Analysis Of Santiago In The Alchemist

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.

Throughout the book, Coelho addresses the attractive quality and the sense of security that wealth and acceptable social status bring. Nevertheless, he also illustrates that one must reject the lure of riches and reputation in order to attain one’s highest potential. At first, Santiago ignores his dream to travel to Egypt because of his strong desire to earn back the money that he has lost due to the robbery. As such, Santiago becomes employed at a crystal shop and works “incessantly, thinking only of putting aside enough money so that he could return to Spain with pride” (62). Instead of saving his money for a trip across the Sahara desert to pursue his dream, at this time, Santiago wishes to return to Spain to become a shepherd once again. Here, Santiago is tempted to permanently settle down and live among people. Furthermore, Santiago also encounters a group of tribesmen and becomes a prisoner along with the alchemist. When the alchemist gives up all of Santiago’s gold, Santiago gets upset and says “You gave them everything I had! Everything I’ve saved in my entire life!” (141). Santiago is frustrated because he has saved up enough to live a life luxurious back home. Although Santiago’s sacrifice of wealth is unwillingly done by another individual, it allows him to continue his path of becoming his Personal Legend as it spares his life. By sacrificing his earthly desire and obsession with fortune, Santiago’s

     Santiago leaves his family to become a shepherd, before leaving his dad gives him money he has saved up, Santiago buys sheep with the money. As a shepherd Santiago travels around Spain. As he travels he is in search of food and water for his sheep. During his journeys he gave his sheep names and really connects with them. When he ran out of money, Santiago sold wool from his sheep for

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.

Santiago lives in Spain and has always wanted to go and travel to see his country, he also understood the countryside and the language of the sheep. This was able to help him make his way to Egypt. His status quo was

Santiago, a shepherd boy from a small Andalusian town, is the main character of The Alchemist. Curious and determined, Santiago was born an explorer and wanted to learn about the world. In the beginning of the Alchemist, Santiago went against his parent’s wishes to become a priest and chose to instead work as a shepherd so he could travel throughout the country. Despite his thirst for adventure, Santiago remained satisfied with his lifestyle until he had numerous dreams of uncovering treasure hidden in the Pyramids of Egypt. At first, Santiago is hesitant about pursuing his dream, even going to a gypsy to define what his dream meant. His confidence still wavered, until receiving a second opinion from Melchizedek, a mysterious old man who claims to be the king of Salem. After Melchizedek informs Santiago about the mystic ways of the world, Santiago becomes interested in fulfilling his Personal Legend and sets off to Egypt.

He wanted to save enough money to return to Spain and buy back his flock. His dream of finding and fulfilling his “Personal Legend” long forgotten as some silly dream. But as he was packing up his things to go back to Spain, he finds Urim and Thummim, two stones the wise king gave Santiago to help him read the omens. And all the sudden, minute by minute, his dream of going home to buy a new flock and become a shepherd again is became less and less important. And then Santiago remembers that it isn't his dream. “I can always go back to being a shepherd, the boy thought. I learned how to care for sheep, and I haven't forgotten how to do so. But maybe I’ll never have another chance to get to the Pyramids in Egypt.” And with that, Santiago sets off to find his treasure. He doesn't go back to where he started, he didn't go home and relax in the “normal” like others, he chose to adventure and discover his “Personal Legend”, and his treasure. He was determined to prove to everyone, and himself, that it really was

Santiago’s growth was inspiring to me. He has learned a great deal from action. He learns quite a lot about the land and his sheep by being a shepherd and paying attention to the world around him. His grandfather had mentioned to him a while back of an omen. “By traveling, watching and paying attention, the world will speak to Santiago to help him find is Personal Legend.” Through action, Santiago learns how easy it is to search for one’s Personal Legend. Everyone has their own way of learning things. For example when Santiago decides to try reading the Englishman’s book and he would try and read the signs of the desert. The boy does not learn a thing from the book and the Englishman learns nothing from watching the caravan. Just as Santiago

- For me the resolution is that when Santiago realized that the real treasure is where his heart is. Also through his journey he met some people who changed his life and that they may also be considered as Santiago’s treasure.

At the age of 16 Santiago living in a small village has a dream of traveling the world to visit the pyramids. He then mentions it to his father, he was not too happy about Santiago decision to be. His father Said, "Amongst us, the only ones who travel are the shepherds."That is when Santiago he decided to become a shepherd boy. But his father had plans for Santiago, as a priest. The next day his father gave him a pouch with three ancient Spanish gold coins which he found out in the field. He then

Santiago,the boy who was born in a priest’s family and was put up to become a priest.But ever since he had been a child,he had wanted to know the world ,and this was much more important than knowing about God and learning about mans’ sins.He summed up courage and told his father that he want travel all over the world and learn.He is a humble shepherd whose desires are few–he wants to be free to roam with his sheep, to have some wine in his wineskin and a book in his bag. Fate intervenes, however, in the form of the recurring dream of a great treasure hidden thousands of miles away at the base of the Egyptian Pyramids. When Santiago meets melchizedek, a strange wise man who claims he is a king from a far-off land, he decides to seek his treasure. The next day, Santiago sells his sheep and embarks to Africa to pursue his dream.

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

The Theme of “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho is, always follow your dreams and listen to your heart. At the start of the novel Santiago does not know what he should do when he is confronted by his dream. But by the end of the novel Santiago completely trusts his heart to guide him though life. Santiago’s story shows him learning and living out the theme of the novel.

Despite this knowledge he knows that the outcome is worth the risk. After taking this journey he soon reaches the oasis. After traveling through the desert for many days and nights, this place is a paradise for Santiago. He fits in well with the society at the oasis and begins to create a life for himself there. He meets a girl, gets a job interpreting omens, and becomes a wealthy man. When it comes time to leave he experiences a new kind of fear. Not a fear of danger or death, but a fear of loss. He fears that if he leaves he may not return to his life that he loves so much and holds so dearly. When he gets the option to leave he confronts the difficult decision with something his tour guide told him. The guide said, “Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man” (88). This allowed Santiago to continue with his journey knowing that he is responsible for fulfilling his personal legend and not staying out of fear of loss. The Arab tribal camp is Santiago’s next stop in his journey. He is captured along with the alchemist, who promises them that in three days Santiago will become the wind and destroy the camp. This causes him to panic out of fear for another time, even with all he has learned. He is now experiencing the most crippling fear yet, the fear of failure. This type of fear is so bad because it causes people to not

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.