ipl-logo

The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

278 Words2 Pages
In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the idea of discovering your dream, or personal legend, and reaching it are talked about. It is said that if you don't fulfil your personal legend, that you have not lived your life to the fullest. The main character, Santiago, discovers his person legend through an interpreted dream. He goes on a journey to fulfil his life and dream. Along the way he faces many obstacles and meets many people. You should always follow your dreams and you will find yourself and you will do what you are meant to do in life, even if while following your dream, it changes. When Santiago had his recurring dream, he decided he wanted to find out what it meant in his life. He was told to go on this long trip, which sounded ludicrous.
Show More
Related
1224 Words | 5 Pages

The Alchemist says that Santiago will “spend the rest of [his] days knowing that [he] didn’t pursue [his] Personal legend, and that now it’s too late” (120). In this line, the Alchemist encourages Santiago to continue to pursue his Personal Legend, instead of giving it up for what he has now. This also informs Santiago that time is limited. If he chooses to abandon his Personal Legend, he will spend the rest of his days like the crystal merchant, pondering what it would be like to fulfill his Personal Legend. The Alchemist explains that the process of pursuing his Personal Legend is more important than any dream that he wants to fulfill.

Read More
914 Words | 4 Pages

Santiago's epiphany leads to him pushing forward and finishing his journey of achieving his ultimate treasure of hope and

Read More
1206 Words | 5 Pages

During Santiago's journey in The Alchemist, he is told where his treasure is and encouraged to go find it. Many people are telling him to follow his dreams and find his treasure by saying things like, “...people are capable at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of” (Coelho 23). Coelho is saying that people can, at any time, follow their dreams. This is presented through Santiago’s discoveries. The epic hero is just an ordinary boy, which shows that anyone is capable of following their dreams at any time through the lessons a regular person is being taught.

Read More
1819 Words | 8 Pages

Ray Bradbury utilizes his style and prowess to help enforce an almost excess amount of social commentary into his book, Fahrenheit 451. One of the main focuses of Bradbury’s novel is “censorship”, a very apparent issue during his time, and a main influence he used as motivation to write the novel. In Orwell’s handcrafted dystopia, firemen have been required by law to do the opposite of what they truly do in present day: burn books and start fires, rather than put them out. Ray Bradbury has stated himself several times that he loved books, and it makes sense that in a period of chaos, war, and censorship, Bradbury would be compelled to create Fahrenheit 451 in his own head. Bradbury was inspired to write the novel soon after hearing the news

Read More
300 Words | 2 Pages

When Santiago started to travel, he remembered that there was a woman in Tarifa that interpreted dreams. He told the woman that he had a dream where he was “in a field with his sheep, when a child appeared and began to play with the animals”, that the child “transported”

Read More
503 Words | 3 Pages

In the book the Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho) Santiago learns many things along the way to achieving his personal legend. He gained skills and experience in things across the board, from how to clean crystals, to the 5 obligations of Muslims, to the basics of alchemy. Santiago learns from the wise, and educated, but also learns the meaning of a true friendship. Overall it is true that reaching one 's personal legend is life 's greatest treasure, but often the journey is just as valuable.

Read More
532 Words | 3 Pages

Because of the alchemist telling him this, he knows his Personal Legend and continues to work for it. Out of the many challenges people face in life, some still just give up instead of persevering. The Alchemist, however, shows that people should never give up, but instead fight through bad situations to complete their goals. Others may think we are just suffering when we persevere, but “no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity” (Coelho 134).

Read More
511 Words | 3 Pages

He is robbed at the beginning of his journey and must work hard to earn back the money he lost. Then, he is able to travel into the desert, facing more peril along the way. This is where he meets the Alchemist, who tells him, “You must not let up, even after coming so far” (113). The wise man teaches him things unknown to most people. With his instruction, Santiago survives his travels in the desert, even while faced with war and threats of death.

Read More
319 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the 1960s, a series of acts were passed in America to aid minorities in the areas of education, employment, public accommodation, and housing. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin in places of employment and public accommodation. Prior to this act, African Americans were banned or segregated in public areas such as restrooms, restaurants, theaters, and even schools. Segregation in schools had been a major problem since before Brown v. Board of Education in 1957 ruled that segregation was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. This remained an issue in universities around the country when they refused the attendance of African American students until the 1960s when

Read More
1421 Words | 6 Pages

In “The Alchemist”, Santiago, the main character has a dream of finding treasure at the Egyptian pyramids and finds it non coincidental that this dream has occurred twice. In that time period it would mean that his dream was an omen or a sign to make journey to go and find the mysterious treasure. According to scholar Maria Louw, “Dream omens embody peoples’ fears about, hopes for, how their lives may develop” (Louw 1). Santiago was encouraged by a gypsy who interpreted dreams and understood

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
316 Words | 2 Pages

This scene is important because this is when Santiago learns how important it is to believe in his dreams. By him understanding his Personal Legend he now understands why it is he keeps having this dream. Although he was hesitant about taking on the task of finding his treasure, he decides to pursue his dream, because he felt that it was his Personal Legend.

Read More
935 Words | 4 Pages

Santiago has an epiphany when he realizes that if you never change and take risks you will never move forward. He wants to find his “personal legend,” or true desire, and to obtain this he needs to change his own nature. He must be willing to give up whatever is necessary to achieve this goal, including freedom. On Santiago’s journey he becomes employed by a crystal merchant that never achieved his personal legend. The merchant resisted change and never accomplished his dreams.

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

In the story the alchemist it is discovered that there are many different things in life to look forward to. There is also something in the story that is a moral or your life´s destiny called your personal legend. Your personal legend is one of those things in life that some people look up to in the future. Santiago travels the world to pursue his personal legend. Santiago strived to find his personal legend with the help of people he met on the way to find treasure that he is destined to find , just to realize the treasure was where he had fallen asleep in the beginning of the book.

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 The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

Related Topics

Open Document