Persevere In Life

The Victor
Poet: C.W. Longenecker

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t
If you like to win but think you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win the prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

I think that this poem is very much showing that if you persist and have self confidence, you can do pretty much anything you want to. If you persist, you can take on any project or assignment that teachers can give you, even if you don’t feel like going on. This poem shows that if you believe in yourself, you can do anything, but if you doubt in yourself, you will not get anything done in life.

Destiny - Pursue It

Destiny

Destiny snuck into the corridor,

Clad in comprehension and enticement,

It left an understandable path intended for me to pursue.

Literature shows the values of a time period or culture, and it does that through using its literary elements such as mood, theme and actions of the characters. The mood of the story relating to the events and actions of the characters can hint about what a culture feels about an item or tradition of value. If a character in the story does something that is considered wrong with the tradition, then there would be a reaction to the event in the story. When the themes of the story appear (such as the wind), it tells the reader that there is going to be something important happening soon. Literature digs deep into the secrets of an time and culture, and sometimes leaves them wide open for the reader to see.

Just Keep Going

A trait that will allow me to succeed in life is that I am a hard worker and that I will do my best to complete whatever I am faced with. When I am away and out of school for reasons beyond my control, such as my recent trip to London, I will try as hard as I can to do any work in advance. I will go around to teachers and get any work that I can do beforehand and turn that work in either before or after I return. Upon my return, I will do whatever it takes to get the work done, such as staying after school for help and tips from teachers to expedite the catch-up process.
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Survive the Challenges

The people who come here have a lot of money to spend, … amongst us, the only ones who travel are the shepherds.’ ‘Well then I’ll be shepherd!’” (Coelho 9) In The Alchemist, Santiago, living in Andalusia, is a young shepherd boy who wants to travel and see the world. When he dreams of treasure near the pyramids, he sets out to find it, and along the way, he meets and gets to know many people. He finds the love of his life, succeeds in getting around many challenges and becomes more self-aware. Santiago uses his ambition, determination and confidence to help him achieve his destiny.

On his journey, Santiago uses his ambition in an assortment of ways. First, Santiago wants to be a shepherd instead of a priest, which is what his dad wanted him to be. Santiago’s father wanted him to be a priest, but Santiago wanted to travel and see the world. He is very ambitious to go see where the people that come to his hometown live and how they live. It is this decision to travel and be a shepherd in the first place that sets him off on his long journey to his destiny. Next, when Santiago is forced to stop in Al-Fayoum because of the tribal wars, he meets a woman of the desert who he falls in love with immediately named Fatima. As Santiago knows that this is the woman of his dreams, he feels extremely ambitious and declares, “‘I came to tell you just one thing, I want you to be my wife. I love you’… ‘I’m going to wait here for you every day. I have crossed the desert in search of a treasure that is somewhere near the Pyramids, and for me, the war seemed a curse. But now it’s a blessing, because it brought me to you’” (91). In the beginning, Santiago thinks that when the caravan has been held up in Al-Fayoum because of tribal wars that he should be angry because he is wasting time in Al-Fayoum, but in a few days that all changes because he meets Fatima. When he meets Fatima, Santiago first thinks that he has found his treasure, but the alchemist persuades him to keep pursing his destiny, because it is not his destiny to stay in Al-Fayoum with Fatima. His destiny is to find the treasure near the pyramids and be the apprentice to the alchemist. He will then be free to live as he pleases. Last of all, when Santiago is leaving Al-Fayoum with the alchemist, he says goodbye to Fatima, he is feeling ambitious because it is his goal to return to her with his treasure in a timely manner. He feels that it is achievable to become the apprentice of the alchemist and to find treasure. Santiago is sure because he has his ambition and is able to say with confidence that he will be back to Fatima in Al-Fayoum eventually with his treasure. This ambition that Santiago has is extremely important on his journey to his destiny, however he also uses his determination to overcome the challenges that he comes across on his journey.

