Please place your first blog entry regarding The Alchemist here:
This weekend--you can write about the following:
1.) The Hero Journey:
If you choose this assignment please write about how Santiago's journey follows the thread of the hero path; however, if you think that Santiago is not a hero, you are free to walk that path as well. However, please use language/terms that is associated with the Hero Journey and was provided for you during our first day with The Alchemist.
2.) Respond to a post on Coelho's blog regarding The Alchemist:
The link to that section of his blog can be found on our blog--you are free to agree of disagree with anything that Coelho writes or one of his fans believes. However, as always, please be respectful and I think it would be wise if you directly referenced passages from the book.
As always--good luck and please let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
AK
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19 comments:
The Hero’s Journey
It’s hard to decide whether or not Santiago is a hero because we have so many definitions. The question I’ve been thinking about is, does a hero have to do anything in order to be deemed worthy of that title? I think so, which made me move on to, what has Santiago done to be able to call him a hero? I’m still not sure that he has done anything other than achieve tremendous personal growth. However, I have begun to consider that personal growth may be a worthy cause for heroism, which in my dictionary is defined as “great bravery.” Stemming off from this definition I think it is safe to say that Santiago took a journey that required immense bravery, and therefore we can view this novel as the hero’s journey.
At each intersection in Santiago’s journey, there is a point on the Hero’s journey that corresponds almost exactly to his experience. The moment Santiago allowed his dreams of treasure to become plausible he experienced his call to action. He was innately aware that a journey was meant to occur. If he wasn’t aware of the possibilities, he never would have journeyed to the gypsy to aid him. After the meeting, he doubted his capability and reality blinded his passion for adventure, leaving suitable room for divine intervention. His mentor or guide appeared as the old king of Salem, Melchizedek, who breathed words of encouragement and cliché to Santiago throughout the rest of the adventure. At this junction, the king mentions, “you are trying to realize your personal legend. And you are at the point where you’re about to give it all up.” (23) The king’s sole purpose of existence is to prevent the boy from giving up on his legend, and with this he aids Santiago at every crucial moment in his journey.
Once the hero crosses the threshold the journey can truly begin. Yet, it seems as though there are so many thresholds to cross that it’s hard to decide which one is the most decisive moment. I think it is most likely the moment Santiago leaves his homeland for the desert. He has left everything his knows and has given up everything that he used to value, his sheep and the merchant’s daughter. He has grown to understand “there was nothing to hold him back except himself.” (28) At every moment along the journey he must work to overcome his own inhibitions in order to succeed.
After crossing the threshold Santiago has many more trials and challenges he must endure in order to continue on the path towards his personal legend. He is faced with the theft of all his money, the comfort of the crystal job, and the ability to buy a flock of sheep twice the size of his old one. Often times the hero’s journey is about leaving comfort and stability for the unknown. Fortunately, Santiago is able to move forward on his quest and make it half way through the desert before he hits another trial. He must choose between staying in the oasis with the woman he loves and a job he would enjoy, and leaving with the mystical alchemist figure whom he has just met. The Alchemist becomes his second magical aid and continues on with the boy as a somewhat replacement of the king.
The Alchemist helps Santiago discover more about the language of the world, but in the end it is Santiago who has to learn how to turn into the wind. At this time he receives the gift of understanding. He can now understand omens and nothing seems impossible to him anymore. This is the goal of the hero: to break down all the walls of possibility and emerge with a mastery of his world as it relates to his personal legend. Santiago realizes that he can return to the world of his homeland, where his treasure has been all along, and only then he has complete a brief cycle of the hero’s journey.
I put mine in the first alchemist thing.
Santiago’s heroism, while occasionally adhering to the Hero Journey criteria, comes from his journey as a holy man. He is able to reach greater depths as he pursues what he believes to be his Personal Legend: to find a treasure. There is some irony, because I have this sort of idealistic vision of a hero, which does requires the absence of money, be it dollars or dubloons. I, like Christian, strongly disliked the existence of physical treasure at the end of the book. I wanted it to be ironic, that the treasure was simply not as great as the spiritual awakening he had experienced on his way there. Are those “Spanish gold coins” (166) and all the other loot are meant to be taken seriously? He found his gold, but not his worth. The more miraculous journey was not the one that found gold at the end of the rainbow but the one that found gold all along the rainbow. The gold has an end, but the self-discovery and universal discovery have no end. We as readers like instant gratification, and therein lays the purpose of the gold. We want him to find something, as readers, because it would be frustrating for him not too. Yet, when I read he found actual treasure, I felt somehow betrayed. “But it’s too simple!” I thought. There is more at play though.
