You can learn so much from going out and experiencing life and new cultures. The Alchemist is about a young man, Santiago and his journey to find treasure at the pyramids. He meets many new people and learns many new things. In the end he was able to grow in his knowledge of the world because he pursued his Personal Legend. In Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Alchemist he portrays literary devices such as symbolism and imagery to develop the theme that critical knowledge comes from life experiences.
Only the wisest of men are able to understand the simple things in life. This can clearly be shown on the seventeenth page of Coelho’s novel. The first piece of evidence that shows that knowledge is gained through life experience is shown when Santego
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This is exactly what Paulo Coelho is saying on page thirty five of his novel.
Santiago is having trouble parting with the life he has built for himself as a shepherd. The old king thought it most appropriate to tell a parable in order to ease Santiago in his decision to follow his Personal Legend. “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drop of oil on the spoon.”(Coelho 35). What the king was try to tell Santiago was that you can travel the world without parting with what you have built for yourself. This was able to give Santiago some piece with his decision to sell his sheep and set out on something new.
Thirdly, through traveling one is able understand nature and what it is telling them. This idea is shown on page thirty seven of Coelho’s novel. Santiago has been traveling with his sheep for quite a while and is now able to understand what nature is telling him. “He had become used to learning which path he should take by observing the ground and the sky. He had discovered that the presence of a certain bird meant that a snake was near by, and that a certain shrub was a sign that there was water in the area. The sheep had taught him that.” (Coelho 37). What Santiago was saying is that he was able to learn through his travels and that he had gained knowledge through his
This realization about himself and his way of thinking is important to continue on with his journey and creating positivity for himself. As Santiago is on his way out of the market to keep moving on wiht his journey, he meets a candy seller who offers him candy for no
As a result, he became a shepherd. Throughout his journey as a shepherd, he met a Gypsy woman who told him his Personal Legend. To pursue his Personal Legend, he needed money to get to Africa. He decided to sell his flock of sheep to earn money and buy a ticket to Africa. The quote relates to this event as Santiago is sacrificing his only source of income
To begin his long journey, Santiago meets a wise old king name King Melchizedek. He is in a local market when the king walks up and asks Santiago what he is reading. The king continues to say that the book he is reading is important but irritating because it describes the characters inability to choose their own Personal Legend. When Santiago asks where this mysterious stranger is from, King Melchizedek replies with “I am from many places, but I was born in Salem as I am the king there” (Coelho 64). Accepting his statement as true, Santiago continues the conversation allowing them to eventually talk about his dream of the Pyramids. The king wants to help Santiago, but for a price of six sheep. Before leaving with Santiago’s sheep he shares, “’The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon’” (Coelho 32). His message to Santiago reminds him that by following his dream he will witness beautiful sights and people, but that he should always remember the purpose of his travels. Leaving it at that, the king pointed Santiago in the direction to follow his dream.
Santiago leaves his family to become a shepherd, before leaving his dad gives him money he has saved up, Santiago buys sheep with the money. As a shepherd Santiago travels around Spain. As he travels he is in search of food and water for his sheep. During his journeys he gave his sheep names and really connects with them. When he ran out of money, Santiago sold wool from his sheep for
The Alchemist portrays a shepherd boy named Santiago who starts a new life in a foreign country to find the treasure he dreams of. The author demonstrates how the Hero’s Journey Archetypes are used to encourage people to follow their personal legends, so they become stronger and nourish the soul of the world. Santiago went from being a shepherd who longed for the day he would find his treasure, to a strong man who found his treasure and learned the language of the
Every individual’s life is a journey. There are different stages in life that one goes through and by experiencing these different stages of life one becomes wiser. In the novel, Siddhartha and The Alchemist the protagonist Siddhartha and Santiago both go through man different stages in life which made them grow, learn and transform into wiser people. Both protagonists go on a journey which is eventually the same but the purpose of journey is different. Similarly, both protagonist struggles through their journey to become a wiser people. However, the end result for both protagonists was the same which is
The Narrator explains that people can’t always do things they would like to do. In the novel, Santiago runs into dilemmas, but improvised to still continue his
There are many obstacles in everyday life, but none as detrimental to ones future as fear. Fear can cause people to not only avoid achieving their goals in life but it also forces them to think about it throughout every day. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist shows that those who wallow in fear will never achieve their personal legend, and those who conquer fear will achieve anything they strive for. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a commonly analyzed and criticized piece of literature. One of these articles is Rejendra Kumar Dash’s “Alchemy of the Soul: A Comparative Study of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist”. Dash’s article is a literary criticism of the different parts of the character’s journey in The Alchemist.
The Gypsy women tell Santiago to follow his dream and go to Egypt. Santiago, still not confident about going to Egypt, meets a man claiming to be the king of Salam. This man echoes the dream interpreter’s opinion and tells Santiago that it is his personal legend to journey to the pyramids and that he should sell his flock of sheep and set off to Tangier. This man said, “…people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” (23) This shows that you just have to have confidence and you can do what you dream of. Santiago takes the man’s advice and sells his flock of sheep and goes to Tangier.
The Alchemist is a journey of exploration and self-discovery as we follow the main character, Santiago, a young shepherd who lives in Spain, on a journey to fulfill his personal legend. The novel shows us wisdoms and gentle reminders of how to change our lives from what they may be today into the life we have always dreamed of.
Alchemist is already explained in the story as it is the ability to purify your soul, listen to your heart and speak the language of the world. The title is, then, to show us, the readers, that anyone can achieve his/her dream by possessing the characteristics of alchemist as exactly as the shepherd boy, Santiago.
In the first chapter of this book, Lesslie talked about “Faith as the way to Knowledge”. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, having trust in something or someone. On the other hand, Knowledge means facts or information acquired either through a form of education or an experience. “Personal knowledge is impossible without risk” (14). A certain amount of hard work, commitment, struggle or risk must be reached for knowledge to be acquired. Lesslie suggests in this chapter that we walk by faith not by
1)Why does Coelho open with the modified myth of Narcissus? How does the new version differ from the original one? How does it change the myth’s meaning? What might the author be suggesting about how we perceive ourselves and the world?
As Santiago continues to find his Personal Legend, and travel he begins to feel lost without his sheep. Santiago spent his entire life with his sheep, and never had a real home. However, when traveling without his sheep for the first time, it becomes clear that Santiago’s sheep symbolize his home: “When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy” (42). Homes represent a place for comfort and happiness. Santiago spent all his time with his sheep, and never had a single place he called home. Since homes provide a place of happiness and comfort, and so Santiago’s sheep do the same, the sheep symbolize Santiago’s home. Santiago longing his sheep or being in a familiar place explains how his mind is not entirely focused on completing his Personal Legend. Santiago needs to let go of the strings that hold him back from his goals if he wants to continue. As Santiago works with the crystal merchant, these ties to home begin to sever. When Santiago leaves the merchant, he does not say goodbye. Santiago learns to move on without looking back for his own benefit, and strengthens his grasp on the idea
In the epistle of “Demonstrative Knowledge” Aristotle demonstrates that we attain knowledge through the sense of perception of our environment. Our mind goes to an inductive process to register the objects we have observed or experienced through our senses, then in which arises a memory. Demonstrative knowledge is gained through people’s daily experiences attained from sense-perception, which gives a logical argument for the knowledge that is gained.