The concept of the “personal legend” is not a new one. It has been been bouncing around the collective human psyche, in one form or another, almost as long as human themselves have existed. It is the notion of destiny- of a person’s one true dream, passion, purpose or goal, the thing that provides a definitive pathway through what may otherwise seem a meandering and formless existence. In the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago concludes that life is generous to those who pursue their personal legends. But is that really so? It seems to be a much more black and white concept when painted within the neat parameters that comprise Santiago’s inspiring journey, but when yanked out of that plotline and applied elsewhere, things don’t appear
…show more content…
A fellow desert traveler and student of the language of omens, the Englishman and Santiago seem to have quite similar goals and experiences to unite them. In fact, they coincidentally both need to find the Alchemist in order to achieve their respective personal legends. However, while Santiago does go on to locate the Alchemist and achieve his goal of finding the treasure, the Englishman seems to be cast aside in the thick of things. He needs to find the alchemist in order to complete his study of alchemy and understand how to turn metal into gold, but while Santiago goes galloping into the desert with the Alchemist to fulfil his dreams, the Englishman remains stuck at the oasis and is never heard from again for the duration of the novel. Going by the logic of the King of Jerusalem, this shouldn’t have happened. If life is so kind to those pursuing their personal legends, then why is he left struggling in the dark while Santiago is victorious? And by all accounts, with his multitude of books, persistent …show more content…
In fact, it is more than arguable that life shows even less kindness to real people than those existing between the well-worn covers of books. After all, The Alchemist (or most novels for that matter) wouldn’t be much of a story if our protagonist Santiago ended up dying in the desert rather than finding his treasure. Life, however, has no such responsibilities to provide a warm and fuzzy resolution to people’s crusades, and a cursory glance at the outside world is more than enough to dispel this notion. There are millions of individuals out there in possession of that fragile and yet powerful human construction so called a “dream”. It is the thing for which they work tirelessly towards, using their every available resource to bring it to fruition. And yet, if life is supposed to be kind to these people, why are there millions of dissatisfied and downtrodden dreamers who never come close achieving their goals? The world is littered with bitter adults who are stuck in jobs they hate, struggling to make enough to survive, or barely surviving at all. According to a recent survey by Forbes, 52.3% of people are dissatisfied with their work, only 6% of us achieve our childhood dreams, and unhappy employees outnumber happy employees two to one. The homeless people one can see huddled in scruffed-up
A fellow desert traveler and student of the language of omens, the Englishman and Santiago seem to have quite similar goals and experiences to unite them. In fact, they coincidentally both need to find the Alchemist in order to achieve their respective personal legends. However, while Santiago does go on to locate the Alchemist and achieve his goal of finding the treasure, the Englishman seems to be cast aside in the thick of things. He needs to find the alchemist in order to complete his study of alchemy and understand how to turn metal into gold, but while Santiago goes galloping into the desert with the Alchemist to fulfil his dreams, the Englishman remains stuck at the oasis and is never heard from again for the duration of the novel. Going by the logic of the King of Jerusalem, this shouldn’t have happened. If life is so kind to those pursuing their personal legends, then why is he left struggling in the dark while Santiago is victorious? And by all accounts, with his multitude of books, persistent …show more content…
In fact, it is more than arguable that life shows even less kindness to real people than those existing between the well-worn covers of books. After all, The Alchemist (or most novels for that matter) wouldn’t be much of a story if our protagonist Santiago ended up dying in the desert rather than finding his treasure. Life, however, has no such responsibilities to provide a warm and fuzzy resolution to people’s crusades, and a cursory glance at the outside world is more than enough to dispel this notion. There are millions of individuals out there in possession of that fragile and yet powerful human construction so called a “dream”. It is the thing for which they work tirelessly towards, using their every available resource to bring it to fruition. And yet, if life is supposed to be kind to these people, why are there millions of dissatisfied and downtrodden dreamers who never come close achieving their goals? The world is littered with bitter adults who are stuck in jobs they hate, struggling to make enough to survive, or barely surviving at all. According to a recent survey by Forbes, 52.3% of people are dissatisfied with their work, only 6% of us achieve our childhood dreams, and unhappy employees outnumber happy employees two to one. The homeless people one can see huddled in scruffed-up