Melchizek's The Alchemist

The third and fourth obstacle Santiago faces is his fear of defeat and realizing his dream. For example, “They made him continue digging, but he found nothing. As the sun rose, the men began to beat the boy. He was bruised and bleeding, his clothes torn to shreds, and he felt death was near.” The obstacle he defeated was the fear of defeat people will meet on the journey to fulfilling our destiny. People have to be patient in difficult times and know that the universe is conspiring in our favor, even if some do not know. Santiago had patience and allowed the men to beat him. Because of his patience they eventually left him alone

Santiago made a reasonable sum of money working for the crystal merchant, and decided it was time to abandon his job to continue his search for his treasure. Along the way, he was halted by a tribal war in the desert and forced to stay in an oasis. During his visit he met a young woman named Fatima. After only a few interactions, Santiago decides he wants to marry this woman, “‘I came to tell you just one thing,’ the boy said. ‘I want you to be my wife. I love you’(Coelho, 95). What once was negative became positive. Santiago’s journey had been paused multiple times, and he was stuck in an oasis instead of venturing to the

“Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that 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 for them to realize their Personal Legend.”

He was having the same dream for a few weeks, and he knew that the dream had some type of meaning. He dreamt of finding his treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. Santiago knew that he needed to find his treasure, but he also knew that he would have to leave a lot of things behind if he went on this journey. Santiago finally made the decision to go on this mission. During his journey, Santiago learned a lot more about what was affecting his life and the things he needed to do in order to find his treasure.

The blazing hot spotlights flick on. The theatre is silent, allowing me to hear the pounding of my heart. Heat radiating off of the light panels warms my face. I grin from ear to ear and whisper to myself, “I will remember this.” It was the friday night show of the orchesis concert, Mrs. Good had sat us down to tell us a story about a past student. Her student, Margaret, loved performing and lived for the rush of adrenaline when she stepped foot on stage. During her senior show, she whispered to herself, “I will remember this.” Fast forward three years, Margaret was walking through the quad of her college campus, the sun peered out behind the clouds and the angle the the sun hit her face brought back a rush of emotions and memories. We were all told this because she wanted us to never forget the feeling we got when we performed. “If you are rushing through the dance moves or caught up in the moment, pause and breathe, remember why you are on the stage in the first

Throughout Santiago’s journey, he had several setbacks. As Santiago begins his journey to his treasure, he enters the continent of Africa and stops at a bar. Santiago then meets a man he thinks he can trust. After entrusting the entrusting the man with his money, Santiago gets robbed and never sees the man or his money again. After that experience, Santiago learns it is difficult to trust people. This was a the first of a few major setbacks for him. In Africa with no money, Santiago has to find a job. I think of that as a set back, it took Santiago an extra year to get to his treasure. Santiago worked for one year and when he gained enough money to continue his journey towards his treasure he moves on. Not too long after Santiago’s first

Again, it’s similar to Odysseus in The Odyssey, due to the fact that Santiago was out to seek treasure and finds his true love on his journey, while Odysseus in The Odyssey, was on a desperate search for gold and riches but realized the real treasure is what he misses most, his wife and home. Santiago’s quest on finding his treasure can also closely relate to The Count of Monte Cristo. Edmond is seeking revenge on Fernand and a key part of his journey is to seek treasure in order to rise in social ranking. Both Santiago and Edmond had searched great lengths in order to find their treasure as Santiago “crossed the desert in search of a treasure near the

Santiago also demonstrates exceptional resilience throughout the book. One example of this is when he sells his flock and travels to Egypt. Once arriving in Tangier he is immediately robbed by a thief, leaving him with no money. Rather than sulking and giving up, his resilient attitude guides him to looking for an opportunity to better his situation, which leads him to finding the crystal shop. Hear he puts all his effort into doing his work as best as he could, eventually leading to great financial success.

Throughout the entire novel Santiago is faced with seemingly impossible task. The only way he ever accomplished them is by trying his best. When Santiago is first robbed in Tangier he is forced to work in a crystal shop to earn back enough money. When he first begins working the shop isn't doing so well and enough money isn't coming in. He tries his best to pitch ideas to the owner and does as much as he can to earn back what he's lost. After over a year of working hard he finally turned back more than enough. As Santiago travels through the desert to get to the pyramids he runs into an enemy tribe and is held captive. The chief tells Santiago that in order to escape he must turn himself into the wind. Although it seems impossible Santiago receives help from the desert, the wind, and the sun. He tried his best to turn himself into the wind and he succeeded, after everything was taken from him he tried his best to gain it all back and in return he gained more.

Santiago has found that he is truly capable of doing great things and that his journey has made him accomplish so much that the journey might be his “treasure” that he is still looking so hard to find. This quote also establishes how Coelho reveals Santiago with “courage” to travel great distances in order to find a “treasure” that isn’t a fancy chest with gold inside, but the truth that Santiago is looking so hard to

In the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, young Santiago meets a stranger by the name of Melchizedek. After meeting, Melchizedek says to Santiago, “…whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth.” This is a notion that I agree with very much. I believe that when Melchizedek says this to Santiago, it lays the out the foundation of The Alchemist.

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." (Coelho 22). The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, revolves around a boy named Santiago, who goes on a quest to find his Personal Legend. However, it is not the universe, but one character that conspires to assist Santiago, allowing him to surmount obstacles and achieve his dreams. That character is named Melchizedek, and he appears very briefly at the beginning of the story in order to guide Santiago. Although brief, his appearance sets the theme of the story, his intervention initiates the actions that occur, and sets Santiago on his live changing journey.

A round character in The Alchemist is Melchizedek, or the king of Salem. The king of Salem expressed different qualities. He was a wise man from the way he guided Santiago and gave omens to Santiago. Santiago always had his blessing. Melchizedek was also mysterious, since his actions were not always

I find that Santiago’s journey is fairly unlikely to ever occur in real life. At the end of the novel, Santiago digs for his treasure but finds nothing, however the one man in the world that would tell him another place so search just so happens to be right there waiting. The odds of this happening are very low at best. Another thing that is impossible to occur in real life is someone turning lead into gold. This is not something that could be done.

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.