Paper Idea

I see the theme of The Alchemist to be finding what truly makes you happy.  Coelho analyzes different forms of happiness, like freedom, independency, riches, stability, etc.  Like in the story, the idea of what makes someone happy and how long it takes to find it are did for everybody.  On the surface, the story shows Santiago choosing between being a humble shepherd to riches.  If you look deeper though, it analyzes other forms of happiness, like love, lifestyles and relationships.
There has a been a lot of research about happiness.  What makes people happy?  For example, a common discovery is that money doesn't necessarily compute to happiness.   I will analyze what "happiness" really is, like Coelho tried doing in his story.

one source is an article on www.psychcentral.com

Alchemist

Throughout the story, Santiago is struggling to figure out what he want to do in his life.  As the story goes on, his vision of what will make him happy changes.  He is at first content to be a shepherd.  He then decides he wants to find his Personal Legend.  He is met with struggles and conflicts and starts to think maybe his quest is one he shouldn't take.  Throughout the story thus far, he has finally decided his Personal Legend is worth trying for, and he is going to take the risk to do it.
The second thing I see going on in the story is Santiago is increasingly learning how to understand the people, animals and things around.  He starts understanding the "universe" around him.  At the beginning of the story, he thought being able to read and knowing stories was impressive.  He is starting to realize that you can learn much more just by observing and paying attention to what is going around you.

Burton's Tea Part

When I first saw the new Alice movie, I didn't appreciate a lot of it.  I knew it wasn't based on the original, but I didn't realize how it tied in with it.  After reading the book, I see that Burton definitely put his own spin on it, but also stayed true to a lot of the original Alice details.  The tea party set up was very similar.  The same characters being stuck at tea and not making a lot of sense.  The use of the same spin off of the song twinkle, twinkle was even used.  The part that stuck with me as the big difference was how the Mad Hatter acted at one point.  He started talking about how he was stuck at tea and started to get very angry.  The Hatter has been stuck at tea time all these years, and Burton's film showed the character having an angry side being stuck that long.  It gave another side to the Hatter character that wasn't in that scene of the book.

Alice Character--Catepillar

My run in with Alice was a very peculiar one.  I was minding my own business, smoking like usual, when she popped her head up on the mushroom I was on.  She talked a lot and was very long winded.  I tried getting her to leave me alone with short responses, but I don't think she got the hint.  Our conversation had run its course, and I decided to leave.  I decided to help her, but not completely, so I told her how to change her size, but not which way would make you larger.
Alice was a very different person than I am used to being around.  She talked a lot and had a lot of energy.  She struggled knowing who she was, and that confused me. She annoyed me at times, but part of me enjoyed meeting her.  I wish her the best of luck in the rest of her time spent in Wonderland.

Victorian Era

A major aspect of the Victorian Era, which lasted from 1831 to 1901, was the dramatic increase in population.  The population in England increased by almost 20 million people.  As you would imagine, this is attributed to increases in the fertility rate and decreases in the morality rate.
A major reason these statistics went the way they did was due to the fact that this time period was one of the first that didn't have a serious epidemic.  Populations had been decimated for years due to plagues, but the Victorian Era avoided this issue.  This lead to a drastic increase in population, which then increased economic success and diversity.  This rise in the number of people is a major aspect of the Victorian Era.

Favorite Book

I have a couple favorite books, one of them being Shutter Island.  I initially heard of it after watching a movie preview on it, and decided to read it.  It was a very good book and hard to put down.  Mystery/thriller books are my favorite to read, and this fit that perfectly.  It had one of the best endings I've read.  I really liked the movie, but the book was better.  It also showed me the other good books by the author, which include Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone.