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The Archer: Book Review

Introduction:

The book entitled “The Archer” is a profound philosophical fable which follows the teachings of a man named Tetsuya. The following book was written by Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian lyricist and novelist who has previously gifted us great fables like ‘’The Alchemist.’’ The beautiful fable is constructed, in a way to inspire the readers to follow their destinations of desire with passion and discipline. The following book explores the ideas of Archery in real life scenarios, teaching us the way of drawing, aiming and shooting the ship of our life to sail into the right waters and during the right wind.

Writing Style:

Paulo Coelho is renowned for his simple writing style and conclusiveness. In the book, he has explained to us the art of the bow in a fluid and descriptive tone while still feeling inspiring throughout the text. The story,though short, helps the readers reflect on themselves. The story of Tetsuya has been used as a hook and the concepts of Bow, Arrow and Target have been metaphorised as Life, Intention and Destination. The explanation paragraphs in pages have been intentionally kept shorter for the reader to reflect on themselves and abstract illustrations have been provided as a hook for the reader to remember the words all along their life. It is motivational and philosophical as the ideas behind are deep and meaningful that forces the reader to pause and think about it. Overall, the writing style is motivational and meditative as it delivers powerful lessons in a straightforward and elegant manner.

Prologue:

Tetsuya was called by a man who was willing to challenge him that day. They said Tetsuya was the greatest archer to ever live. The man wanted to prove it wrong. The boy reminded him that Tetsuya didn’t seek competition, he lived his life doing carpentry. The man was stubborn as he insisted on challenging Tetsuya anyways. The boy took the man towards Tetsuya’s residence. He claimed that his intention was not to humiliate the great master, but to show the art of his bow in front of Tetsuya. He managed to shoot a cherry, a great distance away with great precision. It was Tetsuya's turn now. Without speaking, he went towards a mountain which contained a bridge, almost on the brink of collapse. Tetsuya stood in the middle, balancing his body as he drew the bow and shot a peach only half as distant to him compared to the man and the cherry. He went back to the man and said that the man had shot further and to a smaller target than him. Seldom is it hard for him to shoot the target half as close. The man, scared for his life, went away. The boy was startled by Tetsuya's art and requested to be a disciple. Tetsuya agreed to which after some persuading and thus, began the teachings of the art of the Bow.

Plot:

The following fable narrates the comparison of the art of bow with our life. It describes how our life should be balanced, even during unfavourable conditions and how discipline and being tenacious towards our goals is the requirement for achieving them. In the following fable, we learn Coelho’s philosophical teachings in the art of bow like how to pick your allies, how to hold the bow, arrow and release. Coelho has stated that no person is always perfect and always improves from the start though, discipline and repetition with improvement is the differentiator between the Lion and the Jackal. Moreover, Coelho has stated the following major points in the fable:

Allies:

What you enjoy is what you share the joy of to other people. The Artist who doesn't share the joy of his Art to others is just a man filling the canvas without emotion. No one has perfect allies and a follower of the art of the bow shouldn’t try to get them. Instead, get weak people who are neither so fragile to bend their goals, nor stubborn enough to never take risks. You can learn from everyone, even the ones who are nonchalant towards the art of the bow. Learn what they are good at and do not imitate what they are still improving on.

The Bow:

The bow is life. What it does is in your hands. You can use it to threaten, steal and intimidate but also save lives and nurture minds. Setting the target to what you desire is easy. Picking the bow up to aim at it is hard. Intention is in the bow, whether you hold it right to shoot the arrow, or wrong enough to break it by pulling the strands. It shouldn’t be drawn too hard. Instead, it should be drawn lightly, one step at a time. A person with focus and calmness shoots better than a man who can shoot faster.

The Arrow:

The arrow is the intention, how you decide to pierce the target. Once an arrow leaves the bow, it doesn’t come back, so it is better to clear where you aim. Reaching what you desire by harming others is like plucking the flower you like from a garden. You do not understand the significance of it. Watering a seed until it grows into a flower is what makes you not want to pluck it. So nurturing your intentions is what is required to set out.

The Target:

“The target is the objective to be reached.” -Paulo Coelho

Never let someone else interfere with it as you may regret where the arrow went. Always set the target where your heart desires. Do not blame the target when you fail to hit it, improve on how you can do it better the next time. Always view the target with respect and dignity. Never make an excuse on how further a target is from you, instead try to improve your posture to get closer to it. Trying once again helps reach the target more than leaving it by making an excuse.

Repetition:

Repetition is not a valuable form of practice unless you see your flaws. The methods you use to draw and shoot an arrow should always be somewhat different from the previous one. The elegance of repetition relies on how you perceive your own flaws. That is the only moment you realise what to improve the next time.

After an archer iterates on his mistakes time and again till the point of perfection, they no longer need to think about the target or the bow and arrow. The bow and arrow were the paddles of the boat who took it to the sea. After the boat has reached the sea, it no longer needs a paddle as it is drifting by its own sail and the will of wind.

Message of “The Archer”:

The following fable empathises on the journey of any human on how they create a path for reaching what their heart labels as "Success." What differentiates between animals and bacteria is that animals have consciousness, the term given to a being that can think independently. Bacteria are just non living things who reproduce and need a continuous supply of energy. For their need of energy, they develop features like locomotion. They are the closest living beings to non-living things. When these bacteria develop into a more complex organism, their need is not only energy, they have to survive and thus, they develop a sense of their own presence or simply consciousness, being called animals. Moreover, they develop jealousy and start envying each other. They form complex societies and discover that strength is in numbers. They not only start competing for survival but compete to prove. Those animals are known as apes. The only time they evolve into some being that has a meaning to its life is when they create destinations, where the boat of their life sails past the distant shallow water and seeks to explore the greater abyss that lies beyond. The temptation to learn and to adapt is driven for them as everytime they try to be better. This is when a human is born. Humans are more likely to grief more in minor failure than in major success. This is what Paulo Coelho has been trying to narrate to us during the whole of this fable. The hunger to learn from failure, the resilience to adapt and the need for survival and being better and better every time is what makes an ape a human. Going towards your goals regardless of what has occurred in the way while improving on your failures is what the book has narrated in its entirety. In the fable, Coelho has given the metaphor of a bow and a target, to narrate to us the story of life and goals.

My opinion:

The Archer is a mind opener with an astonishing viewpoint on how life behaves. Coelho, from his own life experiences has delivered us a fable that is a well of reflection for the ones who are entangled in the strands of life. None of the goals in life can be achieved without hard work. To achieve the destination that we desire, we have to step out of our comfort zone and ram into the walls which are stopping us. The circumstances that entangled me in life are impenetrable, but by reading the book, I found scissors that could cut even the stings made out of Amethyst. The Archer was inspiring to me and will forever be.

Recommendation:

The following book has been written in easy and fluid language without missing to go deep for readers. Reading these types of books in different ages reflects and opens the eye of readers of what they understand in each age. The book is really engaging all the people of all the different age groups have a deeper or broader and different understanding of it which ages like fine wine. I would love to recommend this book to everyone who desires a short but life changing fable and are entangled in the strings of difficulty in life.