Personal Legend: Evaluating Destiny and Self-Discovery in Coelho’s “The Alchemist” (Essay Sample)

Students Name Professors Name Course titles Date Personal Legend: Evaluating Destiny and Self-Discovery in Coelho’s “The Alchemist” Introduction Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" is a fascinating story of the journey to self-discovery, which resonates with every individual's life in pursuit of success and destiny. Santiago is the novel's protagonist whose journey to self-discovery unravels numerous challenges as they search for their hidden treasure. Throughout Santiago's navigation to find the hidden treasure in Egypt, he encounters mentors and other people who assist him in fulfilling his life's desires. The theme of personal legend becomes clear and indicates how a person will be able to overcome the challenges. Personal legend in the context of the novel is the deep desire a person wishes to fulfill and, therefore, read to do anything to make the desire successful. A personal legend is the prerequisite to understanding a person's destiny, transformative journey, and self-discovery needed to fulfill one's unique purpose in life. The personal legend serves as an initial point for a person's success. Santiago, a shepherd from Spain, had a unique dream of finding some treasure in Egypt. Driven by the deep desire to obtain the hidden treasure, he leaves everything behind and moves into the new location, where he faces numerous challenges in the desert. Along the way, Santiago met different people, such as Melchizedek, Fatima, the desert woman, and the English man studying alchemy. One compelling question in the novel is how the author conveys the importance of personal legend as a person seeks to attain a unique purpose and succeed in life. This research paper dissects the concept of personal legend through the lens of Santiago and his journey (Coelho 21). It will include five key subtopics: the philosophical underpinning of the theme, the role of mentorship, diversity, its impacts, the relationship between dreams and reality, and, finally, how the theme is universal across all cultures. Coelho’s Biography and Rationale for the Selected Topic The topic of personal legend is selected because the "Alchemist" is Coelho’s personal reflection of the search for life purpose in the form of a hidden treasure. It reflects his family life, personal choices and the decisions he had to make in pursuit for his dreams. Paulo Coelho was born in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 1947. Although his family wanted him to be a celebrated lawyer, Coelho had a deep desire to write and be different from the traditionally distinguished professions. His personal legend was writing and he overcome all hurdles to be a celebrated writer and gained life’s fulfilment. He is a celebrated author and has published other books such as Eleven Minutes, Veronica Decides to Die, and many more. Before his authorship, he was a theater director and a spiritual explorer to understand religion and how it affects people's lives. The type of work presented by the author is narrative form and shows that literature may be used for spiritual enlightenment, self-discovery, and finding a person’s destiny. It can generally represent transformative literature where people can overcome their challenges through personal legend and mentorship. The Philosophical Foundation of Personal Legend Santiago’s life journey depicts an inner desire that propels him to overcome the challenges. The quest for his legend is not only rooted in the physical realm but also in spiritual and philosophical traditions that direct the protagonist’s actions (Kumari 3). The author uses ancient wisdom and existential philosophy to explore and explain the personal legend that made Santiago overcome all the challenges he encountered along the desert to find the hidden treasure in Egypt. Existential philosophy underscores that people can create a purpose and meaning in life. According to this viewpoint, no separate entity, such as government, friends, or gods, gives one a purpose in life but is instead a personal choice. In the novel, the protagonist desires to shape his identity by abandoning his familiar life to seek a treasure and a new milestone (Coelho 9). The decision taken by Santiago to leave Spain, his home, and his family to pursue a purpose exemplifies the theme of personal legend and its unique force in making people undertake challenging decisions. The author utilizes mystical traditions to show that the personal legend is connected to a divine plan. The theme makes a person overcome the different challenges to achieve happiness and the joy of success. Usually, people can achieve what they can comprehend. However, the personal legend offers an opportunity for people to undertake a journey to a destiny that is beyond a person's imagination (Sebastian 5). Along the path to destiny, the divine journey introduces new mentors who will likely help achieve a set of rules. For example, Santiago met the