The Alchemist Critical Lens Quotes

“There is only one way to learn [...] it’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey” (Coelho 129). This quote explains how, in order to learn something, you have to do it and learn from your mistakes. It also describes the theme of the danger of fear by explaining how fear stops people from accomplishing things and actually trying, leading to them being unable to learn. This theme is seen in many ways, for example, in novels such as The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume. In The Alchemist, the protagonist, Santiago, goes on a journey to follow his dreams and find hidden treasure. He encounters many problems, including having to face his fears. He eventually finds his treasure

The protagonist of the novel, Davey, demonstrates this theme when she expresses her fear that the same thing that happened to her father will happen to her. Davey’s father was murdered in his store located under his family’s home. Davey fears that her father’s killer will come back and expresses this fear when she says, “We live above the store and I listen for footsteps on the outside stairs. I'll have plenty of warning if anyone tries to get up here, I tell myself touching the bread knife that I've hidden under my pillow” (Blume 13). This passage demonstrates Davey’s fear and how she is constantly thinking about her father’s death, which stops her from living the happy life she used to. Later on in the novel, when her fear becomes worse, her mother sends her to see a therapist. Her therapist tells her that she has to let go of her fear and move on, but no matter how many times she is told this, she never can. At the end of the novel, Davey finally begins to make an effort to move on and learns that the only way she can truly get over her fear is by trying. To begin, she discards the clothes she was wearing when she found her father the night he was murdered. After this, she notices that her fears are slowly going away and that eventually, after more effort, she will be able to completely get over them. Along with how the theme of the danger of fear is presented by the protagonist within Blume’s novel, it is also represented in my personal experience of trying to learn the