Traveling Spirits By Paulo Coelho Analysis

“ELEVEN MINUTES” by Paulo Coelho

Sometimes in life, to get what you desperately want, you have to give what you already have. And by that I mean you have to give up your own self. Being a traveling spirit requires not only a lot of money, but also a lot of sacrifice, because, by growing up we realize life is not about getting what you need, but getting what you want. I will now begin to tell the story of a young woman called Maria from a small village in Brazil living in a poor family, who “gets her heart broken” and does not believe in love anymore. She gets an unexpected offer from a modeling manager who worked on Switzerland, promising her a good job as a model and lots of money too. Without thinking twice she accepts the offer and leaves
But that of course, changed when she met a lonely artist named Ralph , who could see the inner light of hers. Regardless her profession, he fell in love with her. And without being able to accept, she fell in love with him too. They met in a small coffee-bar and he asked to draw her, because according to him, he really saw the light inside of her. After that time, they started to see each-other a lot. And not in a hotel, but in his house. They did not even make love, they just talked to each other, because very obviously, it was the thing they loved the most. So, “seeing each-other a lot” became “seeing each-other everyday” and that made Maria worried because Ralph would not give up. He started going to the nightclub and pay for the night, even they would just go home and talk in each-other’s chests. Her days almost became a year and she started planning her going back home. She had made quite an amount of money and she was ready to return in Brazil. She was tired of almost everything : The city, the normal clients, the special clients (by special it meant the clients who payed one thousand dollars a night), her boss, and the other girls who would kill just to have her clients. Ralph insisted so she could stay in Switzerland, but there was no such thing in the whole world that would convince her to stay. The last night on Switzerland she decided to stay over at Ralph’s and they slept together. For both of them, it was hard to say that it was not the best night. They even cried because the fate was separating them. And the one who was suffering the most was Ralph because she had found the very right one, and she was leaving right before his eyes. Next morning she would wake up, get dressed, pack her bags, kiss him for the last time and leave to the airport. She had to change two planes and the first stop was Paris, yeah, the