Research Question

The topic I decided to do deals with the Universal Language aspect of The Alchemist. My research question is, "How is the universal communication of Santiago mirrored to the present day means of communication?" As far as answering the question I am still kind of stuck. The sub-points I have thought of are either nature and culture or verbal and nonverbal ways of communicating. Through some research most articles suggest that there is not much evidence to support my claim of a universal language even existing. 

As a second topic I chose that of simplicity. In The Alchemist a common theme seems to be simplicity as I explained in my last blog. The research question is "How is Santiago's fascination with riches reflective of today's society of instant gratification?" I find this to me interesting because Santiago waited patiently for years to be able to interpret his dreams and we have a hard time waiting more than 5 seconds for our internet to load. While those two things aren't necessarily comparable in context, you get the picture. We're demanding.

The Alchemist

So far The Alchemist has been pretty good. One trend I notice in the story is that of omens. Santiago lets the stones do the picking instead of making a choice. Also when the Tangier recognizes Santiago's presence in the shop as an omen. There are signs the characters follow throughout the book because of suspicion or past behaviors.

The second recognizable theme is controlled luck. The King and The Alchemist convince Santiago that the world will work to improve his personal legend once he names it. Santiago then makes a decision to go to Africa and sells his sheep easily making him work toward his goal even more. The first decision ended up leading to future positive outcomes.