” (95). Santiago is willing to drop everything
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
But there were two people who were smiling: the alchemist, because he had found his perfect disciple, and the chief, because that disciple had understood the glory of God.” (Coelho 158). Reaching the Pyramids was his goal and once he finds that the treasure wasn’t there he is triumphant because he knows the true location and finally achieves reaching the pyramids. Throughout all these events the overarching theme is that Santiago pursuing his Personal Legend brings him joy and that the people around him are affected positively. This connects to the reader as the theme of the book is pursuing what makes one happy will lead to fulfillment and