How can a person find their Personal Legend? How will anyone know what it is? These questions intrigue Santiago, a gaunt shepherd from southern Spain. In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho depicts this boy's search of his Personal Legend or personal calling through his journey to the Pyramids of Egypt. On his search for treasure, he gains riches and great wisdom, which surround him with a serene aura. This novel is a thought-provoking novel that incorporates symbols which transfix the reader with the ideas of life. Three major symbols found in The Alchemist are sheep, the desert, and alchemy.
The first significant symbol, Santiago's sheep, represents the life of a person who is unaware of their Personal Legend. Santiago loves his sheep and cares …show more content…
Along with these symbols, the representation of Santiago, himself pushes the plot along and brings the ideas of life and individual journeys together. The significance of the novel relates back specifically, to Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes as the ideas are splayed across an array of topics. One character, Charles Halloway is similar to Santiago; they both are stuck in the past. When confronting his son, Charles says, "‘I'm a fool. Always looking over your shoulder to see what's coming instead of right at you to see what's here'"(Bradbury 194). Charles and Santiago are held back by fear of what has happened in the past and what will happen, they are constricted internally by holding on, fortunately, they both move on. Another connection can be made from the writings to the writer. Paulo Coelho states, "The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times"(vii). He explains this as being of utmost importance and depicts it in his life and in The Alchemist. When Paulo Coelho was younger, he was so rebellious and rambunctious that his parents committed him to an asylum three times. Paulo, Santiago, and Charles have all taken falls, but they have managed to get up and continue. The Alchemist is a book with deep emotion and thought that connects a reader to the little secrets of
The first significant symbol, Santiago's sheep, represents the life of a person who is unaware of their Personal Legend. Santiago loves his sheep and cares …show more content…
Along with these symbols, the representation of Santiago, himself pushes the plot along and brings the ideas of life and individual journeys together. The significance of the novel relates back specifically, to Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes as the ideas are splayed across an array of topics. One character, Charles Halloway is similar to Santiago; they both are stuck in the past. When confronting his son, Charles says, "‘I'm a fool. Always looking over your shoulder to see what's coming instead of right at you to see what's here'"(Bradbury 194). Charles and Santiago are held back by fear of what has happened in the past and what will happen, they are constricted internally by holding on, fortunately, they both move on. Another connection can be made from the writings to the writer. Paulo Coelho states, "The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times"(vii). He explains this as being of utmost importance and depicts it in his life and in The Alchemist. When Paulo Coelho was younger, he was so rebellious and rambunctious that his parents committed him to an asylum three times. Paulo, Santiago, and Charles have all taken falls, but they have managed to get up and continue. The Alchemist is a book with deep emotion and thought that connects a reader to the little secrets of