Preview

Alchemist: Doubt and Perfect Disciple

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
887 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Alchemist: Doubt and Perfect Disciple
Fatima
Meeting Santiago-
When I first met Santiago, there was something about him. I could not explain it then, and I doubt I ever will be able to. His eyes entrapped me, and he looked so gentle and sincere I could not help but smile! The way he looked at me was unlike anything else, it was almost as if he looked into my soul. We understood what the other was thinking without speaking any words. It was what the strange old man, the Alchemist was always talking about, the language of the world.

Santiago Professing His Love- When he told me, I was shocked. So shocked I dropped the water vessel I was carrying. Stupidly, I thought how angry mother would be when she found out I got dirt on our water vase. Even though I knew I loved him from the first day we met, how could he be brave enough to say it aloud? This strange boy who believed in alchemy and Urim and Thummim, and who told me he loved me out of the blue, was everything I had been waiting for. I knew he had to find his treasure, and so I told him I would wait for him, with hope and love.

The Day He Left- The day Santiago left, was possibly the saddest day of my life. While I had told him I would look with hope, and that was true, I also looked with longing and desire. I missed him terribly, and it tortured me not knowing whether he missed me too. I put on a brave face for him, but inside I was reeling from the realization he may not come back. It was awful, and so I did not even bid him farewell on the day of his departure. I was worried I would drop the mask of bravery and independence and beg him to stay, and even worse he probably would.

The Day He Returned- The day Santiago returned is one of the happiest days of my life. I looked to the desert as per usual, but I did not really expect him to be there. A few caravans had passed through before, but each one more disappointing than the last, because none of them came with Santiago. I was beginning to lose hope, and doubting if he would even

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Santiago In The Alchemist

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Santiago had to learn to follow his heart throughout the novel and not listen to his sadness, thus allowing him to go further through the desert by following his heart. “The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now of betraying the other.” This shows us that Santiago has decided…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Santiago has a reoccurring dream of him going to a field and from there being brought to the Egyptian pyramids. When he meets the King of Salem, Melchizedek, Santiago tells him about his dream and the King tells him that going to the pyramids is his Personal Legend. The King also says to Santiago, “To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation” (Coelho 22). To follow his Personal Legend, Santiago must give in order to receive. He must give one sixth of this sheep to the gypsy and also one sixth to the King. Once he has given that, he must sell the rest of his flock to obtain enough money to get to Egypt. Foster says that “The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason” (3) and for this Santiago is not aware that going to Egypt is an actual quest. The King comes to help Santiago realize where he is to go, “You are trying to realize your Personal Legend, and you are at a point where you are about to give it all up” (Coelho 23). Typically when something in life does not go your way, we give up and do not want to continue trying. Santiago starts to feel the urge to give up early on, however he begins to work hard to overcome these feelings “More…

    • 1605 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout life, people will have to make decisions everyday whether it is important or inessential. In this book, Santiago is deciding whether he should follow his “Personal Legend” (what one has always wanted to accomplish), or…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The tale of Santiago Nasar’s final days is weaved together collectively by the memories of the townspeople. The narrator, a nameless protagonist, interviews the inhabitants of his hometown twenty-seven years later, in order to “put the broken mirror of memory back together from so…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ernest Hermingway’s novella, The Old Man and The Sea characterizes Santiago as an old man who is going it alone from struggling against defeat. In the opening paragraph, Santiago has been without fish for 84 days, and will soon pass his own record of 87 days. Almost as a reminder of Santiago’s struggle, the sail of his skiff resembles “the flag of permanent defeat”.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is with such a unique, magical realism story that Gabriel García Márquez is able subtly convey themes involving the foils of mankind to his audience. His story invites the reader to search for those deeper aspects within the text and try applying them to their own lives. Whether they discover that they should strive to be more compassionate, avoid being stereotypically superficial individuals, or do not read anything into the writing, the audience will undoubtedly enjoy Márquez’s superb skills as one of the best storytellers of the twentieth…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The motif of reading is that santiago is reading the world.The alchemist and he believe that the world around them is written words.Santiago even says that “Well, usually I learn more from my sheep than from books,” (5). Santiago also believes than you can learn more from the world than from a book. santiago believes that the world has a language like when he said “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love… the love that speaks the Language of the World.” (126)…

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A loss of identity is evident from the first stanza, where a sense of uncertainty, expressed in the line “Sudden departures…who would be coming next”, permeates the poem. These lines highlight the loss of control and certainty in the migrant’s life, and the fear of the unknown as no warning was given before the departure of fellow migrants. The emotional instability of the migrants is also expressed through the alliterative ‘h’ in “Memories of hunger and hate”, which suggests a heaviness of people’s spirits and hearts, engendered by their memories of the past.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    6."When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you in achieving it"(Pg. 40) Santiago uses these words to help him keep going in his journey for his personal legend. He used what the king had said the whole time he was in search of his personal legend. This line stood out because it gave Santiago hope because he is in search of his personal legend and the quote said when you want something the universe will help in achieving the…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    And one can always come back. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you will find nothing on your return” CITATION Pau1 \l 1033 (Coelho, The Alchemist). Through out the novel Santiago works on becoming pure to reach his personal legend. The spiritual unity that is represented by the Soul of the World binds together all of natures from humans to the most simplest thing desert sand. This idea is can be compared to two things the alchemist purifying the metal into gold and Santiago purifying himself into someone who is able in accomplishing his personal legend. In the novel the soul of the world created an ultimate desire for everyone whether it’s Santiago or a piece of metal. For anything or anyone to accomplish their personal legend they must become part of the Soul of the World which will help you purify yourself and the continuous purifying will lead to perfecting. The parallel examples of humans, metal and all other thing sharing a common goal demonstrates that every element in nature are uniquely different form of a single…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Alchemist Analysis

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages

    His first encounter with the Alchemist shows him that he has been correct to follow the path of his Personal Legend. Although the information taught to him over his travels is confusing to Santiago, he believes it, and changes his thinking understand more of the world. With his understanding of the universal language, of the signs and signals, Santiago evades death. The Alchemist begins meeting with Santiago, teaching him more about the Soul of the World, saying, “The wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Alchemist

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When Santiago debates with himself about whether he wants to pursue his Personal Legend, because he feared losing Fatima, the Alchemist explains to him that his heart needs to understand "that the fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself. And that no heart had suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and eternity" (130). Santiago's journey surely did not bring upon suffering to him; he learned more about alchemy, found his treasure, and still felt love from Fatima. Ultimately following his dreams brought him closer to God; he literally had an "encounter" with Him when he became the wind. I felt the same as Santiago two years ago before I went to teach a vacation bible school on my mission trip to Canada, I was terrified because I had never done anything comparable to it and I did not know what to expect. I always dreamed of sharing my faith with others and when I went on that mission trip I legitimately felt like I was exactly where I should be. I now go on the trip up north for that vacation bible school every summer, every time I feel more blessed and closer to God. Fear haunts everyone, but when we learn to take risks and push the thought of suffering aside we will truly be…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Alchemist

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Finally, the mentors that Santiago met throughout the book were also very crucial to him reaching his…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Alchemist

    • 2063 Words
    • 9 Pages

    This scene provides an idea of the problem (first obstacle) that Santiago will have to overcome through the book. The scene suggest what Santiago have to do in order to find that treasure – not every step, or every aspect of the procedures but a hit of what he should go –Then with this information, the reader realize that Santiago must cross the desert to reach the pyramids, that he must acquire some money to arrive to Egypt. A foreshadowing event not only tells the reader what a character might do to accomplish ‘’that’’, but with what he might struggle and what the character mush overcome.…

    • 2063 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A public spectacle occurs when the performance of the strange autopsy for Santiago Nasar is in the hands of the village priest, who is carless about Santiago’s body, in the novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”. In the story Santiago is killed by the Vicario brothers, Pedro and Pablo. Before Santiago was murdered he was being accused of sleeping with Angela, and taking her virginity. This created a lot of hell and embarrassment for Santiago throughout the town, and caused people to have zero respect for him.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays