1. Santiago’s parents wanted their son to become a priest. To them, this was a way to bring pride to a simple family of farmers. They worked hard for the boy’s well being and he received a great education. Unfortunately, Santiago’s pursuit in life was to travel.
You’ve seen it everywhere; books, movies, t.v shows, they all have got it. But what exactly for all intents and purposes is “it”? “It” is the Elements of the Archetypal Hero. This concept was actually theorized by Joseph Campbell. From older classics such as The Odyssey written by Homer and newer classics such as George Lucas’s Star Wars: A New Hope, these elements can be seen being portrayed.
In the novel “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho there is a young shepherd named Santiago who is in search for his personal legend. Santiago’s personal legend is to find the treasure at the pyramids. Throughout his journey, there are a lot of emotions especially the emotion fear. Santiago encountered a lot of challenges like crossing the desert, being in a war and turning himself into the wind. He learned the different levels of fear; fearing fear, being in fear, and overcoming fear.
In The Alchemist, Santiago’s wisdom gives him credible ethos. Santiago, is a boy that has been a shepherd for two years. He had one job, and it was to take care of the sheep. The only thing that the concerned the sheeps were food and water. As long as long as he knew the best pastures of Andalusian, they would stay with him.
During his journey, Santiago receives knowledge that he treasures and uses on his behalf when he hopes to achieve his personal legend. During his time with the Crystal merchant Santiago learned the five sacred obligations of all Muslims, and he learned that the Pyramids were not nearly as close as he thought when he arrived in Africa. During his time with the Alchemist he learned how to find life in the desert, and how to
A mentor is someone who guides others in the right direction of their Personal Legend, and when looked at in the novel, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, meeting with the mentor is the most important stage in Santiago's quest. Without the encouraging push given by the mentor, Melchizedek, Santiago, would have never embarked on his life-changing journey in the first place. He questions the faith in himself and almost throws away the idea of his Personal Legend. The old king comes to the rescue and convinces Santiago that he needs to take control of his own destiny. He tells Santiago about “the world’s greatest lie” and that it’s a false statement “that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become
During the whole story Santiago is trying to find his personal legend, he is trying to find his purpose in life. Therefore in the Alchemist, the most important thing is personal legend. Everything is based off Santiago’s personal legend, if he wouldn’t of became a shepherd the book wouldn’t be all about him following his personal legend and trying to figure out what his was. Santiago has to figure out a bunch of new things that lend his to his personal
All of these people and objects helped guide Santiago through his journey to get to the pyramids. When Santiago first meets the King of Salem, he is inspiring Santiago to pursue his personal legend. The King says, “In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow.
Santiago is a young boy who yearns for adventure and purpose in his life.from a young age he knows he wants to see the world and becomes a shepherd to experience new places. Santiago still struggles to find meaning and purpose throughout his many years of travel though. It's not until he goes on the journey to follow his personal legend that he truly develops as a character. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, challenges readers to acknowledge their self-worth and realize they are strongest when they love themselves.
Before finding his treasure, he must be courageous and clever to survive the desert and the danger that he encounters. This courage enables him to reach the treasure and fulfill his Personal Legend. The determination Santiago exhibits is what allows him to earn his fortune and decide his
Santiago has met with various obstacles along his journey and through these challenges he has made companions the Alchemist being one of them. Santiago was accompanied by the Alchemist along his journey and here is where he learnt the most lessons about his goal, language of the universe, and his heart. The meeting of this “goddess" helps the hero on their journey to overcome certain obstacles and points the hero in the right direction and in Santiago’s case the Alchemist even taught him how to become wind. Santiago also meets with the Oracle of the caravan to which Santiago explains his visions to and in meeting this “goddess" the hero continues to peruse their
The first half of The Alchemist shared how Santiago came to realize his personal legend and what his plan to pursue it was. When he first recognized he was having a recurrent dream he went to the Gypsy Woman and needed help. When he went and briefly told her why he was there she replied and said, "You came so that you could learn about your dreams,"…"And dreams are the language of
In the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago discovers his personal legend in a recurring dream, where a little boy shows treasures in Egypt and pursues him to go to the pyramids and look for them. Even though Santiago knows that this will be a tough journey since the beginning of his trip, he insisted in following his dream by overcoming test after test in the journey. Using specific demonstration of the helpers throughout the trip, Coelho successfully exemplifies that following one’s Personal Legend can lead to discovering new aspects about oneself and life. To start Santiago’s journey, he meets a wise old king of Salem named Melchizedek as one of the enlighteners and helpers who strengthens Santiago’s belief on following his dream.
The mentor ‘The Alchemist” helps Santiago connect to the soul of the world and teaches his how to communicate and read the world around his heart. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’’(40). Santiago's has difficulty when obtaining different challenges through the villages and has been thought that personal legends would mostly listen to their heart if he really wants to have the treasure in his hands. In this stage it showed how Santiago was effected from choosing a harder goal but working to obtain
Very early in the novel, the boy has an encounter with a Gypsy woman who he would like to interpret a dream for him. Given the history of Gypsies kidnapping children, the boy is quite frightened to be in her room. However, he considered the fact that “she had the Sacred Heart of Jesus…trying to reassure himself” (Coelho, 12). An interesting point to highlight is that a symbol of a divine entity was found in the same place where Santiago was directed to his treasure. This might have been a key hint that the boy would set forth on a spiritual quest.
