The Abandoned Church Meaning

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

This matters because he doesn’t give up and decides to work to get money back. " I’ll work all night, until dawn, and I’ll clean every piece of crystal in your shop”(Page 49). Santiago talks to the Crystal Shop owner about their dream. This matters because he learns that the owner didn’t follow his dreams and kept dreaming. This made Santiago make sure he followed his personal legend and didn’t fail to achieve his true goal to find his purpose.

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 decides to trust the familiar, Spanish-speaking young man, who eventually robs him, instead of the Arabic-speaking bartender, who perhaps was trying to protect Santiago from the young Spaniard at the bar. This may be said to be a case of stereotyping on the basis of one’s ethnicity. - When Santiago offers to build a display case for the crystal, which can put outside the shop to attract potential customers, the crystal merchant fears that passers-by will bump into it and break the glass, and hence shows Risk aversion behaviour. - The crystal merchant understands that he acts foolishly in not pursuing his Personal Legend, making it difficult to understand his motives when he refuses to change his ways, even after Santiago shows him the benefits of taking risks.

The merchant also allowed Santiago to get close to the Soul of the World, as Santiago's ideas to expand the crystal store were beneficial to each other as they came from Santiago's heart and allowed the merchant to attain more

This quote is important because it was one of the reasons that santiago decided to go search for his treasure again. Santiago was probably thinking of what the crystal merchant said and that is the reason

He is an impressive and ambitious young man. The boy's journey was long, but he came across a shop in Tangier, an opportunity to feed himself and a chance to make money. In the novel The Alchemist, there is a merchant shop that seems to need a little cleaning and this quote, "A card hanging in the doorway announced that general languages were spoken in the shop (p.48)". This gives a chance to the crystal merchant to allow someone to help to keep it clean, even so he is able to guide someone with his presence so that they will grow to bond. Given this opportunity, Santiago makes sure to grow and learn from the crystal merchant.

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

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.

The crystal merchant had left an impact on Santiago greatly. The crystal merchant helped Santiago go after his personal legend. The crystal merchant was a Muslim whose personal legend was to go to Mecca, but was afraid to go and leave his shop in someone else’s hand. That made Santiago see that if he let something hold him back, he

Don't get us wrong: the crystal merchant is a good guy. He gives Santiago a job when he's down and out, keeps him fed, and pays him well. Plus, his own inactivity and fear of change gives Santiago an example of what not to do. It's like an after-school special about not letting your infant brother drive the riding lawnmower. Better to learn from example than

Crystal merchant: Owns a crystal shop in the city of Tangier. He has lived there thirty good years in selling and buying crystal pieces. It is this shop, where Santiago works before continuing his journey.

Throughout Santiago’s journey to fulfil his Personal Legend the boy is rewarded with not only treasure as a physical substance but also in the form of knowledge gained and experiences lived. Santiago is aware of the importance of his treasure in all forms and displays this awareness after finding the chest of Spanish gold coins, “He placed Urim and Thummim in the chest. They were also a part of his new treasure, because they were a reminder of the old king, whom he would never see again” (pg. 88). Thus, Santiago’s character portrays the message that once a destiny is realised and fulfilled, the pursuer will be rewarded in many forms. Contrastingly, the crystal merchant in which temporarily employs Santiago, is a character used in juxtaposition to show the danger of fear and the life of one who will never fulfil

Santiago plays a huge role in the theme is developed throughout the story. This is mostly due to how much the reader sees how Santiago changes as the novel progresses and as he gets closer to completing his Personal Legend. In the beginning of the story it is revealed that Santiago decided to abandon becoming a priest in favor of traveling, which can be interpreted as the earliest sign of change and transformation from the main character before his real journey begins. "I found these one day in the fields. I wanted them to be a part of your inheritance. But use them to buy your flock. Take to the fields, and someday you'll learn that our countryside is the best, and our women the most beautiful" (Coelho 18). Digging into the story more only leads to more examples of how Santiago changes. One major example that