Santiago’s story starts out like a typical Hero Journey story. He dreams of treasure and, being intrigued, decides to look for it. However, Step 2 of the Hero Journey is the ‘Refusal of the Call,’ which would have had the boy hemming and hawing over whether looking for the treasure was worth his while. “A shepherd may like to travel, but he should never forget about his sheep,” (32) he says on one page. By page 34, he has sold his sheep and changed his tune, saying “that in money there is magic; whoever has money is never really alone” (34). What about your sheep, Santiago? “Here I am, between my flock and my treasure, the boy thought. He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have” (27). Perhaps it was heroic he chose to pursue the thing he wanted. Or was it self-interest? I’m torn.
It’s true that he receives supernatural aid (Step 3), from Melchizedek to the crystal merchant to the alchemist, each reminiscent of the other. I am confused by this aspect of the Hero Journey. Why would a hero need supernatural aid and advice? Can’t they look after themselves and others? In that case, I wish Santiago had taken his flock of sheep with him on his quest. I think that the real value of these characters, in Santiago’s case, is not that they are there to help him find his treasure, but to help him get in touch with the spiritual side of himself. They know that there is more than treasure to be found; “If what one finds is made or pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back. If what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing on your return” (123) says the alchemist.
His heroism in the context of this Personal Legend was too trite to be heroic, too cinema-ready. It was his exploration outside the physical world that seemed truly heroic. He is not only able to understand himself, but also the world. To paraphrase Miracle Max from Princess Bride, “Now that is a very noble cause.” He can converse with the Soul of the World and the hand that wrote all without saying a word, because it is within himself, innate and yet dormant. He awakened it, and awakened himself in turn; “The boy reached through to the Soul of the World, and saw that it was part of the Soul of God. And he saw that the Soul of God was his own soul” (152). That is where his heroism lies, his true substance, not in his quest for treasure.
I feel that many people “love this book” and think that “it changed their life” and they don’t even understand the book. On Coelho’s blog regarding the alchemist, I kept wanting someone to say something more than useless praise that doesn’t show any intelligence. I was frustrated that that blog was so unlike our blog. There were questions of “how do I know what my personal legend is?” People answered that with: “When you find it you’ll know.” This seemed like it would be very bothersome to get as an answer. That person seemed like they wanted a more concrete answer, and I know that a concrete answer isn’t what the Alchemist would suggest as an answer but that doesn’t mean that we should choose to not give them what they want.
On a separate note, I want to know the fourth obstacle that Coelho is talking about on his blog. He mentions the first three but he never returns to the topic of the fourth. He just seems to go on a rant that doesn’t explain what he states that he will explain. He asks “are defeats necessary?” and I do not believe that they are. They can be in specific situations but in others they are only detrimental to progress and they hinder what was going well. Sometimes to the point of no return. Defeats can be motivational and get people to their “second wind” and get them back on their feet with more power but this is more fictional that real. In real life, after being robbed most people would return home, they would not continue on their journey, just trusting that whatever was best would happen. “When a pserson wants something, the universe joins together to help them achieve it.” Most people would not trust in this power. But maybe the praise on the blog shows that more people would than I think.
Coelho explains the four obstacles between us and our dream, our Personal Legend. I find that I agree with his description of these four obstacles, as I have witnessed evidence of them in not only The Alchemist but in class discussion and my own life. First, there is the accumulation of things that make it impossible for us to achieve our dreams- we count our lifestyle, our jobs, our “short term goals” that become our only ones, the expectations that others have of us. But this accumulation is really only the thickening and callousing of the world’s greatest lie. Here, Coelho explains it as the notion that from childhood onwards, we are told that everything we want to do is impossible. In The Alchemist, he explains the world’s greatest lie to be that, “at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate” (18). In the book, we see the effect of this lie on several people, notably the baker. The baker has always wanted to travel, but he puts his short term goals ahead of him to make money. Then he realizes that other people will think more of a baker than of a traveller such as a shepherd. His beliefs make it impossible for him to achieve his dreams: “In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own Personal Legends” (23). In our lives today, the same sad pattern occurs. We look at what we’re expected to be doing right now- whether that’s graduating from highschool or college, finding a job, keeping one, saving up for a car, starting a family, supporting one, whatever. Because we live on this timeline established by society and the ideas it places in our heads, we have no time to pursue our Personal Legends. A dream is not something that you can schedule into your lunch break.
