francisco'sreadingproject

Q.Does the theme reinforce or go against what most people think?

A.The theme of The Alchemist is to listen to follow your heart and to transform dreams into reality. Santiago was a young boy who decided he wanted to travel although his father insisted that he became a priest. Santiago  became a shepherd and was happy but then he dreamt of a foreign place. When he had the dreamed translated he learned that he had a personal legend to find treasure.

“And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, i can interpret what he has said.”(15 Coelho).

This gypsy woman was the pivotal point where Santiago finds what he lives for but he doesn’t quite understand it yet.  At first he shrugs off what the gypsy said but then he met an old man who tells him the same thing and convinces him by telling him things of his past that nobody knew. By following his heart he was able to find the treasure and a woman that would become his wife. But along the way he had to overcome a lot of obstacles. I feel like the theme would go against what some people think. Some people find the world to be cruel and unfair so they don’t follow their heart and are only left to dream of what could be but don’t put action to it so they are stuck to live miserable lives. We must follow our dreams and acknowledge that there will be obstacles but that it must not derail us from our personal legends.

Coelho, Paulo, Paulo Coelho, and Alan Clarke. The Alchemist. San Francisco:  HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. Print.

 

Q.Is it possible for the setting to become a character in the story? If so, how does this happen? Describe the characteristics of the setting?

A.In The Alchemist the places are referenced as things with souls therefore they are  characters in the book. The world has a soul and everything in the world contributes to that world’s soul. There is always a purpose for things on the planet. Those things could contribute in a small way or in an enormous way but it still contributes to the soul of the world.  

“The wind’s curiosity was aroused, something  that had never happened before.”(152 Coelho).

The wind is not a living being but in the book it is referenced as if it is and Santiago is able to communicate to it. He is able to communicate to it because he has learned the language of the world. During Santiago’s personal legend he had to journey through the Sahara desert. While traveling through it he was able to learn that the desert was a living thing, that it had a soul. Santiago was trying to explain what love was to the desert in order for him to become the wind, the desert responded

“The falcon’s beak carries bits of me, myself.”(148 Coelho).

 Santiago was able not only able to communicate with the Desert but with the wind, sand, and sun. These things and places become characters in the the book and essential characters because they help Santiago with his journey. Without the help of the characters Santiago would not be able to communicate with the world and he would not be able to continue with his personal legend. These settings became essential characters in the book and important because they helped bring all the lessons that Santiago learned to good use.

Coelho, Paulo, Paulo Coelho, and Alan Clarke. The Alchemist. San Francisco:  HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. Print.

 

Q. Are any of the characters a developing character, changing over time? If so, is the change a large or small one? Is the change believable for the character in his/her situation?

A. Santiago the main character in The Alchemist was developing throughout the entire  book. Towards the end of the book he had completely changed to a much wiser man that was extremely knowledgeable. Santiago was a shepherd in Spain who traveled to the Egyptian deserts in search of his personal legend, a quest, which a king had told him about.

“In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you.”(31,32 Coelho).

This journey that Santiago was going to embark on was not an easy task he was told that there were going to be obstacles in his path.  

“It was the pure language of the world. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time.”(96 Coelho).

Towards the end of the book Santiago learns many things and has developed through these teachings that the universe conspires to what we dream for. By listening to his heart he had achieved all that he was looking for and grew to appreciate the universe and its creator. Santiago learned many things and developed over his journey. He realized all by following his heart and became towards the end instead of being old and bitter. We all must follow our hearts and see that our dreams become reality in order to live a long happy life otherwise we would all live miserable lives.

Coelho, Paulo, Paulo Coelho, and Alan Clarke. The Alchemist. San Francisco:    HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. Print.

Q.Is the ending happy, unhappy, or indeterminate, Is the ending the appropriate ending for this book?

A.The ending to The Alchemist was everything that I was hoping to be. The events that lead up to it where leading up to a disappointing ending but luckily the protagonist Santiago was able to overcome obstacles to reach his personal legend. Before the book ended the last obstacle that Santiago faced was that a group of men came to him while digging for his treasure, they beat him and left him but then he realized where his treasure was.

 “the boy stood up shakily, and looked once more at the Pyramids. They seemed to laugh at him and he laughed back, his heart bursting with joy.”(168 Coelho).

Santiago had been approached by a king telling him that he had a bigger role than to be a Shepard that he had a personal legend that needed to be fulfilled. He did not believe the king at first but then was intrigued and couldn’t hold back. He sold his sheep in search for the pyramids of Egypt,where the king had said where Santiago’s treasure would be. During the trip he learned many valuable lessons and the way the universe worked. He used those exact lessons to find his treasure.

“Half an hour later, his shovel hit something solid. An hour later, he had before him a chest of Spanish gold coins.”(170 Coelho).

At the end of facing adversity he had accomplished his personal legend which made the ending even more satisfying. Santiago not only had his treasure at the end of his journey but he grew wiser as well. I assume that he lived a long life after retrieving his treasure. I Would also like to find out if they had children and how he died because everyone dies.

Coelho, Paulo, Paulo Coelho, and Alan Clarke. The Alchemist. San Francisco:          HarperSanFrancisco, 1993. Print.

Q.Is the ending happy, unhappy, or indeterminate . Is the ending the appropriate ending for this book?

The end Eight Days To Live was very satisfying to me because it wasn’t all happy but a little more realistic than having no one being killed there about two people she cared for being killed and her mother being shot. Yes I see how messed up it sounds when you read it but hey, not everyone is allowed to live nor is everyone going to live forever let’s be realistic.

