Decision-Making In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist

He is a stronger and smarter man because of what happened to him. Santiago hit a lot of adversity at the beginning of his journey and it prepared him for the worst of his journey. “Now he understood why the owner of the bar had been so upset: he was trying to tell him not to trust that man.” (Coelho 43). He lost it all and he was prepared for anything for the rest of his journey.

By continuing he finds his true inner strength. In the story, the author shows the importance of perseverance, and how to face the many obstacles that people are presented in their lives to complete their goal. In Coelho's novel, Santiago faces many difficult challenges, but because of his courage and perseverance, he is able to face them head on. While in the town of Tarifa, Santiago meets

He is conflicted because, “He had to choose between something he had been accustomed to and something he wanted to have.”(24) Santiago is pushed into this journey. He did not have a chance to fully think it through. He is a baby deer struggling on its new legs. Santiago is willing to take the chance of finding

In the novel “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho there is a young shepherd named Santiago who is in search for his personal legend. Santiago’s personal legend is to find the treasure at the pyramids. Throughout his journey, there are a lot of emotions especially the emotion fear. Santiago encountered a lot of challenges like crossing the desert, being in a war and turning himself into the wind. He learned the different levels of fear; fearing fear, being in fear, and overcoming fear.

Santiago realizes that he finally has a place and that he is supposed to be following his Personal

Santiago then tells the alchemist: “My heart is a traitor. It doesn’t want me to go on.” The alchemist replied with a smart answer and said “That makes sense. Naturally, it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve won.” A fear of uncertainty is what Santiago is feeling and he worries he’ll lose everything he’s accomplished so far.

Ultimately Santiago has developed his identity through the soul of the world and alchemy and has achieved his personal legend

When the alchemist presented Santiago with the choice to stay at the oasis, or leave and achieve his personal legend, Santiago struggled to find the correct answer. The alchemist let Santiago know that if he stayed in the oasis, for the first year his marriage would be great and so would his marriage. Over time Santiago and Fatima would drift apart, and he would loose his job. But on the other hand, if he decided to voyage into the desert in seek of finding his personal legend he worried that he might loose Fatima. He thought, "...

In another instance, we find out that his best friend Marial was killed by a lion and that he was greatly affected by the death of his friend but through this, his uncle was there to comfort him and protect him. This tells us

This is illuminated when the Alchemist says, “‘There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure’” (141). This particular moment shows that even though Santiago has both the ability and the knowledge to achieve his dream, it is impossible to attain it if he fears even attempting to reach it. Consequently, this fear acts as his enemy and a barrier that stands in the way of the meaningful and happy life he is destined to accomplish. Furthermore, another one of his fears is the fear of losing what he believes he has already earned. ” He reminded himself that he had been a shepherd and that he could be a shepherd again.

Through talks of Abraham and the Quran, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho has an overlying theme of religion. The book follows the life of shepherd named Santiago and his journey throughout life as he wants to travel around the world, where he meets many people that give him advice on his journey. Like the prologue Narcissus story, The Alchemist itself has a message that is concentrating on oneself can unite a person to nature and the spiritual world. Only through single-mindedly attempting to reach his Personal Legend does Santiago learn the mysteries of the Soul of the World, for instance. Throughout the book, Santiago must put his attention first repeatedly, as when he decides to be a shepherd preferably than a priest and when he leaves the haven to continue on his journey.

Santiago has an epiphany when he realizes that if you never change and take risks you will never move forward. He wants to find his “personal legend,” or true desire, and to obtain this he needs to change his own nature. He must be willing to give up whatever is necessary to achieve this goal, including freedom. On Santiago’s journey he becomes employed by a crystal merchant that never achieved his personal legend. The merchant resisted change and never accomplished his dreams.

A personal legend is not just the result found at the end of Santiago's life. It’s more than simply reaching final destination. Santiago personal legend is achieved when he completes what he is doing. “It’s true that everything has it’s personal legend ,but one day that personal legend will be realized ,so each thing has to transform itself into something better ,and to acquire a new personal legend, until someday, the soul of the world becomes one only thing.”

In Part one Santiago could be described as weak character. He is easily manipulated and persuaded by others such as the gypsy and the tour guide he met at the bar when he first arrived in Africa. His hunger for money blinds him from seeing his

We can make our own decisions that can cause other choices to arise as well as consequences due to how almost every choice has a form of consequence that follows. However, some of those options are formed due to another’s actions causing us to not fully be able to make a true decision ourselves without outer life interfering. Existentialism in today’s world still shows occasionally, such as someone choosing to go to college over going directly into the work force, yet it is normally combined with numerous other ideologies to form one’s main thought