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Subtlety in "The Alchemist" by Walter Kraatz

 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho follows the journey of a young man, named Santiago, as he travels throughout Spain and North Africa in attempt to find treasure. Finding the treasure is Santiago's personal legend, or his destiny. The journey is sparked by a recurring dream and a encounter with magical king who convinces him to act upon the dream because it is his personal legend. 

    Santiago travels throughout North Africa in attempt to find the treasure that he believes to be in the desert near the pyramids of Giza. During his journey from Spain to Tangiers to Egypt he learns about the Language of the World, the Soul of the World, and how all things conspire together to help someone realize their personal legends. Santiago is accomponied throughout his journey by a variety of characters who are intstumental in helping him both understand the world and realize his personal legend, however I don't feel that it would be right to reveal all of them as it would spoil portions of the book. 

    The main purpose of this blog post is to discuss the subltety, or rather lack of it, in The Alchemist. Given that the book focuses on a journey that is not only physical but also mental and spiritual it is expected that some of the deeper meaning is more out in the open, but The Alchemist takes it to an entirely new level. In most books the subtext is a glimpse though a window with moisture between the panes that fogs up and obscures your view, but in The Alchemist the subtext is etched into a brick that flys through that window and smacks you in the face. The characters spend half the book explaining the meaning of what they are saying to one another. The book seems like half novel and half self help book with the way it is so open about its meaning. 

    Despite the directness of the novel I found it very enjoyable. I think that the purpose of the novel is to not make you think about what the author is trying to say, but rather making you focus on what the author explictily focuses on in the novel.

Comments

  1. Coleman C.November 13, 2020 at 3:30 PM

    I guess it is just a different style of writing to throw everything at your face instead of making it a complicated story with layers. I can see both sides of how it could be a good or bad read. If you really don't want to think too much, it would be sweet. However, it could be really annoying if it seems like the author doesn't trust the reader to realize the subtlety. It might also be annoying having the explanations take up a lot of space, when another book might spend much less time on it.

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  2. KnoxNovember 13, 2020 at 9:25 PM

    I remember starting to read this in around 4th grade and it was really confusing to me at the time, and now that you've talked about it I realize why, and everything makes so much more sense. This was more than a good review, it was also helpful. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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