LITERARY ANALYSIS ON THE ALCHEMIST

LITERARY ANALYSIS ON THE ALCHEMIST

1) My novel had very much to do with the human mind and heart connecting to their inner selves as far as what they felt they needed to achieve on this planet before they were gone. The story focused mainly on the realizations and encounters of a young shepherd boy from Spain who is told intuitively to travel across to an entirely different continent and cross the harsh desert to reach the pyramids in Egypt to locate his final treasure. The blessings and multiple omens are marked along the way of his journey and each of them serves an individual purpose to his life and acknowledgements. The point of the authors' novel was to encourage humans to do something we never do simply because we feel like we can't or we fear it as we fear everything else, and that is to follow your heart and listen to it when it speaks to you.

2) It is hard no to sound too cliche when I say that the theme of the novel was to follow your heart only because this idea alone has been repeated over and over again so many times that it has lost originality and many fail yet to understand it and do it because they do not understand how much it can change their lives and make them that much happier. The theme encourages readers to do exactly what they want because in the long run they will be the ones to suffer the consequences and to take risks because that is what life is all about.

3)  The authors tone is very calm and wise. "The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect." I love the existentialist touch in this part of the novel because the entire time he is attempting to figure out what our mission on this planet is and believes everyone has their own separate one. "God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings." This is another life lesson because many things in our lives, especially as we get older, will become much harder to identify clues and signs as we get older. If you are anything like me and believe that everything happens for a reason, then you will begin to witness exactly how important this sort of sixth sense is and the ability to identify it properly in our lives. "People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them." This is where I conclude that ninety person of the people on the planet are cowards and choose to be followers instead of leaders. This ability will get you nowhere but living in someone else's dreams and never your own because you never managed to gather enough courage to go out and seek your belongings.

4) SYMBOLISM- pg.100

"Suddenly, one of the hawks made a flashing dive in the sky towards the other." This symbolized that an army would be reaching the oasis soon in the story.

    CHARACTERIZATION- pg.12

"People said that gypsies spent their lives ticking others." Stereotypes and certain expectations are a form of characterization in the novel.

    FORESHADOWING- pg. 92

"Finally a young woman approached who was not dressed in black." Since she was not dressed in black like the rest of the ladies were, I figured she would accept their offer and assist them in their necessities.

    IRONY- p. 163

"Two years ago, right here on this spot, I had a recurrent dream too. But I was not so stupid as to cross an entire desert for nothing." It is ironic how he says that because that man was the boy's treasure and he gave him the information he needed to locate it.

    POINT OF VIEW- p.104

"They are men of the desert, and the men of the desert are used to dealing with omens." The men of the desert view things much more differently than a man of the city would view it. 

    TONE- p. 160

"The boy fell to his knees and wept." This line alone gives us a sense of relief because we are able to see him finally able to spill the tears of frustration and worry that he had been bottling up inside him for the past years. 

    SETTING- p.138

"The sun was setting when the boy's heart sounded a danger signal." We can see the setting dramatically change instantly with this said alone. 

    FLASHBACK p. 62

"When you want something, you achieve it. The old king had said." He continued to have multiple flashbacks about all the wise words that he shared with him about life and his journey ti the pyramids.

    CONFLICT p.47

"There are thousands of kilometers from here and there. Crossing the desert would be impossible." The many conflicts that appeared to cross his path and yet he managed to solve each and every single one of them. 

    MOTIF p. 160

"He thanked God for helping him believe in his own Personal Legend and for leading him to the king, a merchant, an Englishman and an alchemist." This was the main idea of the entire novel and the main thing that kept him going, a creator. 

1) Two examples of direct characterization in the novel would be assuming that gypsies steal children and that many thieves are located at port towns. These can both be false or true yet they are general statements made by both these groups that directly characterize them. Two examples of indirect characterization in the story would be when the boy decides to continue his pursuit in the search of his personal legend and when he decided to leave his dearest sheep and start from scratch because this tells us a lot about his character alone and what he is willing to sacrifice and take risks that could potentially benefit him. 

2) The author's syntax and diction manages to remain the same throughout the entire novel with simple explanations of a massive complex world. 

3) The protagonist of the story remains dynamic throughout the entire novel in the sense that he changes a lot based off what he learns and what he is taught through the words of wisdom from his encounters.

4) Yes, I truly felt like I had met this person. For example when he states that "if a man truly wants something, he will do whatever it takes to achieve it" really speaks to me because that is one of life's many teachings that people fail to understand unfortunately and I felt that this book expressed this perfectly. 

