4. Parables

A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or (sometimes) a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human characters. Parable - a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson. A parable is a short tale that illustrates universal truth, one of the simplest of narratives. It sketches a setting, describes an action, and shows the results. It often involves a character facing a moral dilemma, or making a questionable decision and then suffering the consequences.

Paulo Coelho (Portuguese: [ˈpawlu kuˈeʎu]; born August 24, 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He has become one of the most widely read authors in the world today. He is the recipient of numerous international awards, amongst them the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. The book has gone on to become an international bestseller. Coelho wrote The Alchemist in only two weeks in 1987. He explained he was able to write at this pace because the story was "already written in [his] soul". The basic story of The Alchemist appears in previous works. In 1935, the Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges, published a short story called Tale of Two Dreamers in which two men dream of the other's treasure. The book's main theme is about finding one's destiny. According to The New York Times, The Alchemist is "more self-help than literature". An old king tells Santiago, "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". This is the core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that plays all throughout

Coelho's writing in The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho's “The Alchemist” is the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy content to wander through the Spanish fields and towns. In trying to understand his dream, Santiago encounters a wise old man who calls himself Melchizedek, the King of Salem, who sets the boy off on a quest to discover his Personal Legend. Paulo Coelho's story is a short (163 pages) and simple one, an inspirational parable about the importance of pursuing one's dreams. The Alchemist is a quick and enjoyable reminder for anyone who feels they have become distracted from pursuing their own Personal Legend. 

This story is a lovely religious parable about following one's dreams. By "religious," of course, I mean not dedication to an established religion, but rather devotion to finding inner spiritual enlightenment. In much the same fashion as I use the phrase "inner spiritual enlightenment," the author uses the words "dream" and "personal legend" as his metaphors for fulfilling one's own potential or destiny.

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize. Haruki Murakami is known for his vast imagination. Most of the times, that very same imagination tends to get him in trouble with critics. Murakami is one of those writers you have to follow (if you were lucky you would have followed him from the very start) and grow with him both in terms of style and content. “The Silence“, in which a young man, following an act of physical aggression, feels the isolation and ostracism of being cold-shouldered by his social community. Murakami is at his best when he goes heavy on surrealism as is the case in Sleep and The Elephant Vanishes; stories that also happen to be the longest ones in this collection. The characters in them struggle mightily to make sense of the situations they find themselves in.

Murakami’s fiction, often criticized by Japan’s literary establishment, is humorous and surreal, and at the same time digresses on themes of alienation and loneliness.Through his work, he is able to capture the spiritual emptiness of his generation and explore the negative effects of Japan’s work-dominated mentality. His writing criticizes the decline in human values and a loss of connection among people in Japan’s society.