No matter how different two people are from each other, they will always have something in common: they both have a dream that they want to follow. In Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Alchemist, this dream is known as a personal legend. The protagonist, Santiago, is a shepherd in Spain who has two dreams about finding treasure in Egypt. He realizes that finding this treasure is his personal legend, so he decides to pursue it. While on the journey to find his treasure, Santiago learns to never quit and to speak the Universal Language. One of the most important lessons Santiago learns on his journey is to never quit. At the very beginning of his endeavor, Santiago faces a major obstacle, the language barrier. The narrator says, “…he had forgotten a …show more content…
When Santiago first arrives in Africa, he cannot speak Arabic. One morning, he runs across a boy setting up a shop and offers to help. The narrator says, “When [Santiago] had gone only a short distance, he realized that, while they were erecting the stall, one of them had spoken Arabic and the other Spanish. And they had understood each other perfectly well” (pg.43). Santiago thought, “There must be a language that doesn’t depend on words” (pg.43). This is the moment when Santiago first discovers the Universal Language. Santiago becomes more understanding of the Universal Language as he continues on his journey. He says, “I have watched the caravan as it crossed the desert…The caravan and the desert speak the same language” (pg.79). This evidently shows how Santiago is able to recognize what the Universal Language is, and how it works. Later in the novel, Santiago uses his knowledge of this language to help turn himself into the wind, saving his life. He asks the wind, “Just teach me to be the wind for a few moments” (pg.147). After speaking to both the desert and the wind, Santiago completely understands the Universal Language. Learning the Universal Language along his journey was very important to Santiago, because it ended up saving his
Santiago changes in many ways. He changes from worrying about the future, to not worrying. He learns that
What makes a hero be a hero? A hero has to have certain characteristics, such as; bravery, wisdom, etc. No matter what characteristics are pointed out, every story has a hero, or an archetypal hero. From a short stories to really long novels, you will have some type of hero. In the novel The Alchemist, the main character Santiago is a hero. The book is about how everyone should live their dreams and never give up on them. It follows a young man named Santiago who is following his own dream, or his own “Personal Legend”. It follows him and his struggles to achieve said Personal Legend. Santiago is a hero because he is wise, kind, and brave; He is also a hero because he displays characteristics of an archetypal hero..
In The Alchemist, Santiago goes on a journey to find his personal legend and learns to understand women and the world. Santiago is a shepherd who transforms into a wise individual. He encounters many symbols and faces them to reach his personal legend. Three ways he changes are by meeting the Englishman, the crystal shop owner, and the Urium and Thummin.
Santiago’s growth was inspiring to me. He has learned a great deal from action. He learns quite a lot about the land and his sheep by being a shepherd and paying attention to the world around him. His grandfather had mentioned to him a while back of an omen. “By traveling, watching and paying attention, the world will speak to Santiago to help him find is Personal Legend.” Through action, Santiago learns how easy it is to search for one’s Personal Legend. Everyone has their own way of learning things. For example when Santiago decides to try reading the Englishman’s book and he would try and read the signs of the desert. The boy does not learn a thing from the book and the Englishman learns nothing from watching the caravan. Just as Santiago
Some may refer to The Alchemist as a best-selling novel written by Paulo Coelho which explains the ideas of having a dream, or Personal Legend, and going through obstacles to conquer it. The book starts off like any other, introducing and describing the main characters, in this case Santiago is the first to share the interest of peers reading the story. He is said to be a small town shepherd boy who will do anything for his flock of sheep. In the opening scene of the story, Santiago takes his flock to an abandoned church and lies down under a sycamore tree hoping to get some rest. He is soon woken up from a disturbing dream which foreshadows further into the story of his own Personal Legend. Later in the book, Santiago is faced with multiple tests to be successful in finding his treasure. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure” (Coelho 15). Paulo continues to add characters in the book that help Santiago throughout his journey.
In my opinion Santiago, a shepherd boy from Andalusian town, changed the most in this novel. In the beginning of the story he was scared to trust in himself and follow his dreams. Santiago goes to the extent of searching for help from a gypsy. She tells him his meaning of his own dream and instead of trusting her he seeks another opinion. He goes on a journey across the Sahara to reach the Alchemist. When he asked The Alchemist how to turn himself into wind and he doesn’t get step by step instructions he is forced to trust his own judgement and intuition and believe in himself to figure it out. At the end of the story, he encounters a robber who talks to Santiago about his dream and why he would go on a journey across the Sahara. Santiago realizes
Have you ever spent years of your life hoping to achieve a personal dream? Or did you have to give it up because it was “unrealistic”? In The Alchemist, a novel by Paulo Coelho, the protagonist is a shepherd named Santiago and he dreams of finding treasure and will do anything to find it. Santiago embarks on a new journey and travels to Egypt, and he meets characters like the Gypsy, the King of Salem, and the Alchemist. They all push him to follow his personal legend.