HAFTA/WANNA

Life during high school and life after high school will be similar in the sense that we all as individuals are still going to be forced to follow a set of principles established by the authorities as we did in high school. There will definitely be much more freedom in the way you choose to live your life but depending on whatever direction you go in, whether it is college or a job, you will still have to follow certain rules as you previously did while attending this learning institution.

I think and and more than one hundred percent positive that when we graduate everyone will learn from their own mistakes, as many of us have already. Graduating and figuring out what to do next with our lives will be ultimately all up to us. We will no longer have a teacher or parent leading us in a certain direction, therefore, we will be forced to make choices that will end up being either a lesson or a blessing. Through this, we will learn to become a better version of ourselves and maybe then we as individuals will finally figure out exactly what we want to do on the planet.

There is a significant difference in life before and after high school. I view high school as more of a kid jail, at least mentally. However, once we are out of high school, and say for example attending college, our freedom of expression will change completely. We will learn and begin to see new and amazing things we did not ever think about or know about before. Learning styles will hopefully be much more different and enthralling for the student. We will be forced to balance our social, academic and work life because we will simply have no other choice, and if you screw up in any of those you will bounce right back and figure it all out until everything is okay because that is what life is all about.

My expectations of the world around me and as I move on are based off of what I have witnessed growing up over the years, and that is that people will mature and finally become their own person; not what their friends would define them as or what their parents always wanted them to be, but finally their true selves. This may be very difficult to understand and cope with at first but it is something that everyone will experience and surpass overtime. I expect many people to change and I can only hope for the positive way. I expect myself to become much more responsible and much more motivated with continuing life only doing things that I enjoy and less of what I need to complete.

LIFE AFTER

I see myself traveling the world, hoping to discover more amazing things about life that I know not of yet. I see myself engaging in several mental getaways, many alone and some with amazing people who offer much wisdom and personal experiences to share. I see myself helping others and truly making changes in people's lives, much like I have done already. I see myself studying Sociology in college and making new discoveries as well as beginning new programs that benefit the less fortunate. I see myself being able to give back to my parents and sisters as I always planned to. I see myself very busy but since I am doing what I love, I never get tired and I become very happy with my current life and I continue to do so until the next big thing comes.

VISUAL STORYTELLING

1) Imagery- When reading a book, we are forced to think deeply and picture in our own minds exactly what the accoutrements being described as actually look like in reality but when watching a movie, you do not necessarily have to struggle with this at all. When this coalesce is given to us right there for us to see with our very own eyes and not have to worry about minute details, it makes it that much easier and stress-relieving.
2) Music- The apogee in the music that we hear in movies is truly a gift in the sense that when we read we have to pick out exactly what they could mean and still be wrong while in a movie, it is all there ready for you to embrace and not have to worry or think about or interpret. This effect is very disparate in both books and movies.
3) Excitement- Visual Storytelling presents us with IMAGES. It is not a problem culling between a movie and a book because it is much more fun to watch a movie than sit there and read  200 pages of little to almost no relevancy to your life. Movies are also quicker and less dogmatic than reading.

These three are all a convolution to what makes visual storytelling that much more exciting than reading. Most of the time when we read, the ideas almost seem to be meted. It also always much easier to determine probity within a movie due to hand movements and facial gestures. And for some reason, movies always tend to terminate with a truncated ending which leaves the consumers thirsty for more.

