1. The novel begins with Santiago deciding to spend the night with his flock in an abandoned church. The church has no roof and an enormous sycamore tree has grown up where the sacristy once stood. It is important that he dreams of a child who tells him of treasure in this particular setting because finding the treasure is his personal legend. According to Coelho one’s personal legend or personal calling is, “God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we are doing something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend” (vi). The sycamore tree growing where the alter once stood connects religion and nature and shows that Santiago also connects to nature. Having the dream in an abandoned
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When Santiago begins his trek across the desert, he meets an Englishman who is a student of alchemy. In many ways, they are alike: both are pursuing their Personal Legends and both have encountered the ideas of alchemy. However, their approach to life and learning is different and the alchemist chooses the boy as his pupil. One way they are different is because, “It was only the Englishman who was unaware of all this; he was, for the most part, immersed in reading his books” (75). The Englishman is like the boy in Melchizedek’s story; he does not remain alert and watch every detail of the surrounding world like Santiago. Santiago is very simple but the Englishman is very open-minded and complex. The Englishman learns from books but Santiago learns from the world around him. Santiago is very patient in his quest but the Englishman is very impatient. Before the alchemist can teach and guide the Englishman, he must learn to understand the …show more content…
The Englishman tells Santiago that he would like to write, “a huge encyclopedia just about the words of luck and coincidence. It’s with those words that the universal language is written” (70). The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung coined the term “synchronicity” to describe such moments of meaningful coincidence. An example of when Santiago experiences this kind of synchronicity is when a thief takes his money is and he finds the crystal merchant. He finds this opportunity for work in the same town right after he loses his possessions. This experience reveals much about Santiago’s destiny because before he left the crystal merchant he was going to go back to being a shepherd. After a year with the merchant, he continues on his path toward the treasure. Another example of synchronicity is when Santiago meets Fatima. On his trek Santiago meets a girl and, “What the boy felt at this moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing” (93). This is synchronicity for two reasons. The first reason is because he meets the love of his life in a desert oasis, on a journey for treasure and finds his ultimate treasure. The second way this is synchronicity is that her name is Fatima, which means
When Santiago begins his trek across the desert, he meets an Englishman who is a student of alchemy. In many ways, they are alike: both are pursuing their Personal Legends and both have encountered the ideas of alchemy. However, their approach to life and learning is different and the alchemist chooses the boy as his pupil. One way they are different is because, “It was only the Englishman who was unaware of all this; he was, for the most part, immersed in reading his books” (75). The Englishman is like the boy in Melchizedek’s story; he does not remain alert and watch every detail of the surrounding world like Santiago. Santiago is very simple but the Englishman is very open-minded and complex. The Englishman learns from books but Santiago learns from the world around him. Santiago is very patient in his quest but the Englishman is very impatient. Before the alchemist can teach and guide the Englishman, he must learn to understand the …show more content…
The Englishman tells Santiago that he would like to write, “a huge encyclopedia just about the words of luck and coincidence. It’s with those words that the universal language is written” (70). The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung coined the term “synchronicity” to describe such moments of meaningful coincidence. An example of when Santiago experiences this kind of synchronicity is when a thief takes his money is and he finds the crystal merchant. He finds this opportunity for work in the same town right after he loses his possessions. This experience reveals much about Santiago’s destiny because before he left the crystal merchant he was going to go back to being a shepherd. After a year with the merchant, he continues on his path toward the treasure. Another example of synchronicity is when Santiago meets Fatima. On his trek Santiago meets a girl and, “What the boy felt at this moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing” (93). This is synchronicity for two reasons. The first reason is because he meets the love of his life in a desert oasis, on a journey for treasure and finds his ultimate treasure. The second way this is synchronicity is that her name is Fatima, which means