The Develod : A Summary Of Santiago Is A Shepherd

14) Earlier in the story, the alchemist told Santiago "when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed." At the end of the story, how does this simple lesson change Santiago’s life? How does it lead him back to the treasure he was looking for?

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

The Gypsy women tell Santiago to follow his dream and go to Egypt. Santiago, still not confident about going to Egypt, meets a man claiming to be the king of Salam. This man echoes the dream interpreter’s opinion and tells Santiago that it is his personal legend to journey to the pyramids and that he should sell his flock of sheep and set off to Tangier. This man said, “…people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” (23) This shows that you just have to have confidence and you can do what you dream of. Santiago takes the man’s advice and sells his flock of sheep and goes to Tangier.

     Santiago leaves his family to become a shepherd, before leaving his dad gives him money he has saved up, Santiago buys sheep with the money. As a shepherd Santiago travels around Spain. As he travels he is in search of food and water for his sheep. During his journeys he gave his sheep names and really connects with them. When he ran out of money, Santiago sold wool from his sheep for

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.

Sometimes people have to do sacrifices, which appears in the rising action of the book. “‘Fish,’ he said, ‘I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before the day ends’” (Hemingway 54). Why did he have to kill it? Why couldn’t he hold on a little longer? Santiago sacrifices the fish for his self interest. In spite of the fact that he respects the fish, the old man’s determination reflects his belief that his purpose in life is to be a fisherman, and that comes first. As well, Santiago advises himself that he doesn't have Manolin, his beloved companion, with him and must battle against the fish by himself. It has been four struggling days of being pulled by the huge marlin, Santiago decided that that was enough. Even though

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

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 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.

Santiago is a young man who became a shepherd to be able to travel the world. When he is in the city of Tarifia selling wool he goes to an old women who

As you most likely know, the real ending to the book was that Santiago was finally in Egypt digging for treasure. Then, some men came along and started hurting Santiago. When the men were about to leave, one of them told Santiago something interesting. The man said that he had a dream about treasure being buried in Spain. He said it was near a church and a sycamore tree, which Santiago recognized from when he was a shepherd. Then, the man said he would never actually go to find that treasure. Santiago then knew where his treasure was. He ended up finding a chest with jewels and gold coins.

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.

        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

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.