Siddhartha and The Alchemist comparison

  Santiago and Siddhartha both go on quests to seek the ultimate meaning of their lives. Are their quests similar? Or are they different? How and why? Does the "ultimate meaning" of life refer to the same sorts of principles in each these texts? Or do these texts advocate different values that comprise different senses of the meaning of life? Write an essay that answers these questions by taking either one stance (they're similar) or the other (they're different), as it explores and compares each text's understanding of the ultimate meaning of life.