Who Is Santiago Mature In The Alchemist

The Alchemist Fear is a bigger obstacle than the obstacle itself. Fear is the most difficult circumstance to overcome, some can beat it though many don’t. Fear is the most influential obstacle that is faced amidst any task, from moving to a new city, to following your dreams. In “The Alchemist”, Santiago proves this and also overcomes his fear of defeat and of losing everything. In the end, he is much wiser, smart, and happier person for overcoming his worries and fulfilling his personal legend.

In Santiago’s dreams, he sees that he must travel to the Pyramids of Giza in order to find the treasure that is hidden for him. After meeting with Melchizedek, he realizes that it is his “Personal Legend” to reach the Pyramids and decides to sacrifice everything that he had to accomplish it.

During his journey, Santiago faces the obstacle of overcoming his fear of defeat. This challenge of his fear of defeat is what is significant to Santiago’s growth. As Santiago arrives in Morocco, he was robbed by a stranger and left with nothing in a strange place. Yet, over time Santiago found a job with a Crystal merchant and, “…he had been working incessantly, thinking only

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

Santiago lives in Spain and has always wanted to go and travel to see his country, he also understood the countryside and the language of the sheep. This was able to help him make his way to Egypt. His status quo was

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.

In conclusion, the book the Alchemist illustrates the hardships and decisions we all must go through in life. It emphasizes that listening to your heart and going on your Personal Journey can be a hard and relentless road to embark on. However, the lessons learned and experiences gains can lead you to immeasurable rewards and

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

Santiago does this because he believes it is his fate to go to the pyramids and find his treasure that an old woman told him about. He also believes in his “Personal legend” which is revealed by mind reader early in the book. He shrugs it off at first but then throughout the book realizes more and

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 hardships along Santiago's journey tested him and made it so his personal legend was even more difficult to fulfill. These challenging and taxing situations proved Santiago’s dedication. One of the first hardships Santiago is faced with is a common thief. The man took Santiago's money, claiming he would buy him a camel, and simply ran away with it. Upon losing all his money to the thief, “he had nothing, not even the money to return home and start over” (Coelho 2014, 41). This situation forced Santiago into the painful position of not knowing what was to come. Santiago was so eager to get to fulfill his legend that in his hurry he forgot one of the simplest lessons, to be weary of strangers. After finding a job in the city and working for

Santiago is a curious boy whose open mind makes him particularly suited to finding his Personal Legend. He also values his freedom very highly, which is why he becomes a shepherd and why he resists involvement in things that threaten

I find that Santiago’s journey is fairly unlikely to ever occur in real life. At the end of the novel, Santiago digs for his treasure but finds nothing, however the one man in the world that would tell him another place so search just so happens to be right there waiting. The odds of this happening are very low at best. Another thing that is impossible to occur in real life is someone turning lead into gold. This is not something that could be done.

Santiago finds his treasure at the place where he first dreamt of. The ending, then, can be interpreted as Santiago needs to go in a difficult situation and time to gain the knowledge or wisdom.

The story showcases a lot of life lessons for Santiago. One of biggest lessons learned is to “Remember, that where your heart is, there you will find your treasure”(Coelho 119). There were times when the boy wanted to call it quits. The struggles of life starting hitting him hard, but he always thought back to the reason he’s where he is today. He remembers the mission he has, to find his treasure and fulfill that personal legend. He overcame circumstances like robbery, potential death, and love, to ultimately get to what he wanted. I choose this lesson because slowly but surely I've been trying to adopt this concept into my life. Giving priority to the things you want and need