Alchemist Answer Key

Some may refer to The Alchemist as a best-selling novel written by Paulo Coelho which explains the ideas of having a dream, or Personal Legend, and going through obstacles to conquer it. The book starts off like any other, introducing and describing the main characters, in this case Santiago is the first to share the interest of peers reading the story. He is said to be a small town shepherd boy who will do anything for his flock of sheep. In the opening scene of the story, Santiago takes his flock to an abandoned church and lies down under a sycamore tree hoping to get some rest. He is soon woken up from a disturbing dream which foreshadows further into the story of his own Personal Legend. Later in the book, Santiago is faced with multiple tests to be successful in finding his treasure. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure” (Coelho 15). Paulo continues to add characters in the book that help Santiago throughout his journey.

In the novel "The Alchemist", Santiago is a young shepherd in search of his personal legend. To find your personal legend you need to have qualities like intelligence, understanding, and perseverance. The quality that is key to success is perseverance. Perseverance is doing something despite the difficulty in achieving success. Through searching, for his personal legend, he has gone through many obstacles like losing his sheep, crossing the desert, and turning himself into the wind. He persevered through it all and found his personal legend.

Even when Santiago thinks he has found love and is ready to give up his mission for Fatima, he is obviously going to make a huge mistake. Coelho tells us in his novel that the Soul of the World has a Personal Legend for

While yes, Santiago did face many obstacles and challenges on his way to find the treasure, the main conflict of the story is not an external one, but an internal one. Santiago’s inner turmoil between choosing either to make sacrifices and take risks in order to complete his Personal Legend or settling for the comforts and treasures he already had was the key problem in the story. This also validated Santiago not only as the protagonist, but also as his own antagonist. There were many instances in which the story could have been cut short if Santiago had not taken a leap of faith. From the very beginning, upon meeting Melchizedek, he had been reluctant to make the decision between what he was accustomed to, his flock, and what he wanted, the

Santiago’s entire life revolves around his recurrent dream and his journey to find his hidden treasure. The crystal merchant, on the other hand, is the opposite of Santiago. Coelho portrays him as a good man who gave Santiago food and shelter just when the boy needed it the most. It’s ironic that the man who rescued Santiago would be the one least likely to help him. The crystal merchant symbolizes the result of a Personal Legend not followed. The crystal merchant wants to go to Mecca, but he couldn’t accept the change. He insists“...if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living” (Coelho 48). The crystal merchant gave into one of the major obstructions in following a Personal Legend – fear. The alchemist and the army general later in the story both look down on those who show fear. Santiago enjoyed doing business with the crystal merchant and they each

Santiago, the main character in the book “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho learns many lessons throughout his journey to find his Personal Legend, or, in other words, his destiny. As he learns these lessons he grows in maturity and wisdom. Of all of these lessons, two of them greatly influence his goal of achieving his Personal Legend. The first crucial lesson he learns is that everyone learns differently and that it is ok to disagree with others opinions. He learns to respect how other people follow their Personal Legends and though some may question, he must press forward.

(Coelho 166). Coelho shows the readers that even though Santiago had a lot of challenges on his journey he still found many great things from his journey. Along his journey, Santiago learns the language of the world, meets Fatima, sees the Pyramids, and learns many other important lessons. This is also true about anyone’s personal legend. Every legend is different from what the person learns or sees on their journey but every legend will help that person in some way.

The lessons of taking risks, perseverance and trust were the most crucial elements for Santiago to find his Personal Legend. The main character in Paulo Coelho’s, The Alchemist, learns many lessons which are essential in achieving his Personal Legend. TS: First of all, one of the compelling lessons Santiago learns is not to hesitate to take risks when it offers an opportunity to step closer to his Personal Legend. STS: Taking risks ultimately lead Santiago to his treasure when he first

As he travels through the desert he encounters a Horseman then he asks "Who dares read the meaning of the flight of the hawks?" Santiago with no words just bows his head and says "It is I who dare to do so. Many lives will be saved because I was able to see through to the soul of the world." The man in the black slowly lowers his sword and explains to Santiago that he is the Alchemist. One's personal legend, while also staying true to his dreams. After returning to Andalusia, Santiago goes back to the church where he dreamed of the treasure near the pyramids. He digs where he slept, beneath a sycamore tree, and there it is Santiago's treasure. The lesson learned is to embrace the present, be unrealistic, and the main one focus on your own Journey because It’s easy to be influenced by others, but you’ll be miserable if you end up living someone else’s life. There’s nothing wrong with taking advice and learning from others, but make sure it aligns with your desires and passions. As a result, of focusing on your own Journey there's only one way to learn is to always take

