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.