Thomas Pritchard May 13, 2014
All through Thomas Jefferson's life many events occur that relate to the symbolism present in Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist. All of these events and situations helped make him the man who had the power and experience needed to shape the future of America. In order to understand this amazing person we must first know who he is.We learn in Natalie’s Bober biography, Thomas Jefferson Draftsman of a Nation, that Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 on a 1400 acre plantation in Virginia. He was born to Jane Randolph, a rich aristocrat, and Peter Jefferson, a middle class Virginian. He was one of the first people to have been born between the social classes. This gave him a unique viewpoint on life. In the Alchemist Santiago discovered his personal legend with the help of many people and events. The same holds true for Jefferson. I do believe that Jefferson has a personal legend and that his journey to it is smiler to Santiago's.
map of showing the size of Virginiahttps://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1lFL1iABThJjSuX8ZdG6qAZp7IXmZp35mII11lBNSEVw/edit
Early in Jefferson's life, he had a life changing encounter similar to Santiago’s encounter with the King of Salem. This is the first of many such encounters for Jefferson. While Jefferson was attending William and Mary college in Williamsburg, Jefferson encountered a man by the name of Dr. William Small. This man was one of the few smart teachers at the college at the time and did much to liberalize the school. Dr. Small and Jefferson became friends and Jefferson credits Small as the person who ignited his love of math. Small’s similarity to the King of Salem, in The Alchemist, is shown when Jefferson said that Small “probably fixed the destinies of his life” (Bober 23). Small did what the King of Salem in The Alchemist did to Santiago, they helped get Jefferson and Santiago going down the right path. Small did this by suggesting Jefferson become a lawyer. Jefferson took this advice and unknowingly began his journey to his personal legend of fighting for people’s freedom through writing.
At this time in his life, Jefferson also began to see the beginning of the Principle of Favorability. This was seen in Jefferson’s romantic interests. The Principle of Favorability comes into play when one of Jefferson’s friends introduces him to an aristocrat friend who Jefferson becomes friends with. This friend shortly after introduces Jefferson to Francis Fauquier, the current Governor of Virginia. This may not be just the principle at work but also fate. Jefferson, who later became a powerful lawyer, could benefit from being friends with a Governor. It would supply him with knowledge that would be invaluable later on in his life. In this time, Jefferson started to become more and more interested in romance. He had a situation similar to Santiago and the merchant’s daughter were he loved her but could not bring himself to tell her. In Jefferson's case it was a young lady by the name of Rebecca Burwell. In the end he never told her he loved her, just like Santiago, and she went off to marry a man named Jacquelin Ambler. Jeffersons fear of getting rejected kept him back from telling her that he loved her, the same as Santiago. Later on in his life he would meet his future wife, Martha Wayles Skelton. She would be Jefferson’s Fatima. To Santiago, Fatima was the person that kept him going and the same is true for Jefferson. When Martha died Jefferson became so depressed he entered a coma immediately afterwards and when he awoke he destroyed every letter they had sent to each other. Also during this part of his life his Personal legend began to grow, he has been elected to the House of Burgesses, Virginia's governing body. His personal legend showed it's self at this point when Jefferson was in court, he would typically defend slaves. In one case he was defending a grandson of a mulatto, a mixed race person. The law says the grandmother and mother are bound to slavery until 31 but the law is silent on grandchildren. Jefferson says "Under the law of nature all men are born free, everyone comes into the world with a right to his own person {...}
which is called personal liberty and is given him by the author of nature" (Bober 58). Here Jefferson is defending the rights of a person bound into slavery because of linage. He is standing up for those that cannot do it themselves, he does this by fighting for them in court even though it is not popular to do this. He also does this by not charging the grandson anything. Even thought he lost the case he still was following his personal legend by fighting for the grandsons rights.
During the middle part of Jefferson's life is when many correlations between The Alchemist and Jefferson's life begin to take shape, like the Tree of Sacristy and the oasis. When Jefferson’s good friend Dabney Carr died he had an agreement that whoever was to die first was to be buried under the old oak tree at the base of Tom’s mountain (Shadwell). In addition to Carr, Jefferson also buried Martha and four of his children their. The bandit chief in The Alchemist say’s to Santiago as he searches for the treasure that “In my dream, there was a sycamore growing out of the ruins of the sacristy, and I was told that, if I dug at the roots of the sycamore, I would find a hidden treasure” (Coelho 163). This draws the correlation between Santiago and Jefferson, that beneath a tree at their homeland a treasure lies. They both have gone far away in search of something else but their treasure remained at home. For Santiago it was treasure's of gold and riches. For Jefferson it was his beloved wife, children and friend. In The Alchemist, Santiago finds a home at the Oasis in the desert during a long journey. He goes on to love the oasis and makes it his home. He says that he is happy here because “I’ve found Fatima, and, as far as I’m concerned, she’s worth more than treasure” (Coelho 118). He has all he needs. This is the same with Jefferson. He expressed the same sentiment at Monticello. At Monticello he is happy and at peace. He has all he wants, safety, isolation, beautiful sights, and most impotently, Martha.
As Jefferson gets more involved with the revolution, he begins to think of things that are similar to the symbolic meaning of Alchemy. The Soul of the World, fate and his personal legend all make a major appearance in this part of his life as well. The relationship between Alchemy and Jefferson's belief in natural rights is a very similar one. In The Alchemist , alchemy is symbolized as the cleansing of Santiago from his impurities and the search for a secret treasure. The relationship here is that to Jefferson his alchemy is the natural rights of man. He is taking the old corrupt British laws and transforming them into new universal laws of man. While he is doing this he is also cleansing himself of his British ways and becoming more American. To Jefferson his treasure at the pyramids that drives his personal legend is the hope of freedom for all. This is like Santiago’s even in the aspect of not finding what he wants because in the end Jefferson gets his freedom, but not his ideal freedom for everyone. The treasure Jefferson pursue’s is the driving force behind his personal legend to bring freedom and equality to all. Their is one time in Jefferson's life when he began to go astray of his personal legend. This was when he became Governor of Virginia. Just like Santiago and the Crystal shop, Jefferson got distracted from his personal legend. And also like Santiago, the Soul of the World sent Jefferson messages that he was going astray. For Jefferson the Soul of the World’s hints came in the way of the British. When Jefferson took office as Governor in 1779 the British decided that they were going to take the war to Virginia. This, in addition to Jefferson’s inability to be an effective governor, is the Soul of the Worlds way of telling Jefferson that he is suited for the legislative. Their he can follow his legend of freedom and equality.
Thomas Jefferson was undoubtedly a great man, perhaps the greatest man who ever shaped America. All through Jefferson's life he knew his personal legend was to fight for freedom and equality through writing, in The Alchemist, Santiago’s was to search for treasure. One is in search of physical wealth, the other is another form of wealth. In the end, they are both in search for treasure, treasure in different forms but treasure all the same. In Santiago’s life there were many people and ideas that helped Santiago to his legend. Many of those same people and idea’s come into play in Jefferson's life, some people like the King of Salem, the idea’s of the principle of favorability, fate, and the Soul of the World. They may be two different people, but they are more alike because of their experiences than you would think.
http://www.notable-quotes.com/j/thomas_jefferson_quote_3.jpg
Works Cited
Works Cited
Bober, Natalie S. Thomas Jefferson Draftsman of a Nation. N.p.: U of Virginia, 2007. Print.
Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. Rio de Janerio: Editora Rocco, 1988. Print.
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