ipl-logo

Motif In The Alchemist

586 Words3 Pages

“The boy’s name was Santiago” (Coelho 3) was the first and last sentence to ever mention the protagonist’s name in The Alchemist. In this novel by Paulo Coelho, the reader follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd named Santiago, to find his Personal Legend. Along the way of his journey he encounters several people that help him in his search of his Personal Legend. These people include a Gypsy woman that interprets his dream, a mysterious old man that calls himself “The King of Salem”, and a 200 year old alchemist. After reading Part One of The Alchemist, the reader can conclude that the motif of it is that you must lose something in order to move forward in life through the author’s use of quotes. For instance, this motif is first demonstrated in the beginning of Part One of The Alchemist. The quote: “But I want one-tenth of the treasure, if you find it” (Coelho 14) supports the motif. In this section, Santiago consults a Gypsy to interpret his dream that has reoccurred for a second time. The dream turned out to be his Personal Legend of finding treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. However, in return for interpreting his dream, the Gypsy demanded a payment of one-tenth of …show more content…

The quote: “Give me one-tenth of your sheep, and I’ll tell you how to find the hidden treasure” (Coelho 20) also supports the motif. In this section, the Santiago speaks to a mysterious old man that knows where to find the Santiago’s Personal Legend. At first Santiago is suspicious of the old man, but changes his mind set when the old man reveals his knowledge about Santiago’s personal life. Santiago reluctantly ponders on his decision on whether to give the old man his sheep or not. In the end, Santiago sacrifices a tenth of his sheep. If he did not sacrifice his sheep, then he would never have found out where his Personal Legend was and never reach

Show More
Related
483 Words | 2 Pages

Symbolism is something that is used very much in literature. Authors use this literary element to tell stories within the story. Motifs are a reoccurring element that has any sort of symbolic significance in a story. A theme in a story is a central concept of the story. Bernard Malamud used all three in his writings.

Read More
914 Words | 4 Pages

In contrast, The Alchemist provides hopeful insights when Santiago goes on a journey and discovers new ideas and hidden treasures. He discovers that playing it safe proves more dangerous to his freedom than taking risks. When placed in a life and death situation, Santiago learns that the Soul of the World is shared by everything. In both of these books, the characters have traumatic experiences that eventually create epiphanies that provide hope and

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

Paulo Coehlo’s, The Alchemist, explores the Hero’s Journey through the story of a shepherd, Santiago. Throughout the novel, Santiago becomes more aware of his potential as he pursues his Personal Legend. He faces temptations and obstacles as he develops as a character. The hero crosses the threshold when they leave their old reality in search for a new one. Santiago crosses the threshold by selling his sheep and taking a boat to Africa.

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

While at the Oasis of Al-Fayoum, the elder chieftain of the oasis tells Santiago the story of Joseph of Egypt. Joseph was enslaved for being a dreamer, but he persevered and managed to become an important counselor to the Pharaoh of Egypt. This Personal Legend could have suited Santiago because of his connection to the Soul of the World. The Soul of the World is a spiritual unity that binds all forms of nature together. Santiago knew he wanted to follow his dreams; it was helpful when he learned that “When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it” because he knew he was now destined to complete his goal, and not somebody else’s (Coelho 64).

Read More
771 Words | 4 Pages

Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago a Shepard whose life changes once he finds out about a treasure from his frequent dreams and meets a strange man who helps him to start his personal legend. On Santiago’s journey he starts to see the hidden meanings behind daily life creating the thesis that through seeing and understanding symbols behind the world people can learn about their own personal legend and live life to the fullest. Santiago’s life starts out all about his sheep, he chose to be a shepherd, so he could travel and meet new people. Santiago’s job is to take care of the sheep, but the sheep have more meaning in the story. The sheep represent how he is comfortable in his life and how he is questioning his frequent dream, to sacrifice his comfortable life to find this treasure or to continue without taking the risk.

Read More
883 Words | 4 Pages

This is illuminated when the Alchemist says, “‘There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure’” (141). This particular moment shows that even though Santiago has both the ability and the knowledge to achieve his dream, it is impossible to attain it if he fears even attempting to reach it. Consequently, this fear acts as his enemy and a barrier that stands in the way of the meaningful and happy life he is destined to accomplish. Furthermore, another one of his fears is the fear of losing what he believes he has already earned. ” He reminded himself that he had been a shepherd and that he could be a shepherd again.

