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Literary Devices In The Alchemist

Decent Essays

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 …show more content…

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

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