VOCAB SPRING LIST #2

1) Accoutrements (n) -personal clothing and accessories 
The accoutrements at Ross clothing stores are not costly and still very attractive.
2) Apogee (n) -the highest or most distant point; climax
She was at the utmost apogee of realization in her life than she had ever been before. 
3) Apropos (adv) -fitting to the purpose; opportunely 
One of my brightest kids failed to excel in many apropos propositions. 
4) Bicker (v) -to engage in petulant argument 
The constant bickering at home only prevented me from concentrating on my homework.
5) Coalesce (v) -to unite as to form one mass 
The coalesce of the student body against the staff was unlike something they have ever seen before.
6) Contretemps (n) -an inopportune experience or embarrassing mischance Contretemps did not fail to occur every one time he appeared to be around.
7) Convolution (n) -a coiled condition or rolling together 
Witnessing the convolution of worms completely grosses me out.
8) Cull (v) -to choose, select or pick 
Culling can be the most difficult step for everything in life for many of us.
9) Disparate (adj) -distinct in kind, essentially different 
No matter how similar, twins will always be disparate and that may be difficult for many to see.
10) Dogmatic (adj) -asserting opinions in an arrogant matter 
The teacher was more dogmatic when it came to his disciplinary choices.
11) Licentious (adj) -sexually unrestrained 
To be licentious would not be an admirable trait.
12) Mete (v) -to distribute by measure 
At the camp, they had to mete out our soup every day.
13) Noxious (adj) -harmful to health or physical well-being 
The toxic fumes I was breathing in while dying my hair were quite noxious.
14) Polemic (n) -a controversial argument 
Many would agree that legalizing cannabis is quite a polemic topic to discuss.
15) Populous (adj) -heavily populated region 
The populous city of Tokyo will soon triple the population size of the state of Wyoming.
16) Probity (n) -integrity, uprightness, honesty 
No matter what the occurrence, I will always value probity over the error committed.
17) Repartee (n) -a quick, witty reply 
It seemed as though every single time we argued, she would simply slam back with a repartee, making no further plead for progress.
18) Supervene (v) -to take place or occur as something additional 
My father always seemed schedule activities simply to supervene upon my plans.
19) Truncate (v) -to shorten or cut off a part 
I never understood why my grandfather truncated all his beautiful trees when my grandmother passed away.
20) Unimpeachable (n) -unquestionable as to honesty and truth 
Many trials become unimpeachable as no one wants terminate the case pleading guilty.

PROFILE IN COURAGE

Just from the Introduction already, this movie has taught me that I can achieve so much physically. I realized that I do not value my health as much as I should and that is a terrible thing when there is people out there who cannot walk or barely move a muscle. A lot of those people in the movie were the same way before their accidents occurred which scares me because not enough is being done about valuing our bodies and ultimately our lives. Anything can happen at any time and we must be prepared.

What makes this movie so special is the courage demonstrated by these men. They did not chose to stay at home and do nothing all day while using their disabilities as an excuse. Instead, they became part of the paraplegic team for the United States of America. No matter their obstacles they chose to continue to make something of their lives no matter how hard it would be. Their courage is truly an inspiration and I think unfortunately people do not value their blessings until they are gone.

VOCAB #1 PERFORMANCE REVIEW

I did excellent on this mornings quiz scoring a perfect ten out of ten. I studied the words twice. At the beginning of the weekend, and at the end of the weekend. I reviewed them not just by the definition or sentence but my method is simple. I relate the word to an experience of if it is an adjective, a person I know, normally a friend and then correlate the words and objects with one another. It has worked up to this point, the times I have studied and I encourage you all to approach your vocabulary utilizing the same method.  

MY OWN CHOICE

I sat patiently waiting as they raffled off the last of the five baby chicks in the classroom. I was only in Kindergarten, so the only thing that mattered to me was winning that baby chick and raising it as my own.

I sat there in desperation and hope. The teacher was raising the last name in the hat. My heart began to pound a little harder and I began to block out the noises of the happy children who had already received their own baby chick.

"And the last one goes to...Valentina!"
Instantly I stood up with a large smile plastered on my face that somehow seemed to not want to fade away.
Yes! I got it! I could not wait to take him home and show my parents.

At the time, we were living in some green apartments near my elementary school so I walked home. As I approached my mother and father, they granted me nothing but about three seconds of fame before they returned to their packing. We were preparing to move into our new home that my parents had built with their own two hands all the way across town.

"Andale mija, empaca el resto de tus cosas." she said as she sent me to my room. But I did not want to pack. All I wanted to do was play with Pollito, which is the name I decided to give my baby chick. I walked in my room, closed the door, took him out of his box and began playing with him. He was the cutest thing in the universe.

"Guess what? You get to live with me in my new house!" I told Pollito. His responds were tiny chirps but he left me content with just that.

Words cannot explain my relationship with this wonderful creature. I had never felt so close to something or loved anything in my life so much as that baby chick. It was a form of companionship that I had never experienced. It was almost inexplicable. Pollito was just so innocent and cute! I grew to become super close to what I would have considered without a doubt "my life" at the time. The amount of joy this animal gave me could not be measured in any scale. This lasted for about two more weeks until I made the biggest mistake of my life.

It was the morning of the day we were moving into our new home. I walked right through that front door with nothing other than my baby chick. The minute I entered my new home my parents halted me at the door.

