Themes, themes, themes :)

Because what I think doesnt match with what the author thinks (which kind of sucks, right), I am going to use a quote I have already used once. When Mr. Coelho was asked what the main themes are, he answered “We live in a world of standardised behaviour, standardised beauty, quality, intelligence, efficiency. We believe there is a standard for everything, and we believe, too, that if we stick to that standard we’ll be safe. Because of this, we have created a kind of ‘standardised sex’, which, in fact, consists of nothing but a string of lies: vaginal orgasm, virility above all else, that it's better to pretend than to disappoint your partner, etc. As a direct consequence of this, millions of people have been left feeling frustrated, unhappy and guilty. It also lies at the root of all kinds of aberrant behaviour, for example, paedophilia, incest and rape. Why do we behave in this way with something that is so important?”

Okay. In my opinion there are three main themes -sex,  dreams versus adventures and the, so called, ‘inner light’.

The sex theme is very clear, I suppose, since it is a story about a prostitute and Mr. Coelho describe her sexual practices and experiences in detail. The book describes what sex really is, what is bring to us and how to do it (yes, I am serious). In my opinion it also shows how it is misused – prostitution. For example when Marias client beats her up and she is still happy for the money she gets for sleeping with him because then she can send it to her poor parents in Brazil. It shows good and bad sides of sex. Actually, when I think about it, it only shows the good ones, but to me some of them seem bad…. Well, I guess every reader has to decide it themselves.

In the book there are also a few situations where the protagonist has to choose either to get what she dreams of to get in her life or do something crazy just for experience, money, change…. This one is a good example. In the beginning of the book Maria is a young girl who keeps waiting for her ‘Prince Charming’ who would come and take her to his big house and they would have kids together and all those things attached to a loving couple. After some time she gets disappointed because there is still no one there for her like this and she decides to go to Europe. She still hopes to fall in love inside her heart, but instead she chooses to work as a prostitute. Why? Maybe experience, money, adventure, excitement….

The book also concentrates on something that Paulo Coelho calls the ‘inner light’. According to the author it is something everyone has inside. We cannot define, nor see it. You just feel it. For example the inner light is the reason people fall in love. It doesn’t matter if you fall in love for the first sight or after ten years knowing each other. It is just something that attracts you to a person for no explainable reason. I think we all know this feeling, but the author has written it down J