The Alchemist Santiago Analysis

In “The Alchemist” Paulo Coelho asserts, “The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being.” Throughout Santiago's allegorical journey he focuses on the centrality of fulfilling his personal legend by undertaking difficult tasks that will question his tenacity to preserve in the face of adversity. For instance, in order to embark on his quest to the treasure he must relinquish all of his sheep to travel a great distance to reach the pyramids in Egypt. As a result, once Santiago sacrifices materialistic possessions the window of opportunity broadens by casting a series of small serendipities that reveal the purpose behind his creation. Through his encounters with Melchizedek he unveils that Santiago’s youthful dreams will later be discarded as he ages if he does not actualize his current propelling desires to travel to the pyramids. Later on, as one becomes older their personal legend will delude them from their young wholehearted hopes of bringing their life’s work into completion. Thus, the soul of the world is comprised of the common people who had the sheer everyman heroism to realize their written destiny which feds the universe with happiness from having achieved the plan that originated from the creator himself. Additionally, Melchizedek serves as an emblem when a

In my opinion Santiago, a shepherd boy from Andalusian town, changed the most in this novel. In the beginning of the story he was scared to trust in himself and follow his dreams. Santiago goes to the extent of searching for help from a gypsy. She tells him his meaning of his own dream and instead of trusting her he seeks another opinion. He goes on a journey across the Sahara to reach the Alchemist. When he asked The Alchemist how to turn himself into wind and he doesn’t get step by step instructions he is forced to trust his own judgement and intuition and believe in himself to figure it out. At the end of the story, he encounters a robber who talks to Santiago about his dream and why he would go on a journey across the Sahara. Santiago realizes

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..

The book The Alchemist was about a young man named Santiago who followed his dream to discover a hidden treasure. As Santiago progressed throughout his journey, his character changed a lot. Santiago, a man who has great instincts, is afraid to trust his dream at the beginning of the book but over time becomes more and more confident with his choices in in this aspect he changes from the beginning of the book to the end.

     After teaching the boy a lot about the journey he will go through, the king gave him omens to follow. Santiago sells his sheep, and travels to a town on his way to Egypt. He finds a man that could take him past the desert to Egypt. So the boy gives him the money that he got for the sheep. When the man shows Santiago the town for a little Santiago loses him in a crowd of hundreds shopping in the markets, and loses all his money. The boy learns not to trust anyone, and is told that there are many thieves in that town.

One literary device that conveys this message, is the device of irony. One example of irony in this book, is how Santiago set out to find the girl he wanted to see, but ended up finding the King of Salem instead. This is ironic, as this book shows how your destiny is predetermined, meaning that his destiny led him to learning about the concept of destiny. He followed his destiny which led him to a place he never expected, but ended up taking him on a journey. This shows readers to pursue what they want, because even if they don’t end up where they originally ended up, they may still end up somewhere else. A second example of irony relating the Coelho’s overall message was Santiago actually meeting the King. Santiago originally tried to ignore the King, as he just saw him as an old man. However, due to his morals, he acknowledges the King, and learns, on top of the concept of the Soul of the Universe, that many try to hide from their destinies. This is ironic, as meeting and speaking with the King is

Most things and people in the book The Alchemist have affected Santiago in his journey either good or bad. Things like the sheep or his books would add to Santiago’s journey and also contribute to his success. However some people had a negative effect on Santiago like the crystal merchant who had some questionable thoughts about Santiago. Although these things and people were not inspirational to Santiago, the worthy people like The Alchemist, Fatima, and the old king are. Inspiring him by assisting his journey, keeping him going when he wanted to stop, and encourage him to find his Legend these are the most inspirational characters.

Santiago changes in many ways. He changes from worrying about the future, to not worrying. He learns that

The foreshadowing in this novel prepares readers for decisions Santiago will make later on. This idea is evident when Santiago is explaining to the king why he is shepherd. "They wanted me to be a priest, but I decided to become a shepherd." "Because you really like to travel."" (Coelho 18). When the King completes Santiago's claim by saying that he loves to travel, an inference can be that he will make decisions that will keep him traveling. For example, he decides to keep going on his personal legend instead of staying with Fatima. Nonconformity is seen when Santiago tells the King that even though his parents want him to be a priest, he decides to become a shepherd. In using foreshadowing, Coelho also manages to implant symbolism in the same idea.

Throughout The Alchemist there were many twists and turns as well as changes to the main character Santiago. He had to adapt to the different ways of life in each place he visited, and had the tenacity to never give up on his journey even when times became tough, i.e. when he was robbed. Santiago started out as a shepherd, happy with how life was, maybe a sense of wanting more; later he encountered a king, gypsies, and others along the way who literally wanted him to follow his dreams because they could change a person’s life. He had to take risks and leave everything he had known behind to follow something he knew little to none about. When Santiago wanted to stay within his boundaries, he was pushed by the people he met which enabled him

The alchemist is a well written book that accurately describes every concept about life and explains it through a story. The Alchemist is a book about a shepherd named Santiago, who discovers his personal legend and receives help from others to help achieve his Personal Legend and learns many major life lessons along the way. Santiago gets advice that when life puts him down, keep getting back up and to focus on the task at hand, which is Santiago’s own personal legend. Along the the journey, Santiago receives help from many different characters but only three characters who helped him the most throughout his quest for his Personal legend is the alchemist, the Old King and the Englishman. The best advice a reader is able to gain from this story is the advice the the Old King taught Santiago, which is” there is only one thing that makes achieving a dream impossible to achieve, the fear of failure” which means is to never be afraid of failures and to follow your own path God has laid out for you because if you are too afraid to pursue your personal legend, meaning if people are too afraid to take risks to make their own life better than it already is now, then they will not have the opportunity to accomplish their own goals. In Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago learns the Soul of the World through experience, patience, time and help from the Old King, the Englishman and the alchemist.

Do you know your personal destiny? This is the question which Santiago the protagonist of The Alchemist tries to answer on a search for a treasure. The question which will be attempted to answer is, What literary element does Paulo Coelho us to develop the theme that in life everyone has a personal destiny which they all have to pursue when they get the chance, in the novel The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho conveys the central theme of pursuing your own destiny through the use of allusions, in how they affect the protagonist Santiago with his encounters in the desert on the search for his treasure.

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

As time passes on, people in society become accustomed to the daily routines of life. Eventually, what others once wanted to pursue become their own fears. Fear begins to control people on what they should and shouldn't do, and without knowing, they become slaves to fear. In The Alchemist, Santiago speaks to the merchant about his dream of traveling to the pyramids, and the merchant replies back with his dream of wanting to go to Mecca. The merchant states that he fears living his dream because then he would no longer have anything to dream for, and because of that, he won't go to Mecca. The merchant continues to live his normal life, and he misses the opportunity of a lifetime that other Muslim families have achieved due to his fear of

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.