The Alchemist Essay

quest is composed of 5 things: a quester, a destination, a stated reason to go, challenges, and the actual reason behind the quest. The actual reason helps make a “quest” or a journey much more meaningful to any literary work as a whole. In The Alchemist, Santiago’s long journey for treasure ends up giving him wisdom and self-knowledge worth more than any gold or treasure. Every quest needs, a “quester”, who is simply just the person who goes on a quest. In this case, that person would be…

The Alchemist is a novel about spiritual growth and is similar to many religions. The story of “The Boy” finding himself is a guide to finding oneself through learning his personal legend, listening to the guidance of others, and finding something to believe in. Through inspirational words and tales and life lessons, Paulo Coelho’s book is very similar to the books of religions. The goal of many religions is to guide people through life. Similarly, The Alchemist has many lessons that tend to be…

In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Santiago is impacted by The Alchemist, the crystal merchant and Melchizedek. All of these people taught Santiago something which let him achieve his personal legend. All of these characters played a vital role in him completing his journey. The first person that Santiago meet on his journey which really taught him something about himself was Melchizedek. When Santiago ,met with Melquisedec, he appeared to be a rich man wearing a golden breastplate but covered…

layman may also think of alchemy as a trial and error process, in which the aspiring alchemist fumbles blindly towards his next success or failure. This is far from the truth. The infancy of alchemy is located in a Greece influenced Egypt ("Alchemists, Ancient and Modern."). Ancient Egypt, Alexandria, had become a cultural hub for commerce, tradesmen, and all manner of people and ideas (Principe 9). The idea of alchemists stumbling toward their next discovery is refuted by the existence of…

What makes a fictitious story appealing? Is it the supernatural element or the didactic tone used throughout the fable? One element of an allegory that the story intriguing is a literary device. According to The Literary Device Network a literary device is “Literary Devices refers to the typical structures used by writers in their works to convey his or her messages in a simple manner to the readers. When employed properly, the different literary devices help readers to appreciate, interpret and…

In the novel, the alchemist, by Paulo coelho, Santiago has many different mentors throughout his journey who help home to keep moving forward in order to succeed in fulfilling his destiny. The old mans wise and humble ways help santiagos journey towards his personal treasure. The old man felt strongly about helping guid Santiago. One of the most important message that the old man gave Santiago was that if he wanted something bad enough he would half to find a way to peruse it. The old man…

“The Alchemist” “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is a quest of a young teenage boy who has a dream of being rich and successful much like Paulo Coelho. Teens all have desires and dreams set out into the world with success in mind. Life can interfere in order to put you in the direction we need to be in. Life is full of obstacles. Paulo Coelho and Santiago both find obstacles that guide them in different directions. Is this divine intervention? Are we just moving on through the path that…

explains to Santiago that he is the Alchemist. The things that Santiago learns from the relationship that they eventually form, show the boy's lack of knowledge on how to attain one's personal legend while also staying true to his dreams. "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night. "Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies, "And that no heart has…

“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” (Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist). In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a shepherd boy named Santiago is on a mission to find his personal legend. In this book, there are two themes that mainly stand out, personal legend and Faith/positive thinking. In The Alchemist, Santiago follows his personal legend. It starts with a dream that keeps recurring every night. This then leads to a curiosity to find out what it means. He…

An important symbol in “The Alchemist” is the desert. The desert symbolizes the hardships and obstacles one must undergo before he can achieve his dreams and ultimately his destiny. Santiago had to endure scorching heat, tribal feuds, and barrenness of the desert in order to find his destiny and his true love. Santiago’s willingness to achieve his destiny, emphasizes the importance of being determined and resolute. When Santiago had all his earnings stolen, he did not give up but instead worked…