“eight long, agonizing days that had seemed to go on forever”(397 Eight Days To Live).

Truer words were never spoken this book was long and although the book did drag out parts that seemed to never end it had its moments of greatness. There were parts of the book that kept me guessing on what was gonna happen next so I had to keep reading but like always my little eyes would get tired and I could no longer read and another reason was because it 1 o’clock in the morning and my mom was yelling at me to go to sleep.

Nothing was more satisfying than reading the last parts where the main villains of the book were killed off. One of them died by Jane shooting him right in the heart and the other died having a mural of judas falling ontop of him when they demolished the temple where they had the sacrifices, the irony right? But after the climax of the story there was still one question in my mind what happened to the judas coins? Where they sold because they are worth 8 billion dollars?

All jokes aside i do feel as those this was the right step for the final act to unfold because it still leaves us with some questions and coming up with theories on how things panned out after is sometimes better than getting ending it’s fun to imagine what could happen.

Johansen, Iris. Eight Days to Live. New York: St. Martin’s, 2010. Print.

 

Q.Are any of the characters a developing character, changing over time? If so, is the change a large or small one? Is the change believable for the character in her situation?

Jane Macguire is indeed like a realist person and like real people she develops into a more understanding person through the events that unfold she learns how cruel people could actually be she realizes how many monsters are out in this cruel world that we live in.

“First they’d torture you to find out if you know where we’re going. Then they’d kill you…. I won’t have you run join the body count”(196 Iris johansen).

This is when she fully understands that anyone around her is a target because of the cult putting a hit out on her. So this is the part of the book where she finds a translator to interpret a very old tablet they have taken in order to find out who the cult was worshipping. Not only did they bring the cult to the translator but the cult ended up destroying her house. The house she bought after escaping an abusive husband she was forced to married as a teen in pakistan. Jane had disrupted her life of peace and brought hell down upon it unintentionally.

She later finds a way to repay her but she still feels responsible for the destruction of the live the translator had created for herself. The changes Jane makes as a character throughout the events of the book are believable because those events would have an everlasting effect on anyone who went through them. If you think otherwise then go through what she went through which was almost losing everyone she loved to a ridiculous cult while nearly losing her life.

Johansen, Iris. Eight Days to Live. New York: St. Martin’s, 2010. Print.

Q.Are the characters consistent in their actions? Realistic?

The main character is named Jane Macguire and I feel as though she is realistic and her actions in this book are realistic because she seems as if she could be real. I know many people that have the same traits as she does, oh my what a headache they can be. Jane is a decrite, reserved, hardheaded, tough person who is full of no nonsense she has to see to believe.

“You grew up tough, but you didn’t let it poison you.”(14 Iris).

Her upbringings showed that she dealt with a lot growing up and most people have been through a lot which makes her realistic. Another thing that makes the character of Jane MacGuire realistic is that she is also hard headed in that she doesn’t take no for an answer even if it would save her life everything has to be done her way or she wouldn’t do anything. She hardly compromises but when she does she doesn’t do it pleasantly I know a few of people that are the same way.

 I feel as the the author may have met a real person just like Jane or just compiled a bit of everyone into this one character. Now the actions for the character in the book are not as realistic because she decides to confront the cult that is after her but in the real world there would be no chance that you would be able to do anything because of the major power they have and who they have under their payroll. Overall I feel as though the Jane could be an actual person reacting like a person would when their family is in trouble.

Johansen, Iris. Eight Days to Live. New York: St. Martin’s, 2010. Print.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q.Is the main conflict between sharply differentiated good and evil, or is it more subtle and complex? 

The main conflict is strictly between good and evil to give you a rough summary of the book Eight Days To Live the main protagonist is called Jane MacGuire she is a up and coming painter but things turn for the worst when her manager set up a gallery for her in Paris. The night after the gallery was closed she received a call, a disturbing call from a man shouting insults at her. So she goes to call her manager which had left to celebrate that night’s success, but wait she doesn’t pick up her phone jane is now worried so she goes down to the gallery to horrific sight. There nailed upon the door was her manager Celine. Jane notices that she is not alone she so tries to to escape but to no avail. It was the same man that had called her earlier her tried killing her but mutter out that he had to wait eight days to kill her. Unexpectedly a man came to her aid which turned out to be her friend she had helped before who was named jock gavin. So Jane goes on this epic journey of searching for why this man wants her dead but it is just not one man but a cult. A cult that worships judas so she later enlisted the help of a man that has powers to persuade people into doing his own will. She later finds out that the cult wants her dead because she made a drawing of judas depicting him has having guilt for betraying jesus. This cult was big worshipers in judas and every year they ad human sacrifice to please their real salvation. Not only that but they believe that she may know where the ancient coins judas had were located. Jane finds the coin but is almost late in giving the coins to the head of the cult she only had minutes before her mother was sacrificed. Luckily Jane had the right help and was able to demolish the cult and kill everyone.

The conflict is between good and bad because the cult were people sacrificing people for their own gain they killed thousands to millions of innocent people.

“Why was she surprised that a religion that lauded death and murder would also worship the most treacherous betrayer the world had ever known”(185 Iris johansen).

Now since the cult is worshipping judas and judas was the greatest betrayer that makes them evil and it makes jane MacGuire good. The book makes it very clear who is evil and who is good although the cult believes that they are doing good it doesn’t mean that they are good because of killing innocent people or people they thought were traitors for not following their cult.

Johansen, Iris. Eight Days to Live. New York: St. Martin’s, 2010. Print.