Juxtaposition In The Alchemist

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 analyze a literary work. Below is a list of literary devices with detailed definition and examples” (www.literarydevices.net). In simpler words, a literary device is an embellished style of writing that some writers may use to display his or her message …show more content…
The Meriam-Webster Dictionary defines juxtaposition as “the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side” (http://www.merriam-webster.com). In simpler terms juxtaposition is two or more people that are different in many ways. The first two characters who juxtapose one another is Santiago and the crystal merchant. After Santiago gets robbed he finds a crystal merchant to work for, so he can save some money up and go back to Andalusia and become and shepherd again. Santiago and the crystal merchant juxtapose one another in many ways one way is that Santiago is a Westerner while the merchant is an African, another Santiago speaks Spanish while the merchant speaks Arabic. The biggest difference between the two of them is that the crystal merchant gave up on his personal legend, to go see Mecca, while Santiago decides to follow his personal legend of finding his treasure in Egypt. The reader can see this difference when the crystal merchant says “I thought that someday I’d be rich and could go to Mecca. I began to make some money, but I could never bring myself to leave someone in charge of the shop” (56). This is a form of juxtaposition because even though the crystal merchant was hoping to fulfil his personal legend he never did, but Santiago does later on fulfil his personal legend of finding his treasure. The second form of juxtaposition is between Santiago and his foil character, the Englishman. Santiago first meets the Englishman on the caravan trip on his way to Egypt. The Englishman was also trying to figure out and find his personal legend. While Santiago is outgoing and friendly, the Englishman is closed in and introverted. The reader can see when Santiago and the Englishman finally start to communicate and are on the caravan to Egypt. Santiago says “You should pay more attention to the caravan” (80) and