The Devil and Miss Prym

by Paulo Coelho I have started to enjoy paulo coelho books though i have not yet read The Alchemist. Each book has the philosoply of life explained in the form of an interesting story... Just finished the Devil and Miss Prym. This one talks about mans struggle between evil and good. It talks about a man who wants to find out whether man is essentially an evil being or is he a good being. The fight between the evil and the good has been nicely depicted. The message the book gives finally is that 'Each person is essentially made up of evil and good and that they are in continuous fight. It is upto us to control the evil and let the good triumph' It also talks about an old lady, Berta. Berta has lost her husband some 15 yrs ago and now by strong will power to be with her husband she has developed such qualities that she can see through a person and know what is going on in his mind.. In the sense whether he is 'accompanied by the devil or good'.. Human beings are all so frightened.Frightened of everything. And every one of them... rich one of loosing their riches, successful ones of falling down one day, ppl with nice families are afraid of losing them, ppl without anyone to fall back on are afraid of dying lonely... Single gals of not finding their guy and gals in relationships of losing 'him'.... all r afraid.Courage is rare. The momentous courage that requires, in that partiuclar moment, which you know is going to change your life forever is rare.It also shows how easily ppl can be manipulated if you can make them feel afraid of something..it is all about fear.. no one follows rules coz they like to.. but out of fear of something.. It basically talks about living a life of courage... of not being afraid of anything.. One very interesting thing the book talks about it that, everyone is afraid of losing their loved ones. and the main char of book, the stranger, is the only one who has seen the fear turn into reality. So basically fear is present in all. so what is the difference between the one who has already lost someone close and one who hasnt but is afraid of it? Both r afraid... still analysing the book... but i must say veronica decides to die influenced me more than this one.