"No, no, no Tina. He can't come in." I almost dropped him!
"What do you mean?" I screamed.
They attempted to explain to me in the kindest and sweetest words that for some very peculiar reason in the universe, animals such as my own were not accepted in the community of these new town homes because they could cause a disturbance to the neighbor's. All I did was cry. As a young confused five year old, to me that made no sense. Who were these evil landowners to tell me what I can and can't do?  

"But no one will know if I keep it in my room!" I yelled to them with their tears rushing down my face.
"Hahaha! Tina mija, it will soon grow into a large chicken and then it will definitely be an inconvenience to the neighborhood!" She tried explaining, but I did not care. I was furious.

"No it wont! It will always be this size!" I yelled. I went hours kicking and crying and screaming at the top of my lungs, completely naive at the time of course. But my anger soon grew into depression when they said their plans for the next day.

"Tell you what, tomorrow we will take him down to Lola's ranch and she will take care of him okay?" claimed the evil masters.
"No! He's mine, NOT hers!" I screamed.

Lola was my mother's best friend who happened to own a ranch in the city of Casmalia. She had every animal you can think of in her ranch which was exactly why my parents thought it would be a great idea to abandon my baby in this loveless lot. They said they were going to take me the next day just so that they could "temporarily" take care of him and promised, making one of many false promises, that I would be getting him back soon. However, it was hard to depict their lies through the simplicity of their words.

I hardly even slept that night just thinking of how lonely I would be without him. I spent my last few possible hours with Pollito. I was completely devastated, heartbroken, and I absolutely despised my parents. It was the hardest thing in the world that I ever had to do. Yet, I knew that I had to let him go, for a while of course since my parents had promised to permit me one visit per day, another lie indeed.

The next day, we went to the ranch and they forcibly took him from my arms. I went back to the car eyes dripping with tears. I had never cried so much in my life. I refused to get out of the car. My parents finally decided to leave as soon as they realized I was about to throw one of my famous tantrums, the kind I would throw in stores to get what I wanted. I did not speak to them the entire ride home, nor for the rest of that day.

Apparently the evil masters felt "bad," I did not that cold hearts felt such emotions, because they took me back the next day. Took me back only to break my heart into a million pieces.

We arrived only to be given the worst possible news on the planet. Lola and her husband took me to the shed where they kept the chicks and chickens. They showed me a massive animal-made hole on the side of the coup.

"A coyote was here last night. He ate every single baby chick... including Pollito."

MY HEART DROPPED.

Pollito had died, and with him, so did I. To this day, I loathe all animals. I vowed to show no affection to another warm-blooded animal on the planet.

May you rest in peace Pollito.        

VOCAB: Spring 1

1)Adumbrate (v) -to produce a image or resemblance of; outline or sketch
I sat nervously on the bus as I felt the stranger in the seat across from mine continue to adumbrate me in his notebook as he had been doing for the past fifteen minutes.
2)Apotheosis (n) -the elevation of a person to the rank of a god
The apotheosis expressed in the classroom by the teacher to that particular student forced the rest of the classroom to feel as though it was unfair.
3)Ascetic (n)- a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practice extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons
I cannot imagine how terrible it must be to engage in an ascetic lifestyle.
4)Bauble (n) - a showy usually cheap ornament
My uncle felt the need to deny me access into the kitchen until I retrieved each and every single bauble that my baby brother had savagely thrown all over the living room.
5)Beguile (v) -to influence by trickery, flattery; mislead, delude
It is safe to say that many beguile in the business world if necessary to reach their final desire.
6)Burgeon (v) -to grow or develop quickly; to flourish
Europe was amongst the first continents to take the burgeon pride in the history of social evolution.
7)Complement (n) -something that completes or makes perfect
The complement to oreos would be milk.
8)Contumacious (adj) -stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient
Many of the young adults that find themselves in juvenile prison have possibly suffered from contumacious activity and should be receiving the most attention.
9)Curmudgeon (n) -a bad tempered cantankerous person
I constantly have to listen to stories about the curmudgeon reputation I had as a child and the many stories that followed it.
10)Didactic (adj) -intended for instruction; designed to teach
If Hitler would have had a more didactic style or attracting his target rather than appealing to emotions as he had, he may not have been able to brainwash as many people as he managed to.