Santiago explains his dream of being transported in front of the Egyptian pyramids and being told there would be treasure there. The Gypsy encourages him to follow the instructions and find the treasure, and as such, Santiago obeys whilst travelling towards the pyramids. After months of travelling and meeting different people, Santiago settles at an oasis in the desert. There he meets various peculiarly dressed woman. A friend of his that he met along the way asks the woman if they knew of the alchemist. After a decline, she advises “the boy that he had better not try to converse with women who were dressed in black, because they are married women. He should respect tradition.” Santiago adheres to the land’s traditions and ignores the women dressed in black. After this encounter, the women are seen as guides that give advice to help others. If she would not have done that, Santiago and his would have been in trouble for disrespecting the tradition of the local women. However, because of the advice he is able to maneuver and avoid any sort of

Soon after, Santiago is forced to work for a crystal merchant in the hopes of replacing his lost money and continuing on his quest. He works for the merchant for eleven months and during this time, continues to think less and less of his Personal Legend. He becomes skilled in this practice and begins to work towards instead, replacing his flock of sheep and returning to his past lifestyle. During this time, Santiago perceived reaching the pyramids as an impossible feat claiming “Egypt was now just a distant dream for him” and that, like a mirage, it would always be just out of his reach (56). In this way, Coelho shows that Santiago’s morale is lessening. The more that he stays at the crystal shop, the more he sees his treasure as a mirage instead of a physical object.

The alchemist is a super awesome force of nature with these awesome powers that allow him to manipulate the universe… I'm kidding, but the Alchemist’s teachings has been connecting the books biggest most dominate metaphor of alchemy—The transformation of one element into a more precious and valuable element—and intergrading it into Santiago’s quest. The alchemist’s wisdom allows him to be connected to the Soul of the World, or Gaia. The Alchemist is able to provide this connection to his supernatural abilities, in turn it allows him to Guide Santiago through his quest to find his personal legend and to better understand the Soul of the World. Santiago, with the provided assistance of his teacher the Alchemist, learned how to raced and communicate

As illustrated in The Alchemist, “At the point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible…” ( Coelho 24.) Here, the reader can relate, as their parents encouraged them to follow their dreams when they were younger no matter the extent. But as time passes, the individual comes to the reality that their dreams are impossible and can not happen. However, not all people give up on their dreams as the merchant did. Coelho’s theme becomes problematic when fear, injury or expectation interferes with someones personal legend. As fear interefered with the merchants dreams, what other people thought interfered with the bakers, or the theives interfered with Santiago’s journey, outside influences become problematic in pursuing your dreams. Coelho’s belief also becomes problematic when an individual has to leave behind their loved ones. Coelho believes no matter who,what,where or when, an individual must not let anything or anyone interfere with their pursuit as Santiago left behind his family to travel or his love Fatima to travel to the pyramids. As Trent Shelton states, “The right decidions are always the hardest to make. But they must be made in order to live the life you deserve.” Shelton’s words completely support Coelho’s

Sure he was scared and at times he thought he was alone, but he just kept thinking about those wise words people said to him, the ones he bumped into, and he kept going after his goal. It seemed like nothing could stop him, even if he was just a “shepherd” that didn’t stop him at all! The moral of the story is to follow your dreams and never give up on that. We don’t do that often, i mean sure we have dreams/goals but do we really go after them? It’s rare that we do, but that’s what “The Alchemist” is trying to teach us, and maybe we should chase our dreams no matter what the consequence is. What’s the conflict you may ask? Well, the conflict is Santiago’s troubles. For example, when he had no money, when he was starving, when he didn’t understand the language because he was far away from “home”. It was a struggle for him to make it through but the conflict did enhance on the story, big time. Without him struggling everything would be too easy and we all know that’s not true. You have to work hard for something you want to achieve, and he did work hard. Everyone always says “nothing is too easy” and this book shows that, that statement is true. There’s always a price or a

Santiago finds his treasure at the place where he first dreamt of. The ending, then, can be interpreted as Santiago needs to go in a difficult situation and time to gain the knowledge or wisdom.