Comparison Of The Outsiders And The Alchemist

The Outsiders demonstrates the hero’s Journey better than Santiagos by showing the following hero’s journey stages: meeting the mentor, a refusal to the call and crossing the threshold.

Ponyboy has a better mentor than Santiago because he gives the boys life saving advice. In the Outsiders, the mentor is Dallas Winston. Dallas Winston gives Ponyboy and Johnny money a gun and a place to stay until the murder has blown over. (Dallas Winston) ‘Hop the three-fifteen freight to Windrexvill, there’s an old abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain'(page 61). (Dallas Winston) ‘Here- he handed us a gun and a roll of bills'(page 60). Dallas Winston is a mentor because he helps both Ponyboy and Johnny hide from the police so they won’t get into a lot of trouble for self-defence, therefore saving their lives. On the other hand in the Alchemist Santiago’s mentor is the gipsy, the dream reader. She tells Santiago that he will find treasure. Santiago than goes and sees the king and he gives Santiago a white and black rock. The king said that the black and white rock will help him find his treasure.

Crossing the Threshold for Ponyboy and Johnny is when they have to hide in the church. They later find the church by asking a farmer. The second one is when Johnny says ‘We’re going back to turn ourselves in, we won’t tell that you helped us. It ain’t fair for ponyboy to have to stay in the church and hide since he didn’t do anything wrong'(page 87). Johnny wanted to turn himself in so they wouldn’t be in as much trouble if they turn in. He also wanted Ponyboy to reunite with his brothers and not have them worry about Ponyboy. Crossing the threshold for Santiago is when he sells his flock of sheep and takes a boat. Santiago has later realized that he no longer has a shepherd’s life. He knows that he has let all of that behind him.

Refusal of the call for Ponyboy is when he refused to fight the Socs and almost drowns. This would not have happened if Ponyboy wouldn’t have been angry the Socs mad. If Ponyboy would not have run away from home the Socs would not have been able to hurt him and they wouldn’t have had to run away for the murder. If Ponyboy would have fought the Socs than he would not have been drowning. Refusal of the call for Santiago is when he makes excuses for why he wouldn’t be able to leave is because he doesn’t want to leave his sheep. His second excuse was that his sheep would lonely without him. His second excuse was he did not want to leave the love of his life.

The Alchemist and The Outsiders are similar in the mentor category because in the Alchemist the mentor is the Alchemist. The mentor in this book leads Santiago on a journey to ‘find a treasure’ that he doesn’t expect to find. The mentor in the Outsiders is Dallas Winston because he helps both Ponyboy and Johnny. Both of the mentors in the books help the characters when needed or through tough times.

Santiago realizes the connection between him and God was the powerful miracles that he can perform because he is one with Gods. However, he must travel to the Pyramids. Santiago has to do this because this has been his goal this is because he wanted to follow his dreams. In the Outsiders Ponyboy and Johnny run from home and go to the park because Ponyboy got into an argument with his brother Darry. Ponyboy and Johnny run away after killing Bob because they did not want to get caught by the police. After they ran away they had to keep themselves hidden and they had to survive in an abandoned church and they would have to eat baloney sandwiches every day. Ponyboy and Johnny have a better hero’s journey because their adventure is more serious and interesting.