The Alchemist Analysis
The Alchemist Analysis Paper
The world is a puzzle, and every object, idea, thought, and emotion is a puzzle piece. Without one puzzle piece the puzzle can never be complete, much like allegory. Jonathan Terlaje taken from a source to lecture that allegory is a system in which various items work cohesively to show the “meaning beyond the literal level” (“Alchemist Analysis Notes”; “Fables and Parables: From Symbols to Allegory?”). “Everything in the narrative is a symbol that relates to other symbols within the story” and “can be read either literally or as a symbolic statement about a political, spiritual, or psychological truth”, like The Holy Bible. (“Fables and Parables: From Symbols to Allegory?”). With the comprehension of the system of allegory, one is able to say that Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is allegorical in numerous approaches and alludes to The Holy Bible for spiritual truth. One interpretation of allegory is shown through the Santiago’s dream and jacket, which parallels Joseph’s dream from The Holy Bible, then the conflicts, trials, and perseverance of Santiago’s journey, and lastly, the archetypes of nature, which assisted Santiago to find the Will of God. Similar to Joseph, Santiago’s dream in The Alchemist is interpreted as “the language of God” (Coelho 12). The Lord communicates with Santiago multiple times through Santiago’s dreams and helps Santiago foretell his Personal Legend, which as the woman has interpreted, “‘you must go to the Pyramids in Egypt…There you will find a treasure that will make you a rich man’” (Coelho 14). In the same way, God tells Joseph, through the dreams, about Joseph’s Personal Legend. “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren… And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren” (The Holy Bible, Gen. 37. 5; Gen. 37. 9). Santiago has dreamt about his dream twice, like Joseph, and the dreams are interpreted to show their future. Furthermore, Joseph and Santiago believe in their dream and
The world is a puzzle, and every object, idea, thought, and emotion is a puzzle piece. Without one puzzle piece the puzzle can never be complete, much like allegory. Jonathan Terlaje taken from a source to lecture that allegory is a system in which various items work cohesively to show the “meaning beyond the literal level” (“Alchemist Analysis Notes”; “Fables and Parables: From Symbols to Allegory?”). “Everything in the narrative is a symbol that relates to other symbols within the story” and “can be read either literally or as a symbolic statement about a political, spiritual, or psychological truth”, like The Holy Bible. (“Fables and Parables: From Symbols to Allegory?”). With the comprehension of the system of allegory, one is able to say that Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is allegorical in numerous approaches and alludes to The Holy Bible for spiritual truth. One interpretation of allegory is shown through the Santiago’s dream and jacket, which parallels Joseph’s dream from The Holy Bible, then the conflicts, trials, and perseverance of Santiago’s journey, and lastly, the archetypes of nature, which assisted Santiago to find the Will of God. Similar to Joseph, Santiago’s dream in The Alchemist is interpreted as “the language of God” (Coelho 12). The Lord communicates with Santiago multiple times through Santiago’s dreams and helps Santiago foretell his Personal Legend, which as the woman has interpreted, “‘you must go to the Pyramids in Egypt…There you will find a treasure that will make you a rich man’” (Coelho 14). In the same way, God tells Joseph, through the dreams, about Joseph’s Personal Legend. “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren… And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren” (The Holy Bible, Gen. 37. 5; Gen. 37. 9). Santiago has dreamt about his dream twice, like Joseph, and the dreams are interpreted to show their future. Furthermore, Joseph and Santiago believe in their dream and