The next obstacle that Coelho points out is the binding effect of love. Maybe we have found the courage to take the leap of faith and put off our immediate responsibilities to society in order to complete a larger obligation to the Soul of the World. Well one of the universal languages of the Soul is love, and we don’t want to hurt those around us with which we speak this language. Santiago confronts this obstacle in the desert, when he is faced with leaving Fatima. He has found his greatest treasure, and cannot imagine leaving it in the desert. Santiago can imagine himself staying in the oasis with Fatima and leading a “successful” life. But the alchemist points out to him that “love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend” (120), nor is it about possession. And in his blog, Coelho describes love as an impetus- a driving force that should move us toward the achievement of our dream, not hold us back. In my own life, I have realized that those who truly care about me and want me to be happy will help me towards my Personal Legend instead of holding me back for themselves.
The final two obstacles consist of the most personal struggles: once we have everything in place to partake in our journey, we must not let the fear of failure hinder us; and once we are in reach of our Personal Legend, we must have the courage to grab it. I don’t think I’m there yet in the journey for my own Personal Legend, but I can see where others might have the most difficulty with these two obstacles. For example, the crystal merchant in The Alchemist has let his fear, his pain, become his lifestyle. He has always dreamed of making his pilgrimage to Mecca, but he simply does not know what he would do were this to actually happen. He is afraid of what is beyond his Personal Legend… What do you do when your greatest dream becomes a reality? This is one question that I cannot yet answer, I can only hope that if/when I am confronted with this hurdle that I am able to draw from the wisdom of The Alchemist to realize my course of action.
Thank you.
In response to Coehlo's blog:
Coehlo poses the question: what is a personal calling? He answers: it is God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. For the most part I belive that it could be considered a path one can follow through life, but I don’t think it’s something that is religiously created. A personal calling should be something that one enjoys doing throughout their life that makes them feel fulfillment and worthiness in themselves. However, Coehlo states that we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dreams or reasons to be happy and poses four reasons as to why that is.
The first is that from childhood we are told that our wildest dreams could never be achieved, that they are too far fetched. Having this kind of mindset ingrained into our heads will indeed lead us to living without personal standards and goals. Santiago says that he has never been a victim of the world’s greatest lie. The world’s greatest lie being that “our lives become controlled by fate”(18). The boy replies “That’s never happened to me. They(his parents) wanted me to be a priest, but I decided to become a shepherd”(18). The boy believes he is fulfilling his destiny because he rebelled against his parents about being a preist. To a certain degree this makes sense but he still doesn’t accept that he is meant to do more than just herd sheep because he’s had such low standards put upon him.
The second wall that keeps us from pursuing what we really want is the fear that we are abandoning those that we love. Along with the world’s greatest lie, believing that love will hold us back is a as well because it is really our loved ones who will support the quest to find the truth when we are lost. Finding that truth and accepting we are capable of more and that there is more out there is what brings on the third reason as to why we run.
Defeat is always something we are prone to if we put ourselves out there and take risks. Without taking chances we will remain shepherds though and will never be able to move forward like the boy ends up doing. Another question Coehlo poses branches off of this third reason as to why we hold back and that is: Are Defeats Necessary? Why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people? My answer to the first question is that yes, defeat is necessary. We learn from our mistakes which is what expands our knowledge and desire to fix what has broken. The importance of living our personal calling is so that we can know that we’re more than just shepherds and that we can go or be anyone we want. Suffering may occur but it’s because that we learn that things are precious and we must treasure them. No matter if it’s gold, love, or personal achievement.
Like the boy, the crystal merchant has the desire to travel and learn. However, unlike the boy the merchant would rather preserve his dream than pursue it. He states that “it’s the though of Mecca that keeps me alive..I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living”(55). He’s afraid that if he fights and pursues what he wants it will be all for nothing. The other side of this is that our dream has always been with us and that fighting for it is just a waste and that our defeat will be realizing our own stupidity. Accepting one’s personal legend leads one to continue on with whatever it entails, good and bad, which could be seen as them following a “path”. In the end it’s all about what you want and what makes you happy and realize the sacristy of life.
I wasn't entirely sure how to leave a comment so I ended up replying to a Mike Wood. Whoops...
Hi, Mr. Coehlo.
I have a question: What if our dream really does hurt someone else? Well-wishers or not, how do we justify it?
I guess this is the problem I’m having with The Alchemist. I admire the sentiment behind it, and these four obstacles, they make a lot of sense, but I keep thinking of ‘buts’.
You’re right, clearly everything is not impossible. But how do we find our Personal Legend when we are constantly being dissuaded from finding it? My mother was telling me about a prolific female composer who worked around the turn of the century, Amy Beach, a sort of musical savant. Supposedly (and I say that because I report this as a story, not having accurately researched it myself) her mother kept her from playing the piano, which she dearly loved, to discipline her. Had it not been for an aunt who recognized her immense talent, who’s to say she ever would have been able to truly embrace her talent? (Her husband, though, was of the same ilk as her mother, unfortunately.)
Anyways, as I was saying before, how do we find it? Trial and error would take far too long, many lifetimes, and so I’m forcibly reminded of Thoreau’s somewhat depressing statement that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Is it that mass of men who have never found their calling, their Personal Legends? It is well and good to read about Santiago’s fantastic journey, but is it applicable? Perhaps those men are like the crystal merchant, though; they know what their Personal Legend is, but they choose to admire it from a distance, I guess. I am apt to think differently. While it is no doubt true it is innate within us (‘it’ meaning our Personal Legends), or genetic, I don’t think we all necessarily realize it.
The next question I have is, if and when we find our Personal Legends, will we recognize them? It’s entirely possible that, when we do finally come across it, the people we love will try to dissuade us. Is it ever for our own good that we be dissuaded from following our Personal Legend?
I realize I ask a lot of questions and perhaps do this simply because I lack the insight to answer them myself, satisfactorily. That is to say, I have tentative answers in my head, but they only leave me with more questions. The thing is, The Alchemist takes on life; its themes are universal and gigantic, its quest or journey is ultimately one of self-fulfillment. I think it’s fair to question the book then, because of its sheer magnitude and impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. I don’t question its value, because it is true that people should strive to fulfill their Personal Legends. I just can’t decide if Santiago’s methods, while it makes for an accessible tale, are really applicable to the vast population of people.
I like your ideas, but perhaps I’m too cynical to follow them myself. But then I’m forced to ask myself if it’s cynicism, realism or resignation that causes me to say and do that? I’m not sure, but I’m in no rush to find out.
Thank you,
Jo
The King tells Santiago, “To realize one’s Personal Legend is a person’s only real obligation” (22). There are ways in which Santiago fulfilled the hero journey. Here I go, through every step of the hero journey…
Santiago’s “call to adventure” appeared when he had the dream for the second time in the decrepit church in the fields of Spain. He dreamt of his treasure, conveniently located at the Pyramids in Egypt. But a dream is meaningless without a little motivation…
His guide or mentor was the old king. The old king was sent to him, or delivered to him by his own heart, so that he would have inspiration to embark on his self-discovery. As discussed in class, the king, like many other aspects of the boy’s journey can be viewed as either a real person or merely as a piece of his heart urging him to push towards his treasure. In a way, this can be considered when the boy begins to read the omens and to follow his heart. This of course, will be reinforced by the alchemist (who also dwells in the heart of the boy, perhaps?) later in the journey, but I think that this was an important step towards truly understanding himself.
And then… the threshold. Rather anti-climatic, really. The boy literally crosses the threshold, the border between Spain and Egypt. The threshold also symbolizes the crossing from the conscious state of being to the unconscious. In the conscious state, we may notice that which we are surrounded by, but we are not truly aware of our surroundings and ourselves. In the unconscious state (dare I say underground…), we are in the process of reaching a complete understanding of ourselves and we are gaining an awareness of the things that surround us. From that, we can learn to read omens and to follow the path that “is written” by the heart to follow.
