Essay on The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Have you ever encountered problems while trying to fulfill a goal in your life? In the book The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, a shepherd boy named Santiago overcomes obstacles to reach his personal legend. Throughout the book Santiago encounters many friends to help him fulfill his destiny. Santiago encounters many problems throughout the story. He overcomes them with the help of his friends and his wife-to-be. These problems shape Santiago into a dignified man of many traits.

The crystal merchant had few customers, but once the crystal was cleaned, a larger crowd was attracted to his storefront. Santiago would receive a much needed meal, as well as a job offer. Freshly cleaned crystal attracted many customers, which caused the crystal merchant to offer Santiago a full-time position, with pay. Like an alchemist, Santiago went from being in poverty, to being successful. Santiago also turned a negative into a positive for the crystal merchant. The crystal merchant’s shop did not appear inviting to potential customers, but Santiago rectified it, which in turn, caused the shop to receive more customers and generate a greater profit. Santiago is a metaphorical alchemist. He turns the worst into the best, just as an alchemist turns base metals into gold.

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

First, good came after bad. For example, while Santiago is at Tarifa after he is robbed, he meets a crystal merchant who allows him to clean his shop, which results in him getting a job there. “‘When they had eaten, the merchant turned to` the boy and said, ‘I’d like you to work in my shop. Two customers came in today while you were working, and that’s a good omen’” (49). Good comes to Santiago after he goes through the bad. He is robbed, and then he gets offered a job that will pay him, so he has a chance to regain the money he just lost. Finally, since he still tries to become better, he gets a job which will help him gain money for the journey. To conclude, Santiago learns that even if something bad happens, if you still strive to become better, you will be awarded.

To begin his long journey, Santiago meets a wise old king name King Melchizedek. He is in a local market when the king walks up and asks Santiago what he is reading. The king continues to say that the book he is reading is important but irritating because it describes the characters inability to choose their own Personal Legend. When Santiago asks where this mysterious stranger is from, King Melchizedek replies with “I am from many places, but I was born in Salem as I am the king there” (Coelho 64). Accepting his statement as true, Santiago continues the conversation allowing them to eventually talk about his dream of the Pyramids. The king wants to help Santiago, but for a price of six sheep. Before leaving with Santiago’s sheep he shares, “’The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon’” (Coelho 32). His message to Santiago reminds him that by following his dream he will witness beautiful sights and people, but that he should always remember the purpose of his travels. Leaving it at that, the king pointed Santiago in the direction to follow his dream.

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

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago, a young shepherd living in an abandoned church in a small Andalusian town, who is stripped of his comfortable and safe lifestyle after an encounter with Melchizedek, an Islamic king who tells him of his “Personal Legend” (21). Melchizedek points Santiago in the direction of his treasure only after taking one-tenth of his money, giving him two stones, and a lesson on reading omens. Throughout his journey, Santiago meets new friends, has everything stolen from him three times, and travels the vast and unknown Sahara Desert all while achieving personal growth and an understanding of his life’s meaning. His journey leads him to an Oasis

The only life Santiago knew was being a shepherd, but one day he made a decision that he wanted to know more. He wanted to get out of Spain and see the rest of the world, and from there the rest of the story develops. The same goes for all of us, in that the rest of our stories are based on the decisions we make today – we decide to be better, we decide to be happy, we decide to be successful. It all starts with that decision.

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

I would defiantly recommend this book to a friend or a family member. I fervently enjoyed “The Alchemist,” and I think that most people would enjoy reading about Santiago. The novel is universal in its ability to tell a story and

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

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

The book tells a story of a shepherd boy, who owns a herd of sheep. His name is Santiago. In his sleep, he has dreamt a dream at two occasions that he needs to go to the pyramids of Egypt to find treasures.

As Santiago continues to find his Personal Legend, and travel he begins to feel lost without his sheep. Santiago spent his entire life with his sheep, and never had a real home. However, when traveling without his sheep for the first time, it becomes clear that Santiago’s sheep symbolize his home: “When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy” (42). Homes represent a place for comfort and happiness. Santiago spent all his time with his sheep, and never had a single place he called home. Since homes provide a place of happiness and comfort, and so Santiago’s sheep do the same, the sheep symbolize Santiago’s home. Santiago longing his sheep or being in a familiar place explains how his mind is not entirely focused on completing his Personal Legend. Santiago needs to let go of the strings that hold him back from his goals if he wants to continue. As Santiago works with the crystal merchant, these ties to home begin to sever. When Santiago leaves the merchant, he does not say goodbye. Santiago learns to move on without looking back for his own benefit, and strengthens his grasp on the idea