Read More
1552 Words | 7 Pages

1. In the prologue, the alchemist reads a version if the story of the death of Narcissus that has a somewhat different ending from the traditional telling, one that emphasizes the grief of the lake into which Narcissus will no longer be looking at his reflection. In beginning the book with this story, what themes and relationships is Coelho telling us to watch for throughout Santiago’s story? Do you think there may be an element of “narcissism” in the pursuit of one’s personal legend?

Read More
701 Words | 3 Pages

The Alchemist is a famous book written by Paulo Coelho. It’s about a shepherd named Santiago who travels from his homeland Spain to the Pyramids in Egypt. He does this to find a treasure he was told about. Along his hard journey, he meets some people along the way like a gypsy woman and a king in disguise who all direct him towards his quest. He doesn’t let the obstacles stop him toward his goal and eventually he finds his treasure.

Read More
971 Words | 4 Pages

(Coelho 45 5, Coelho 46 4 9) When santiago losses his money he does not give up he learns and finds a man to help in exchange for food and in the end gets a job that he can do while learning the language of the locals, finding a way to egypt and developing his identity. This job allows him to make money and the strength to carry on in his journey. Later on in his journey he is faced even greater adversity and the same thing happens he is dejected and lost but picks himself up and preservers. “ “he is going to transform himself into the wind, just to demonstrate his powers. If he cant we humbly offer our lives for the honor of the tribe.”

Read More
486 Words | 2 Pages

The Crystal Merchant tells the boy that more customers came into the shop since he started working there. The merchant tells him that this is a good omen and Santiago finally starts to that omens factor into his personal legend. Santiago thinks to himself, “People talk a lot about omens, thought the shepherd. But they really don’t know what they’re saying. Just as I hadn’t realized that for so many years I had been speaking a language without words to my sheep” (46).

Read More
407 Words | 2 Pages

Ironic Devices: The author uses situational irony which is foreshadowed . Paulo Coelho begins the novel by introducing the situation, “The boy’s name was Santiago. Dusk was falling as where arrived with his herd at an abandoned church. The roof had fallen in long ago, and and an enormous sycamore had grown on the spot where the sacristy had one stood(Coelho 5). This is situationally ironic because further in the story Santiago returns to this broken place only to discover the treasure was beneath him all along.

Read More
522 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho there is a young shepherd named Santiago who is in search for his personal legend. Santiago’s personal legend is to find the treasure at the pyramids. Throughout his journey, there are a lot of emotions especially the emotion fear. Santiago encountered a lot of challenges like crossing the desert, being in a war and turning himself into the wind. He learned the different levels of fear; fearing fear, being in fear, and overcoming fear.

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

Even Though there was three different people who helped santiago find his personal legend, he had to go find it to fill complete. The king helped him first by explaining what a personal legend is. He tells Santiago about good and bad omens and says that it is the shepherd boy's duty to pursue his Personal Legend. Melchizedek then gives Santiago two stones, Urim and Thummim, with which to

Read More
1002 Words | 5 Pages

In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, there are a myriad of quotations saturated with meaning and wisdom for the reader to feast upon with a mind craving inspiration. Surprisingly, many of these significant lines are shared by the minor characters that are introduced to share their wisdom and beliefs with the boy, Santiago, but rarely advance the plot. Melchizedek, the crystal merchant, the camel driver, and Fatima are all characters that only briefly appear in the plot, but their words play a significant role in the meaning of the novel. In Part 1 of The Alchemist, Santiago meets an old man, claiming to be the King of Salem, named Melchizedek.

Read More
629 Words | 3 Pages

He thought it’s waste of time and money. Later in the novel, the man who beats Santiago does not believe his own dream, but when he describes his dream to Santiago, Santiago recognizes it as an omen telling him where to find the treasure (Coelho 167). Thus, it’s the person loss as he ignored dream. The importance of actual, sleeping dreams parallels the importance of personal, symbolic dreams as embodied by Personal Legends. Thus, dreams require backbreaking work and determination to sacrifice anything to make it come true.

Read More

More about Motif In The Alchemist

Related Topics

Open Document