king of Salem, Melchizedek, who assisted him in understanding the concept of personal legend and imparted wisdom, which inspired him to perform better in the long run. The mystical tradition is cascaded with ancient wisdom that is part of fulfilling personal destiny. Melchizedek, for example, gave Santiago two precious stones, thummim and urim, that were symbolic of daily decisions in life. The stones generally represented the incorporation of the spiritual and physical worlds in the journey of life to fulfill one’s destiny (El Aroud 430). As he traversed through the desert and encountered different challenges, the personal legend appears to transcend both the spiritual and physical order, where a person is supposed to understand the connection for a better outcome. Role of Mentorship in Realizing Personal Legend Mentorship plays a pivotal role in making people attain their goals and mission in life. In Santiago’s journey to attain destiny, mentors were placed strategically to help them chart the way forward. Mentorship empowered Santiago to complete the journey without hurdles and helped him develop his character and personality. Mentorship offers a guide for a person on the journey to their destiny (Coelho 23). For example, Melchizedek played a significant role in Santiago's life by giving him stones that assisted him in decision-making. In the contemporary world, mentorship helps people understand and pursue their legend, such as career guidance to help learners choose careers aligned with their passion and their abilities (Nurhidayanti et al. 109). Similarly, Melchizedek counseled counsel that he should sell his sheep to get resources for his journey. Mentorship further offers wisdom to navigate the path that has been selected. For example, the need for counsel continues after a person has been advised to select a career in a particular field. Instead, there needs to be a continuous development of a person in their pursuit of the personal legend (Al-Shammari 49). The advice provided to Santiago proved that success depends on the physical realm and spirituality, such as the lesson that people must always listen to their hearts when making important decisions regarding their goals and personal legend (Junot 26). It is also important to note that Melchizedek's mentorship helped foster Santiago's life journey and spiritual growth and his ability to view challenges from multiple perspectives. Mentorship plays a further role in determining a person's path to achieve the personal legend. For example, Santiago’s legend was to be rich by discovering a treasure located in Egypt. Although he knew about the purpose and the goal to be achieved, he needed important insights to enable him to navigate the challenges and remain focused on the journey while developing independence in attaining personal success. It teaches him to make personal and independent decisions while trusting in intuition (Coelho 23). In the contemporary world, people can overcome challenges when effectively mentored. The theme of personal legend is underscored as the main focus in the novel because it is responsible for the journey taken by the protagonist (Suwasono et al. 11). Through the interaction with the mentors at different levels of the journey, he reassessed his values and was able to align the value to the final goal expected. Misfortunes as the Catalyst of the Personal Legend Adversity happens in a person’s life in the form of, setbacks, hardships, and troubles which make people re-strategize on how to navigate the uncharted path in their lives to achieve their goal. The narrative created by Paul Coelho depicts the protagonist as a person whose misfortunes become part of their transformation (Al-Shammari 29). Hardship forms the basis for determination and resilience to achieve the personal legend. Since personal legend may be accompanied by colossal responsibility, it is essential to test a person's resilience for a smooth delivery of the duty when they finally achieve the personal legend (Coelho 12). For example, when a person is destined to be a ruler of the land, there is a need for tests so that the person may be vital to deal with challenges as a leader. Santiago's path in the desert was marred with challenges, and the loss of money in Tangier was a way of strengthening him to remain focused on his journey to the personal legend. Fear is a negative emotion that may hinder a person from achieving personal legend and success. In this case, Santiago's fear was overcome by the challenges he experienced on the journey. The author presented features and stations that could evoke uncertainty in a person and, therefore, had to be overcome to eliminate the fear and ensure better outcomes. For example, Santiago had to encounter tribal wars in the desert, which appeared to be the end of his pursuit. However, the council made him view the challenges as catalysts to develop a greater desire to achieve personal legend (Junot 19). Courage and resilience are essential aspects that make people ...