HACKING MY EDUCATION

Today we were asked to reflect on our first semester in the course and exactly what everyone did to make changes in their lifestyles and what information they took form what we learned in the course previously and how we acted upon. No one said anything. And I realized the problem. It is not that we are not learning because we are, the problem is that people are not taking ACTION and that is exactly what we need to do. I know Dr. Preston has encouraged us to do so individually yet, only about 40% of both his zero and first period classes have done so. And why is that? Well we are all a bunch of big babies. We are accustomed to being walked through absolutely everything that we have done on our lives so when we are given the freedom to do as we want, we are blank. Completely clueless. Therefore I was thinking maybe we can start something as a class, kind of like a project or activity that is both interesting to us and educational, and then progress to individual actions, or perhaps both simultaneously. I am just not sure what yet. I know for a fact though that we definitely need to start taking action on everything we talk about rather than to continue simply doing that- talking about it.  

THE CHOICE

1. What is the "choice" referred to in the title?
The choice in the title refers to the five-year old's actual decision in the end for when it comes to taking her medicine. She knows she pretty much has no other choice because either way, her parents will get it in her one way or another. The young child is heavily aware of the outcome and she chooses to take the poison out of fear.

2. Is it a real choice?  Why/why not?  What is the alternative?
No, it is not a real choice because in reality, she does not wish to take the medicine. It is as if my parents said you are getting a this new phone that comes in black, white and pink and I want it in pink. Yet, they give me the choice of only having it in either black or white. Then it is more of a forced choice, the outcome is still beneficial to me since I still get a new phone, just not the one I desired.

3. Why does the author use the word poison in the first line?
The author utilizes the word poison in the first line to grasp the reader's attention and to state the substance as it really is, it is just not referred to in that term by many. He is not lying, it is a poison, yet medicine as well. 

4. The author's daughter wants to play with a toy that is intended for older kids.  Why?  Do you agree with her?  
Yes, I agree with her. Well first of all I really cannot relate to that situation since my parents let me play with all the toys I wanted regardless of the recommended age labels on the toys because in the end it does not matter, I was always fine. In committing this scene she proved just how worried she was and how much she feared loosing her life that she felt she needed to start living her life by doing things she might not ever be able to do, which is heart-breaking and as a child, I cannot imagine how scared I would be. 

5. If you thought you might not live to the age of 30 what would you want to do right now?
Long-term; from now until I died: If I had the financial resources, I would join the Peace Corps and probably do that for the rest of my life because all I have ever wanted to do as a child was help the unfortunate. And travel the world, while taking my family with me. I would work as much as I could and send all the money to my father so that he does not have to worry about another single bill as he grows older and older. 

6. Under what circumstances does it make sense to endure discomfort--or even force it on a loved one-- in service to a greater/more important cause?
Under the circumstances of possibility. Under these circumstances it would make sense to endure all the discomfort you can take because the parents obviously have good intentions and hope for the better. No one those anything harmful unless there is some form of positive outcome in the end. She is still alive and has been struggling for about 3 years it seems, which gives us a reasonable sign for hope. "As long as there is life, there is hope." 

7. Is suffering a necessary condition of life and love?
YES! You will not get anywhere in life without suffering! It is a part of life and I have not heard of a single human being that has yet to suffer. From the poorest man the world to the richest; it is a part of life and not you or your Benjamin Franklin's will be able to lure that away. Love as well, and all types of love. Parents watch their kids suffer in times of sickness, like these, or emotional and physical barriers in their lives and suffer as well but because there is simply nothing they can do about it but attempt to alieviate the pain. Boyfriends and girlfriends suffer all the time if they truly love each other when distance and miscommunication take place. Sometimes when a friend is emotionally hurt, I tell them to just cry and let it all out because I know that this is what they need to do to feel better afterwards. I sit there and hold them as they cry. I suffer, she/he suffers, yet it is just a part of life and necessary at the moment. Brothers and sisters always fight and will suffer many consequences but in the end, they will go right back up to apologize to each other because they come to a realization that life was better when you got along with them; I say this as I have just gotten out of a fight with my younger sibling. :)  

8. Most readers don't share the author's circumstances, but we feel an emotional response to his words.  Why?
As we read this, or as I read this I always tend to put myself in people's shoes because the only way you will ever understand another human being's true struggle's is by doing so. I do this and picture what it would be like to have their life. As I read this it brought tears to my face and sadness in my heart. No matter how much we as readers do not understand what the author is going through and all the pain he has experience, we become emotionally awoken because we fear that the same could one day happen to us and knowing this feeling we do wish it upon anyone else. We do not want anyone to have to go through this.