Throughout life connections between people form, and some of those bonds last a lifetime. In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho the protagonist Santiago is on a journey through the Sahara Desert to accomplish his Personal Legend. The relationship between Santiago and the crystal merchant provides Santiago with a stable living and working environment; thus, forcing him to learn valuable lessons providing him a way to accomplish his Personal Legend. Santiago was a good omen for the merchant. He had endowed good business for the merchant causing the merchant to value his presence, and be pleased with what Santiago had brought to the shop. “”I’d like you to work in my shop. Two customers came in today...that’s a good omen””(46). At first Santiago used …show more content…
If the merchant had never taught Santiago the lesson he would have returned to his home land of Tangier and purchased a new herd of sheep, instead Santiago had carried the message he received from the merchant throughout his entire journey. “He was going to miss the place and all the good things he had learned” (63). There were times when Santiago would want to return to the familiarity of his sheep, but he knew what would be ahead of him would be vastly more important. He knew that he would never get another opportunity to travel to the pyramids that held his treasure. “I can always go back to being a shepherd the boy thought...But i’ll never get another chance to go to the pyramids of Egypt”(64). He would always remember the merchant and the education he received from him. If it was not for the relationship between Santiago and the merchant, Santiago would have never had learned that there is more than just the simple way to life. Santiago had brought good omens and ideas to the shop, providing himself with a job allowing him to realise he must go after his own personal legend. He would alway appreciate the merchant, and what he had done for
“The boy said nothing. He got up, adjusted his clothing, and picked up his pouch. I’ll work for you, he said. And after another long silence, he added, I need money to buy some sheep” (Coelho 50). He decided to quit his journey but eventually he changed his mind.
Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago a Shepard whose life changes once he finds out about a treasure from his frequent dreams and meets a strange man who helps him to start his personal legend. On Santiago’s journey he starts to see the hidden meanings behind daily life creating the thesis that through seeing and understanding symbols behind the world people can learn about their own personal legend and live life to the fullest. Santiago’s life starts out all about his sheep, he chose to be a shepherd, so he could travel and meet new people. Santiago’s job is to take care of the sheep, but the sheep have more meaning in the story. The sheep represent how he is comfortable in his life and how he is questioning his frequent dream, to sacrifice his comfortable life to find this treasure or to continue without taking the risk.
In The Alchemist, the author argues that one’s personal legend is only liberating if one pursues it. If not pursued, it can become oppressive. When Santiago meets the crystal merchant, he tells Santiago that the merchant’s personal legend is to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. However, the merchant does not plan on going through with the trip because he does not want to pursue his personal legend and then have it not be as good as he imagined it would be.
The Importance of Perseverance At many times in people’s lives, they consider giving up. This is also true for Santiago, the protagonist in Paulo Coelho's fantasy novel The Alchemist. Santiago is on a journey to find a hidden treasure he saw in a dream. Along this journey he continues to contemplate whether he should just give up, or continue his adventure.
First and foremost,in my perspective,I would say that the main message of the story The Alchemist is that whatever life gives you appreciate it. Life can always lead you to places or objects,but not every human can have them. To face facts life can be hard for some people and not as hard to others,in comparison to the Santiago’s life in the story he knew that he had to give up the only thing he had in order to get enough money to travel to egypt where he thought his treasure would be,and where he would get to know what his personal legend was,so he decided that he would go for his dream if he really wanted to be able to find his treasure. While traveling to the pyramids he came upon thieves,love,and fear,but none of that stop him from getting
The crystal merchant's character also serves as lesson to santiago’s journey. Highlighting the importance of knowing what lessons and “omes” one should
To add on, the Merchant said, “You dream about your sheep and the pyramids, but you're different from me, because you want to realize your dreams. ”(Coelho pg 12) The merchant was trying to teach Santiago that it's important for him to go for his dreams and he realizes that Santiago has the potential do something with his dream and to make his dream come true which is different than most people.
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.
All of these people and objects helped guide Santiago through his journey to get to the pyramids. When Santiago first meets the King of Salem, he is inspiring Santiago to pursue his personal legend. The King says, “In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow.
The decision was difficult as both options don’t provide him a steady choice. As being a shepherd does not promise him to be with the merchant daughter and for finding a treasure he need to give up his well settled life. But at the end he chose to find treasure as it allows him to purse his personal legend or dram of travelling throughout the world. He always considers his choice before taking a decision this can be seen through this conversation of Santiago with himself, “Here, I am between my flock and my treasure, the boy thought. He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have.
Ultimately Santiago has developed his identity through the soul of the world and alchemy and has achieved his personal legend
In the book the Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho) Santiago learns many things along the way to achieving his personal legend. He gained skills and experience in things across the board, from how to clean crystals, to the 5 obligations of Muslims, to the basics of alchemy. Santiago learns from the wise, and educated, but also learns the meaning of a true friendship. Overall it is true that reaching one 's personal legend is life 's greatest treasure, but often the journey is just as valuable.
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.
In the story the alchemist it is discovered that there are many different things in life to look forward to. There is also something in the story that is a moral or your life´s destiny called your personal legend. Your personal legend is one of those things in life that some people look up to in the future. Santiago travels the world to pursue his personal legend. Santiago strived to find his personal legend with the help of people he met on the way to find treasure that he is destined to find , just to realize the treasure was where he had fallen asleep in the beginning of the book.
He is robbed at the beginning of his journey and must work hard to earn back the money he lost. Then, he is able to travel into the desert, facing more peril along the way. This is where he meets the Alchemist, who tells him, “You must not let up, even after coming so far” (113). The wise man teaches him things unknown to most people. With his instruction, Santiago survives his travels in the desert, even while faced with war and threats of death.