Reading Response- Fourth Section

One aspect of this book that I dislike is that whenever Santiago is learning from any of his mentors, they give him some vague advice that would leave almost anyone else confused or struggling, but then Santiago figures out some knowledge about the universe without any explanation. The example that annoyed me the most was after the Alchemist's speech about how you have to listen to your heart no matter what. Before this conversation, Santiago was having a lot of struggle trying to listen to his heart, and this was causing him a lot of distress. However, after a conversation about WHY it was important to listen to your heart, Santiago magically learns how to listen to his heart, as it is said, "The boy continued to listen to his heart... He came to understand its dodges and tricks... He lost his fear, and forgot about his need to go back to the oasis." It bothers me that Santiago was struggling with how he could listen to his heart, and then after a vague and confusing explanation, it somehow clicks and he is suddenly a master at listening to his heart.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 12, 2017 at 1:58 PM

    I appreciate your opinion on the matter and how you supported it. I see how this could be bothersome, because, as you mentioned, the advice is briefly given then all of a sudden Santiago is changed.

    Side note: 5:45 AM....?! Time management. You should be asleep/just waking up-not doing your homework!

    Overall, nice work!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Models and Designing Zero-Gravity Mechanism

Image
I began to create the 3D models for my design. I have not fully created the design for how I will get the flywheel to spin in zero-gravity, but I have some ideas. The reason I want to get my flywheel to spin in zero-gravity is because I would hopefully like to figure out a way to get a flywheel onto the International Space Station, which uses rechargeable nickel-hydrogen batteries right now to store its excess solar energy. The benefits of using a flywheel in space is that there would be no need for a vacuum chamber to reduce the air resistance of the system (since space is a vacuum already), which would cut down on the input energy into the system. Furthermore, even though the batteries on the ISS are rechargeable, they are misleading, since they can only recharge for a certain amount of time until the battery is completely dead, which would call for a replacement. This could require an entire rocket dedicated to bringing up a replacement battery that would require a lot of resour...
Read more

Genius Hour Blog: Introduction

     This project is a continuation of my science fair project. For my project, I will be taking a Flywheel Energy Storage Device (FES) and I will be changing a few variables on it, including making it levitate using magnets, putting it in a vacuum chamber, varying the type of metal inside the motor-generators, and I will get it to work in a zero-gravity environment.      As of now, FES devices are primarily used in partnership with different renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar energy, in order to store excess energy in an environmentally friendly way. The way it works is whenever there is excess energy, the energy will go to the FES and will get the flywheel spinning at a very fact velocity. Then, whenever there is no more energy going into the flywheel, the FES will regenerate the stored energy by transferring the energy back through the motor-generator. This is useful because the FES is a very clean way to store energy, and also has an ...
Read more

Again and Again- Pages 61 and on

Beginning during Santiago's hookah session with the Crystal Merchant, the phrase Maktub  is introduced, meaning "It is written" in Arabic. At this time, the phrase does not have much meaning, but later when Santiago is asking for the merchant's blessing, the merchant says the phrase before he "gave the boy his blessing." Later on, during the caravan trip through the Sahara, Santiago recalls the teaching of the Crystal Merchant as he gazes through the desert in search of meaning. Santiago thinks to himself that his intuition is simply his ability to become one with the world and the past, and then repeats the phrase Maktub.  As the phrase continues to be used throughout the novel, Maktub  begins to lose its true meaning as "It is written" and begins to be used as a peace word, where saying the Arabic word gives Santiago a divine peace.
Read more