Santiago went through many trials on his journey, but I think the defining conflict he had to face was when his money was stolen by his “friend.” In light of this tragedy, Santiago was faced with a dilemma: continue on with no money or to go back home. He met the crystal merchant and that meeting eventually solidified that Santiago would continue on his journey. This is where he learned the word Maktub and where he made enough money to travel the Pyramids.
Next on the list. Santiago had many “magical helpers.” I would consider the wind and the sand magical helpers based on the scene when Santiago turns himself into the wind. Also, the alchemist is considered a magical helper. It is fair to say that Santiago could not have made the journey without the alchemist. The alchemist provided the boy with guidance and showed him that he had all of the tools he needed within himself.
I think that “receiving of the gift” took place when the boy was able to turn himself into the wind. This showed that Santiago could speak to the desert, the wind, and eventually the Soul of God, which he discovered was “his own soul” (152). That self discovery was the gift that was received in his unconscious. He had to be unconscious in order to do this because, according to the nice little diagram we have, unconscious is defined as an extraordinary perceptual awareness. In the conscious state, one is not fully aware of the omens around them, nor are they aware of their heart in its effort to lead them to their Personal Legend.
The final step in the unconscious is the “flight and emergence.” For Santiago, this occurred when he met the thieves at the Pyramids. In this moment, Santiago realized where his treasure was all along—in that crumbling church in Spain where he used to take his sheep. The flight was the uplifting feeling that came when he arrived at the Pyramids because at that point, he was still under the impression that his treasure lay in the dunes near them. And the emergence was when he realized that he must cross the threshold again to get his treasure.
(this is the second part to mine-- it wouldn't let me post because it had too many characters)
So, Santiago’s journey matches with the hero journey quite nicely; however, I am not sure if this makes the boy a hero. I was under the impression from Coelho that everyone goes through this journey or is meant to go through it. If that is the case, then does that make everyone a hero? Or does that mean that everyone is supposed to be a hero? I don’t necessarily know the answers but I think that if everyone were to finish the hero’s journey that would not necessarily make them a hero. Just because you conquer something does not make you heroic. Besides, I don’t think that heroism is something that people are born with; we do not live our lives waiting to cross the threshold or receive the “gift” like we wait to graduate high school, get a job or get married. I just don’t see how that would work.
Sorry this is so long. If anyone has something to add or correct or criticize, feel free.
Towey
My response on Coelho's blog....
These four obstacles that everyone must face on the journey to accomplishing or discovering their Personal Legend seem pretty daunting to someone of weak heart and weak mind. When one realizes his or her Personal Legend, they have to be concious of who and where they are and how their abscence would affect everthing/one if they left. Once you've realized your Personal Legend, it's enevitable that you'll think about the 'buts'. Even Santiago thinks about all that before he leaves on his quest for his Personal Legend. He makes sure his sheep are all set by selling them and he says goodbye to Fatima rather than just disappearing on her even though he knows that she would understand. As important as one's Personal Legend is to them, I don't think it's necessary to just get up and go follow it without any second thoughts. Second thoughts usually give perspective on something that may be irrational. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that going for one's Personal Legend is irrational, but I think that one needs to consider the four obstacles before diving into the possible abyss or their holy space.
The traditional hero that we see in books has recently become drastically different from the ones that exist and that people admire today, and the hero journey that the traditional hero travels are also drastically different from the everyday goings on of the heros that we admire today. If we look at Santiago and his quest to achieve his personal legend, the traditional hero journey is evident in this quest.
The adventure is very clearly Santiago's quest to find the gold at the pyramids. In order to find the call to adventure, we have to look at the first moment when he realized this adventure and his personal legend. The first time that he knew that something existed greater than himself that he must achieve, was in his dream about the pyramids. However, even then, he didn't know what he had to do. Its difficult to call this a refusal of the call if he didn't realize that there was a call to be heard, but it is one of the possibilities because he did not pursue it right away. I would begin looking for the refusal only after he visited the gypsy, because it was not until then that he was sure that he had to take action in order to write his own future and achieve his own personal legend. Either way, there is a call to action, whether it be through his dream or finding out his personal legend from the gypsy.
The next is the refusal of the call. this also could be a few different events. The first that it could be is the ignoring of his dream about the pyramids, but he was able to overcome this on his own which makes me think that the ignoring was just a momentary setback rather than a refusal or a giving up. It is for this reason that I believe the refusal to instead be what transpired in Santiago's head when he went to visit the crystal merchant. At this point in the story he had no sheep, no money, and no hope, which led him to give up on his personal legend. I would argue that this is his refusal, because he was completely prepared to give up and go home and back to his life of being a shepherd. He would have completely forgotten his personal legend and lived the rest of his days tormenting himself for what could have been, like the crystal merchant telling himself the world's greatest lie.
Once again, the supernatural guide could be seen as a few different people or things, although it is possible that they are all the same being. The first candidate would be the King of Salem. It could be him, because he was the person that set him out from Spain, in the first place, on the trail of treasure in Egypt. He would be my first choice if it weren't for the fact that he came before my proposed refusal, although i suppose not every hero journey has to be in the same order. Another reason that I would doubt that it was really the King of Salem is because he only shows up in the book once, and it is pretty brief. Another candidate could be the crystal merchant. This sounds a little farfetched, even to me, and I'm the one suggesting it. The reason that I think he could be the supernatural aid is because he helped Santiago overcome his refusal and was the one that ultimately set him out toward the desert and towards his personal legend once again. The last and probably most likely candidate would be the Alchemist. It is him that guides and mentors the boy, and gives him everything that he must know in order to achieve his personal legend, and tells him why it is important for him to achieve his personal legend. He also pushes him back out into the desert after Santiago arrives at the oasis. I feel like most people would agree that the Alchemist is the supernatural aid because of his importance to the story.
Quixotic Dicker's Post On The Hero Journey Part 2
I would argue that the crossing of the first threshold would be entering the desert with the caravan. From this point on, the main trials take place. Santiago is literally leaving the limit of his known world to go deeper into a world that he knows hardly anything about. The alternative would be him just entering into Africa, but I would argue that he hasn't fully decided to go in search of his personal legend yet, although i suppose it is his lack of knowledge about this new area that leads him to loose his money, which leads him to temporarily give up on his quest. If this is true, then I think that my thinking suggests that I don't believe crossing into africa is the first threshold, because it is the first threshold. I wish i could clean up that sentence, but i don't particularly like editing what i write.
The last is the belly of the whale. Right now i have no doubt what this is, although i could be completely wrong. To me, the only time that Santiago is possibly positioning between worlds is when he turns into the wind. It is at this moment when he has to do this transformation or die. By speaking the language of the world, Santiago communicates with the desert, wind, sun, and eventually the soul of the world. The soul of the world is also the hand that wrote all and the only thing that can preform miracles to a degree that Santiago requires. He realizes that the soul is his and the hand is his as well and finally decides that only he can preform the miracle to turn himself into the wind. This is transition between worlds because he leaves his bodily form in order to survive and eventually achieve his personal legend.
I do not consider Santiago a personal hero of mine, he is not someone I would idealize or strive to be like, but he is the definition of a hero in literature. He completes the steps of a hero’s journey and we are able to see him struggle, makes personal gains and in the end achieve his Personal Legend.
Santiago was happy with his life on the move as a shepherd. He became skilled in his profession and he was comfortable in the fields of his home, “In two years he had learned everything about shepherding...he knew all the fields and pastures of Andalusia”(26). His ‘Call to Adventure’ happens when he has a reoccurring dream and decides to visit a gypsy. Santiago is aware that there is a deeper meaning to these dreams, and he seeks help in order to uncover it.
After sharing his dream with the gypsy, she responds “‘I only interpret dreams. I don't know how to turn them into reality’”. The boy is disappointed in the time he has ‘wasted’ with the woman and decides “he would never believe in dreams again”(15). This is Santiago’s ‘Refusal of the Call’, what he has been told by the old woman, to leave for the pyramids and find a treasure, seemed to him ridiculous and he did not want to waste anymore time on it. Fear or the unknown and the feeling of obligation to his flock of sheep also keeps Santiago from pursuing his dreams.
The old man, who we later discover to be the King of Salem, is the boys ‘Supernatural Aid’. The King shows up at a curtail moment, when Santiago could either return to his flock and leave is treasure and Personal Legend behind forever, or move forward, follow his dream, and achieve his Personal Legend. This ‘Supernatural Aid’ simply helps to push the ‘hero’, in this case Santiago, to the answers that he already knows “Try to make your own decisions. The treasure is at the Pyramids; that you already knew. But I had to insist..because I helped you make your decision”(30).
Santiago experiences many ‘Supernatural Aid’s’. From the crystal merchant, to the Alchemist, Santiago has people urging him in the right direction. Through these people,or aids, or perhaps just his heart, Santiago is able to follow achieve his Personal Legend.
The first threshold Santiago has to cross was the from Spain into Africa. After he makes this transition, he is robbed and has to start from the beginning, poor and in unfamiliar territory. The most difficult threshold Santiago has to cross is the desert. Defining the desert is difficult, but in it’s simplest form it is a challenge. Santiago has to endure the danger, heat, and misleading sings of the desert.
Not only does Santiago find his treasure, he finds the women that will makes him happy, and he has seen the Pyramids of Egypt. Santiago completes the hero’s journey and gains a few added perks, but does that make him a hero? In literature, yes, for the purpose of this blog entry, yes, but in reality, I do not think so. Santiago achieves his Personal Legend, but that does not mean we should idealize him. This is a well known story of boy who achieves his dream, there is truly nothing special about it.
I responded to someone on Coelho's blog
Although I believe Santiago is a hero, this does not hold true for the entire story. He follows the Hero's Journey, but there are things along the way that make me feel he was not a hero for the entire story. During, and throughtout the begining of the story, Santiago changes his mind about whether he wants to continue his journey to achieve his Personal Legend, or stop, like the chrystal merchant when his goal seems out of reach. I believe when Santiago sold his sheep, he became a hero, in that he would do anything he could to get to Egypt and the pyramids. After second guessing himself he finally committed and felt that not reaching his treasure was no longer an option. Santiago took that leap, even though he wasn't sure what the outcome might be. This heroism, did not last long for me however. Soon after, Santiago meets the chrystal merchant, and after one day of working in his shop, decides he will have to spend the next year there, and make enought money to buy more sheep, and continue being a shepherd. This was the first major obstacle that Santiago would have to deal with in order to get to Egypt and his Personal Legend. The chrystal merchant told the boy how he did not want to reach his Personal Legend, because he feared there would be nothing else to live for after that. I think this had an influence on Santiago. He realized that this was no way to live your life, wondering what if?
The next time Santiago would face with a trying situation of whether to continue on towards his personal legend, the circumstances were a bit different. He met a girl, Fatima, who he thought was the love of his life. He was not sure whether she was better than anything that he would find in Egypt. To him at that point, he thought he had obtained his Personal Legend, or atleast his Personal Legend led him to the love of his life. During this questioning, Santiago’s hero qualities seemed to disappear which is often the influence love will have on a young man. However Santiago regained his heroism, and with the help of the Alchemist, and the world, guiding his path the boy continued on.
So to say that Santiago was not a hero, I think is absurd, because of his clear path of the hero journey. But I will say that Santiago was not a very good hero. A good hero will do anything to obtain his goal, and not second guess himself. A good hero is powerful, and never looks back, or wonders, “What if?” Santiago would sometimes second guess himself, but none the less continued on past the merchant and Fatima, and eventually reached a his goal as a hero would do.
