Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. As this anonymous quote elucidates, fear acts as a barrier that essentially traps us in our comfort zone, limiting our experiences and holds one back from achieving his or her potential. In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the protagonist must overcome his own fear through obstacles that he comes across as fear diverts one from their purpose. To begin with, Santiago displays his fears throughout the book, and these fears are what hinders him from achieving his Personal Legend. Santiago displays an immense terror of failure. During his travels with the Alchemist, Santiago yearns to turn himself into the wind; however, he hesitates in even trying to do so, saying “‘But I have no idea …show more content…
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. Fatima was more important than his treasure” (95). Santiago is willing to drop everything …show more content…
The boy overcomes his fear of failure when he thinks about Fatima, the woman he loves. Initially unprepared to turn himself into the wind, he tries asking for help from the desert: “‘Somewhere you are holding the person I love,’ the boy said. ‘So I want to return to her, and I need your help so that I can turn myself into the wind’” (144). Love is what overcomes his fear. His desire to return to Fatima is what drives him to succeed. However, the desert is not able to help him, and so Santiago also expresses his love for Fatima to the wind. He wants to be the wind not only to prove to the tribesmen that they were indeed travelers, but to return to Fatima, and to be “able to reach every corner of the world, cross the seas, blow away the sands that cover [his] treasure, and carry the voice of the woman [he] love[s]” (146). He then also tells the wind that, “When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening because everything happens within you, and even men can turn themselves into the wind. As long as the wind helps, of course” (147). Santiago believes that love is what makes you do the impossible, and it is what ultimately drives him to be able to turn himself into the wind. Additionally, he overcomes his
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.
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.
How Santiago overcame: After meeting with the alchemist he learns true love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. So if Fatima and Santiago share true love like he claims, she will be waiting for him to return from the pyramids. How Santiago overcame: After meeting with the alchemist he learns true love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. So if Fatima and Santiago share true love like he claims, she will be waiting for him to return from the pyramids.
Are You Ruled by Fear or Pleasure? “We are born with the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears are imposed by society” -Paulo Coelho. Neil Postman would disagree with this quote and say that we are fascinated with ourselves, technological advancement, and always distracted by social media. However, there’s a bigger force that drives people through today’s society than pleasing yourself with the latest commodities.
While Santiago was on the quest to find his Personal Legend, he began to forge a close relationship with a caravan driver that was taking him to an oasis. The caravan driver did not look like much, but he had proven to be a very wise man that has much wisdom to offer. During their voyage, tribe wars had begun to take place and everyone seemed to be worried about it except for this driver. Santiago had asked why this was so, and the caravan driver had responded that he does not think about the past, and he does not worry about the future. Instead, he only thinks about what is happening right in front of him and that by doing so he had found the key to his happiness.
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 willpower and understanding grows once he leaves with the Alchemist. The Abyss and Rebirth are the points in the Hero Cycle when it is the darkest hour and the hero pushes through it, becoming a new person in whole. In The Alchemist, Santiago’s darkest moment is when he has to turn himself into gold, and he regenerates into this person who is one with God. He “saw that the Soul of God was his own.
Santiago was in fear that there wasn’t a war coming and that he might die. Later in the book Santiago was asked to turn himself into the wind. The Alchemist said “He is going to transform himself into the wind, just to demonstrate his powers. If he can’t do so we humbly offer you our lives, for the honor of your tribe” (Coelho 144)
Santiago realizes that he finally has a place and that he is supposed to be following his Personal
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.
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.
(Coelho 45 5, Coelho 46 4 9) When santiago losses his money he does not give up he learns and finds a man to help in exchange for food and in the end gets a job that he can do while learning the language of the locals, finding a way to egypt and developing his identity. This job allows him to make money and the strength to carry on in his journey. Later on in his journey he is faced even greater adversity and the same thing happens he is dejected and lost but picks himself up and preservers. “ “he is going to transform himself into the wind, just to demonstrate his powers. If he cant we humbly offer our lives for the honor of the tribe.”
When the alchemist presented Santiago with the choice to stay at the oasis, or leave and achieve his personal legend, Santiago struggled to find the correct answer. The alchemist let Santiago know that if he stayed in the oasis, for the first year his marriage would be great and so would his marriage. Over time Santiago and Fatima would drift apart, and he would loose his job. But on the other hand, if he decided to voyage into the desert in seek of finding his personal legend he worried that he might loose Fatima. He thought, "...
In Night, even after Elie’s loss of faith, innocence, and family, he never gives up. In the end, he is drastically changed from his experiences but he has hope in his future because he manages to carry on. Ultimately in The Alchemist, Santiago learns that change is necessary for success and that he must overcome his own fears. In addition, he learns that his heart and soul are just little pieces of the Soul of the World. Both of these books convey the message that hope provides a person the strength and the will to
Manoeuvre 1: Fears ‘Have courage to acknowledge, confront and take ownership of your fear. That way nothing can stop you in life.’ -Megan Choong It’s no secret that most people have a great fear of speaking in public.