The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho portrays a young boy pursuing his Personal Legend. Everyone has a Personal Legend which is what a person has always wanted to accomplish but as time goes on people start to believe that their dreams are impossible. This novel describes the journey that the boy, Santiago, goes on to realize his Personal Legend. Paulo Coelho uses characters such as the miner, the thief, Fatima, and the alchemist to demonstrate the theme that pursuing one’s Personal Legend isn’t about the treasure found at the end, but the journey made and the obstacles that were overcome. In the first half of the novel, the author uses a story about a miner and Santiago’s encounter with a thief to reveal the theme. For example, before Santiago gives …show more content…
The miner was about to give it all up, right at the point when, if he were to examine just one more stone- just one more- he would find his emerald… The miner, with all the anger and frustration of his five fruitless years, picked up a stone and threw it aside. But he had thrown it with such force that it broke the stone it fell upon, and there, embedded in the broken stone was the most beautiful emerald in the world” (26). This story supports the theme because the miner learned to not give up. The miner not only found a precious emerald, but he also had the lessons he had learned along the way one of which the reader knows was to never give up. This emerald was not the end of his journey, it was just the beginning. Furthermore, when Santiago begins his pursuit of his Personal Legend in a land of an unknown language, he meets someone who speaks both his language and the unknown one. While conversing, the translator casually gains possession of Santiago’s money. While shopping, Santiago, “… never took his eye off of his new friend. After all, he had all his money. He thought about asking him to give it back, but decided that it would be unfriendly… Suddenly, there in the mist of all of that confusion, he saw the …show more content…
Namely, the alchemist and Santiago begin to trek across the desert to the Pyramids. Along the way, they are both held up by a military camp and the only way they will get away with their lives is if Santiago turns himself into the wind. He is given three days and minimal advice from the alchemist who can already become the wind. On the third day, Santiago asks the desert to help turn Santiago into the wind. Santiago is referred to the wind by the desert who then refers Santiago to ask the sun for help. Finally, the boy asked the hand that wrote all to help turn himself into the wind. It was then that, “The boy reached through to the Soul of the World, and saw that it was a part of the Soul of God. And he saw that Soul of God was his own soul. And that he, a boy, could perform miracles. The [wind] blew that day as it had never blown before. For generations thereafter, the Arabs recounted the legend of a boy who had turned himself into the wind, almost destroying a military camp, in defiance of the most powerful chief of the desert” (157). Readers can look at the alchemist as Santiago’s mentor because he teaches Santiago how to be an alchemist, how to understand omens, and how to turn himself into the wind. This is great feat that Santiago is able to accomplish, and it was only a part of his expedition. Santiago turning himself into the wind establishes the theme
For example, after some tribesman captured the Alchemist and Santiago, the Alchemist said Santiago is an alchemist and can easily turn into wind and destroy the camp. Santiago talks to the forces of nature including the desert, the wind, the sun, and the hand that wrote all, which leaves two people smiling. "But there were two people smiling: the alchemist, because he had found his perfect disciple, and the chief, because that disciple had understood the glory of God." (157). When the Alchemist tells the tribesmen that Santiago can turn himself into the wind and destroy the camp, Santiago is left with no choice but to do it.
After miles of trekking across the desert for many weeks, Santiago eventually meets the Alchemist. They continue their journey through the desert until one day when three soldiers capture them. The alchemist makes a deal with the soldiers; if Santiago can turn himself into the wind in three days, they will be set free, forcing Santiago to face two more challenges. First, he must quickly learn the Language of the World. To do so, he thoroughly examines himself and the world around him.
Santiago's epiphany leads to him pushing forward and finishing his journey of achieving his ultimate treasure of hope and
In the book “The Alchemist” there is a young boy named Santiago he had a dream about pyramids and a treasure so he sets off the next day and is trying to discover and accomplish his Personal legend which is a big treasure full of coins. Santiago is a very faithful person he sets off into his adventure and with all the obstacles he goes through he never gave up. He is always finding ways to get through his problems and never stops. He even worked extra hard for the merchant so he could get more coins. Towards the end of the story he talks to Fatima and falls in love with her then he promised her he will come back for her.
But first, there was the fear of failure which had to be leaped over: “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve… the fear of failure” (141). This was the Alchemist speaking with Santiago. At the time, he was fearful of failing which was an obstacle to development. Eventually, he grew out of that fear, and overcame it to make it so that “the Arabs recounted the legend of a boy who had turned himself into the wind in defiance of the most powerful chief of the desert” (153). This shows that Santiago, without the fear of failure when he performed the act, achieved a great length to overcome the physical obstacle of being in the camp.
While at the Oasis of Al-Fayoum, the elder chieftain of the oasis tells Santiago the story of Joseph of Egypt. Joseph was enslaved for being a dreamer, but he persevered and managed to become an important counselor to the Pharaoh of Egypt. This Personal Legend could have suited Santiago because of his connection to the Soul of the World. The Soul of the World is a spiritual unity that binds all forms of nature together. Santiago knew he wanted to follow his dreams; it was helpful when he learned that “When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it” because he knew he was now destined to complete his goal, and not somebody else’s (Coelho 64).
Santiago wanted to the fatima to know that he had fallen in love with her and he didn 't want her to forget about him,but she wanted him to know that for years she dreamt of having to have the hope of a loved one coming back home,and that he had to do what every male in the desert did and go find his treasure,and all she did was stay home and hope for him to come home. He came upon so many challenges along the way with the alchemist,and he had the enough knowledge in order to overcome them,but needed a little push. His heart was always with him talking to him about fear but also excitement about traveling to the pyramids,and when they came upon tribesmen santiago never gave to turn himself into the wind which was their only way out. When he got to where he treasure was a refugee man from tribal wars told him that he would live,and that exact same spot he had the same dream two years ago,but that he should have learned that a man wouldn 't be so stupid to cross an entire
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.
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.
(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.”
Here, Santiago realized that everything is connected as it is created by the same hand. Santiago grew because, by once realizing this, he was able to communicate with the wind, desert, and sun, which is also the Soul of the World that saved his life. Another example is when Santiago fell in love with Fatima. “It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travel through endless time…
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, "...
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
On the first day, Santiago witness the realities of war. People die and other replace them, however, he is still torn because he doesn’t know how to transform himself into the wind The second day Santiago climbed to the highest point of the camp and looked out at the desert. He felt fear in his heart and knew the desert felt the same. On the third day, Santiago calls the tribal chief and his officer to a cliff.
During his journey, he meets different people that also know about this so called treasure. However, they first needed to find a man known as an Alchemist. As the boy continued on his search, he later meets up with the alchemist and become friends. As the two journeyed together, the boy learns that he is worthy is finding something known as a “Personal Legend”(The Alchemist). In one stop he meets a beautiful girl named Fatima who happens to be the boy’s love.