Thank you,
Shaun Millerick
The Hero's Journey
In the beginning of The Alchemist, we see Santiago as a young shepherd who seemingly loves what he does, and he is happy and satisfied with his because he travels, and that is what he likes to do. But is this all his life is meant for, or is there more to it? What will be the legend left behind when he leaves this world, and what impact will he leave behind for others to see. Is he leading a life in pursuit of happiness or is he merely settling. He doesn't push himself to discover what he truly can do with his life, or what his Personal Legend is as we later learn. He knows he was meant to be a traveler, but he doesn’t push himself to see what is really waiting for him in the world. In some ways, Santiago may be following the hero journey, but he is so guided by those around him that I don’t see him as a hero. His journey is too guided by the king, the alchemist, and everyone he comes in touch with help him pursue his personal legend. The story is comforting and inspiring, but the way it is put together is like a fantasy, and I don’t fall for it. Along his journey he runs into many trials and tribulations, but they only make him a “better person” because of his peers helping him to realize who he is. He doesn’t do much of his self discovery on his own, and I think the ending truly ruins any hopes of him being considered a hero. All along his travels, his mentors have been trying to teach him the true value in life. It is not the actual treasure that has become his main goal, but self discovery and how powerful it may be if we understand know how to use it.
Going against the grain, he tells his father he is off to explore the wonders of the world. He later meets the king who tells him about Personal Legends, and when one realizes their personal legend, the whole world will conspire to make that dream be carried through. The king uses the baker as an example to show him that the time is now, no matter how unreachable his dream may seem. He crosses the threshold when he decides to venture from Andalusia and start his journey towards the pyramids. He finds himself in Tarifa. When he first arrives, his money gets stolen from a young boy whom he naively mistrusts. He gets a job with a crystal merchant, and they learn from one another the importance of pursuing our dreams. We interestingly hear from the crystal merchant: “I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living” (55). This later pertains to the end of the story.
When he reaches the Pyramids, he comes to fully discover himself. He returns to the world however when he finds his “real” treasure. He finds beads, crystals, and jewels, but did he really need any of it. He already has his Personal Legend fulfilled. He was as much of a person that he could ever be, and wealthy in ways that none could have imagined. Yet he still wants more. This really ruined the story for me. He couldn’t just be happy with realizing his true self, but still yearns more. It’s almost as if once his dream is realized, he finds no reason to continue living his new way of life. It is something that is over and done with. I don’t see any true transformation is Santiago. He was guided by others, who virtually fed him the information that he supposedly had within him already, but in the end, he loses everything he has become and virtually goes back to the same shepherd he once was. I think this is also expressed in where he comes back to in the end. The place he started off is the place he finishes his journey, and in that sense, he never really reached a higher level or got anywhere.
I completely disagree with Coelho’s view of the first obstacle. I believe the opposite. In the society I grew up in, children are told they can be whatever they want to be. Parents tell their children that they can “do anything you set your mind to.” That may be true for the people we are surrounded by at Berwick and in our towns, but success only comes with opportunity. We were all brainwashed and lied to growing up. Our education system is all a lie. We were all told at some point, if we work hard and put in our best efforts, we will be successful. That is a bunch of crap. What is the measure of success? Money? The college we go to? Why isn’t happiness the measure of success? Parents pressure us to do well in school and make it seem as though it is the end of the world if we don’t get high grades or get into the most prestigious college on our lists. What are grades anyway? They are a number that show how well we conform to the teacher’s views of what success is. Grades do not measure how smart you are. Most of the time the brilliant students are the ones who do badly in school because they realize how absurd school is. Coehlo’s views are the optimistic and almost utopian outlook on the world. He is immensely popular because he gives people hope that this world is an innocent place. A false sense of hope.
Are defeats necessary? I agree with Coelho in that they happen. I do believe they are necessary, and everyone is influenced by them no matter how much they try to avoid them. Without mistakes, success would not breed happiness. We would get used to everything going our way and then if we are defeated, we would not know how to recover. Being victorious makes us happy because it is not common. People are used to being defeated, so when they overcome adversity they feel an extraordinary sense of happiness. Failure is a positive thing in our lives. It is the sensation of overcoming adversity that makes the suffering of failure worth it.
I disagree with Coelho on the fact that we always overcome defeats. I think this is somewhat clique and is only said to please his readers. There is no way he truly believes this. What about people who commit suicide? Do these people overcome their defeats? The answer is no. They give in to their defeats and are so used to being unsuccessful in their journey through life that they submit to the pressure of life. I believe in the notion that the thought of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. It is not the thought of personal suffering that causes people to be uneasy, it is the thought of human beings failing and not being the dominant force on earth makes people nervous.
Coehlo followers have an unrealistically high expectation of life and they will only be disappointed.
Dylan Martini
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