Oy, this is difficult keeping up with my posting...

Well, I'm getting farther along into my book, and I'm more and more intrigued by it. I was right last week in thinking that the farther I got into my book, the more culture I would see. Now, in my Coelho's novel, the boy has discovered that what the gypsy had told him was true. He talks about a wind that brought the Moors to Spain way back when. And when "the king of Salem" comes to him to tell him to follow his personal legend he, well, assumed the form of a king. I thought it was pretty cultural that Coelho chose for this spirit to take the shape of a king, because since the beginning of the book, it has discussed the presence of palaces at every city.
But the most cultural aspect so far is when the boy arrives in Tangier, crossing the straits. In Tangier, and I quote: " 'A practice of infidels,' he said to himself. As a child in church, he had always looked at the image of Saint Santiago Matamoros on his white horse, his sword unsheathed, and figures such as those kneeling at his feet. The boy felt ill and terribly alone. The infidels had an evil look about them." (34) The boy had never seen a Muslim person in his travels all over Andalusia, yet alone an entire nation of them. He also encounters culture shock when he makes a startling discovery, "He recalled that when the sun had risen that morning, he was on another continent, still a shepherd with sixty sheep, and looking forward to meeting with a girl." (38) The boy had to come to terms with his decision to leave behind what was normal to him to follow what to others may be considered as a "wild goose chase" but to him it was his personal legend.