Santiago uses his determination to persevere all the way to his destiny in a couple different ways. The earliest example of Santiago’s determination is when Santiago is in Al-Fayoum and he has seen the omen of the hawks, and is in the tent explaining to the tribal chieftains what he has seen. One chieftain doubts that Santiago saw the omen of the hawks and was able to interpret it correctly because he doubts that an eye not accustomed to the desert would be able to see the omen. On the contrary, it is the exact opposite. The main chieftain of the oasis tells Santiago a story about the tradition. The tradition states that when the omens present themselves to be read, they should be abided by. Santiago, with his determination, is able to pull through the situation presented to him and survive. Shortly afterward, Santiago is determined that he has found his treasure and his destiny in Al-Fayoum with Fatima. Santiago wants to stay in Al-Fayoum, quoting “‘I came to tell you just one thing; I want you to be my wife. I love you’… ‘I’m going to wait here for you every day. I have crossed the desert in search of a treasure that is somewhere near the Pyramids, and for me, the war seemed a curse. But now it’s a blessing, because it brought me to you’” (91). During his time with Fatima in Al-Fayoum, Santiago realizes that he loves Fatima to no end and wants to marry her. He is so determined by this that initially, he mistakes Fatima with his destiny. Only the Alchemist persuades Santiago to persevere onwards to his destiny. Further still into The Alchemist, Santiago is once again determined to persevere, only this time; it’s a little more complicated. Santiago must turn himself into the wind in order to stay alive; a tribe at war has caught him and the Alchemist. They think that Santiago and the Alchemist are spies, and threaten to kill them unless Santiago can turn himself into the wind. Santiago eventually does turn himself into the wind, but he needs all of his determination to do it. The determination is very important in Santiago’s destiny, but he also uses his courage to survive his challenging and doubtful journey.

During Santiago’s journey to his destiny, he must use his confidence to survive his long quest. The first example of this is when Santiago is with the crystal merchant in Terim; he needs to get enough money to continue on his destiny. Santiago is working for a crystal merchant, but the crystal merchant is not warming up to the idea of attracting customers by building a display case at the bottom of the hill. Santiago is confident that if the people see the crystal in the display case, they will come up the hill to buy the crystal. However, the crystal merchant is reluctant to allow Santiago to build the case because he fears that the crystal will be broken. Santiago also displays courage when he is faced with the Alchemist for the first time. When the Alchemist crosses paths with Santiago, the Alchemist tests Santiago for his level of courage. Santiago is at first scared, but later in the encounter, he becomes more confident because the Alchemist is asking him whether or not it is he who read the omens of the hawks. When Santiago feels confident that the Alchemist will not kill him, he becomes more self-aware and declares, “‘It is I who dared to do so,’ he repeated…” (105). This shows the reader that Santiago is confident, however, he isn’t always confident when he is first displayed with the problem. For example, when Santiago has to turn himself into the wind to survive, he is not confident in himself. Santiago is fretting over the fact that he is not able to turn into the wind, he and the Alchemist will die. He is only able to turn himself into the wind by turning to his heart and to the soul of the world. Only after he turns into the wind does he become fully confident in his abilities. Santiago uses his courage to defeat the tests that he is tested with in the Alchemist.

Santiago travels from his home in southern Spain all the way to Egypt in Africa in search of his treasure, only to be forced to return all the way to southern Spain to find his treasure and his destiny, but part of his destiny is to meet all of the people along the way and to become the alchemist’s apprentice. Santiago uses his ambition, determination and confidence to help him complete his destiny. Santiago wants to achieve his destiny and it wouldn’t have been possible for him to realize and achieve his destiny using his traits. His ambition drives his determination to achieve his destiny, and he uses his confidence to get around the obstacles that he meets on his journey. He emerges from this journey a new young man with riches and love, more confident, ambitious and determined then ever. Thus, Santiago’s tale serves as a reminder to all. All can achieve their destiny, if they survive the challenges.

Da Vinci-- The true genius

Da Vinci is a true renaissance man because he was way ahead of his era in terms of thinking. He was thinking of things that no one had even remotely thought about, and he was thinking in many different areas of science. Some of the areas included astronomy, anatomy, natural and life sciences, art and sculpting. Da Vinci started to doubt what the current beliefs were, and so he set out to find out the truth for himself. He went out and found out things for himself to argue the existing beliefs on all areas of science. He also made great works of art such as the Mona Lisa, which inspired people. His ability to do all this sets him apart from any other figure of that time period, therefore, he is a true renaissance man.

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