Santiago's Journey Of The Alchemist

What makes a hero be a hero? A hero has to have certain characteristics, such as; bravery, wisdom, etc. No matter what characteristics are pointed out, every story has a hero, or an archetypal hero. From a short stories to really long novels, you will have some type of hero. In the novel The Alchemist, the main character Santiago is a hero. The book is about how everyone should live their dreams and never give up on them. It follows a young man named Santiago who is following his own dream, or his own “Personal Legend”. It follows him and his struggles to achieve said Personal Legend. Santiago is a hero because he is wise, kind, and brave; He is also a hero because he displays characteristics of an archetypal hero..

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

Not before long, Santiago meets a crystal merchant. Trying to run away from his Personal Legend once again, he gets a job at the

Santiago the poor adventurer boy, seeks the treasure in his dreams. Despite having a family that wanted him to become a priest. But as Santiago made way towards his journey, he was faced with the unlucky fate of being robbed of all he had. While he had nothing, he could only go up. He learned to find omens which that will lead him towards a better future. As a result he managed to land a job within a crystal merchant’s shop. Another instance is when Santiago is confronted by the love of his life. He wanted to stay with her forever, however doing so would force him to abandon his journey. Fatima,

        In the same way, Santiago faces numerous obstacles along his journey as well. On his journey when Santiago arrives in tangier, he meets a boy who is his age who speaks Spanish and offered to help him get to the pyramids. When they were about to leave the bar owner grabs Santiago and tells him something. “The boy push the owner aside and pulls Santiago outside with him” and tells him that “the owner wanted Santiago’s money” (Coelho, 37). But the owner of the bar was

When Santiago first meets the Englishman he explains to Santiago that he is looking for a very powerful alchemist. Santiago too is in search for something, treasure. As they travel together and talk more to each other they share their knowledge of the world, and the Language of said world. Both the Englishman and Santiago complete a little bit of their Personal Legends through this encounter, but their legends are much more akin than the two realize.

Santiago was also displayed learning from the animals when he encountered the two hawks. These 2 hawks warned him of the attack to come and taught him the “meaning of love without ownership”(Coelho 103). It was through this teaching that he was able to continue on his personal legend even though Fatima couldn't go with him. Additionally, in The Alchemist, Santiago is able to learn much from his human mentors. During Santiago's time working for the crystal merchant, the merchant was able to teach him many lessons.

(Coelho 103). This is because all of his lessons are beginning to take effect on how he sees the world. Later, Santiago meets his most important mentor, The Alchemist. Santiago learns many very important lessons from him that have the largest effect on his journey. When Santiago tries to thank the Alchemist for teaching him the Language of the world, the Alchemist says that he “only invoked” what Santiago already knew (Coelho 158).

Many people try to understand their personal legends in life, trying to find their end goal. In the novel “The Alchemist” Paul Coelho displays Santiago’s personal legend, starting off as a sheep herder, and then going to Africa and becoming an alchemist that village people believe in. Santiago learns important lessons from mentors along his journey, such as learning about omens, understanding his personal legend, and always paying attention to his surroundings. While Santiago is trying to discover his personal legend, he learns how to read omens. In the novel, King Melchizadek notifies Santiago about the omens so he can make sure he’s on the right path of finding the treasure.

The Alchemist taught us what it is like to live when you only focus on your dreams and not on reality. Santiago had to go through many obstacles to find his treasure. He had to find a job to get money, travel to the Oasis in a caravan, and travel back to where he lived to get his treasure. When you focus on your dreams you do not realize what is all going on in the real world. Santiago had missed out on many things because he was so focused on his personal legend of finding the treasure at the pyramids.

Santiago almost gave up on his dream to he had decided to go back and buy his sheep but once he had to money, he thought of what the king had told him and couldn’t give up on his dreams. He told himself he could go back to being a shepherd whenever he wanted but this was his chance to follow his dreams. Finding the Merchant and earning enough money to follow his dreams could not have just been a coincidence, after losing all his money. I think meeting the merchant was part of his life legend. He learned a lot from the merchant.

Young boy Santiago is a shepherd because he knows what he wants. In “The Alchemist” Santiago changes in many ways and learns many things from the start to the end of the book. Santiago is going to a village as a shepherd and in the meantime, he is staying in an abandoned church. When he is sleeping he keeps having a reoccurring dream, so he explains it to a gypsy woman. The woman says that he will find a treasure in the pyramids in Egypt. Later, he meets an old man that tells him that to he has to listen to omens to find his treasure. He also gives Santiago stones that will tell him what to do. Santiago sells his sheep to find his hidden treasure, however, when he is going he gets robbed, and he has to work at a glass shop to get money again. When he gets enough money to cross the desert and go to the pyramids, he meets a caravan about to cross the desert. On their way to the other side of the desert, they figure out that war is going on in the middle of the desert, so they have to stop for a long time until the war is over. Since Santiago

When Santiago arrives in Tangier he is robbed by a thief and is forced to find work from the locals. He meets a crystal merchant and gets hired to work for him. Santiago convinces the merchant to take some risks in his business. This advice pays off and Santiago becomes a rich man in just a year. Santiago stars to gain confidence in his decisions and decides to use his earning to pursue his personal legend. Santiago soon joins a caravan crossing the Sahara desert and meets an Englishman who is studying to become an Alchemist. On the trip Santiago and the Englishman don’t converse much but Santiago still ends up learning a lot

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.

When people chase their dreams, they are almost always met with some sort of resistance- whether it be from the people around them, financial struggles, or seemingly insurmountable odds. This is when most people give up and resign themselves to never reaching their dream. Santiago is the perfect illustration of this; he faces all sorts of challenges on his journey to find his treasure, but never loses hope, and he is able to conquer the obstacles he faces. If your will is strong enough, your dream will motivate you to overcome these barriers and realize your very own Personal