She actually hindered Santiago from following his dream. “So the boy was disappointed; he decided that he would never again believe in dreams.” (pg 21—-Electronic version). The last person I want to mention is Melchizedek because in a way, he was Santiago’s enemy, but he also helped him. While traveling, Santiago runs into an old man claiming to be the “King of
When Santiago first meets the Englishman he explains to Santiago that he is looking for a very powerful alchemist. Santiago too is in search for something, treasure. As they travel together and talk more to each other they share their knowledge of the world, and the Language of said world. Both the Englishman and Santiago complete a little bit of their Personal Legends through this encounter, but their legends are much more akin than the two realize.
How do you find yourself? Santiago goes on a journey of self discovery, growing and tempering his soul into a fine blade of wisdom. Santiago grows from reflecting upon his past, expanding his view of the world and obtaining a new profound sense of determination. Santiago’s journey allows him to understand the world and transforms him into the man he seeks to become. Santiago's mentality and self determination grow tremendously throughout the story, with him being truly tested when the “friendly” local steals his money, leaving him confused and broke in an unfamiliar land.
Santiago, a shepherd boy, changes his perspective during a life-changing journey. He travels across a desert in search of his treasure. When Santiago finally reaches the end after a long journey through the desert, he describes this perfect oasis. Coelho uses imagery to depict this vibrant and upbeat setting
The ability to communicate with other people, even though you do not speak the same language. On page 92, Santiago starts to understand the language of the world, "...he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke - the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love." Santiago's journey, everything, and everyone helped him learn the language of the world. Later, we see Santiago talking to the sun and wind. Santiago learns that to speak the language, he needs to speak from within his heart. On pages 144-153, Santiago has a conversation with the desert, the wind, and the sun. The wind asked Santiago, "'Who taught you to speak the language of the desert and the wind?' 'My heart'", responded Santiago. Because of Santiago's journey, he learned the language of the
In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist the idea of when you want something all the universe conspires to help you achieve it can be used to describe Santiago’s journey in Tangier. The King of Salem Melchizedek tells Santiago that on page 24. This idea can clearly be seen all throughout the book. For example when Santiago is thinking to himself about the journey he has had so far he states “Tangier was no longer a strange city, and he felt that just as as he had conquered this place, he could conquer the world” (64). When he says this he is reminiscing about all of the things he has gone through and how he has overcome all of it.
The alchemist is a well written book that accurately describes every concept about life and explains it through a story. The Alchemist is a book about a shepherd named Santiago, who discovers his personal legend and receives help from others to help achieve his Personal Legend and learns many major life lessons along the way. Santiago gets advice that when life puts him down, keep getting back up and to focus on the task at hand, which is Santiago’s own personal legend. Along the the journey, Santiago receives help from many different characters but only three characters who helped him the most throughout his quest for his Personal legend is the alchemist, the Old King and the Englishman. The best advice a reader is able to gain from this story is the advice the the Old King taught Santiago, which is” there is only one thing that makes achieving a dream impossible to achieve, the fear of failure” which means is to never be afraid of failures and to follow your own path God has laid out for you because if you are too afraid to pursue your personal legend, meaning if people are too afraid to take risks to make their own life better than it already is now, then they will not have the opportunity to accomplish their own goals. In Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago learns the Soul of the World through experience, patience, time and help from the Old King, the Englishman and the alchemist.
Throughout The Alchemist there were many twists and turns as well as changes to the main character Santiago. He had to adapt to the different ways of life in each place he visited, and had the tenacity to never give up on his journey even when times became tough, i.e. when he was robbed. Santiago started out as a shepherd, happy with how life was, maybe a sense of wanting more; later he encountered a king, gypsies, and others along the way who literally wanted him to follow his dreams because they could change a person’s life. He had to take risks and leave everything he had known behind to follow something he knew little to none about. When Santiago wanted to stay within his boundaries, he was pushed by the people he met which enabled him