Santiago The Alchemist

How contrasting views affected Santiago reaching his personal legend
Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a story about a young shepherd who goes on a journey to the Great pyramids in Egypt in search of treasure to fulfil his personal legend. The boy meets people along the way who either help or hinder his ability to achieve his dreams. Through the contrasting views of The Crystal Merchant and the Englishman Santiago learns that many people pursue their personal legends only in their minds and that they all influenced Santiago’s personal legend; as a result of the characters’ outlook on life, Coelho conveys that everyone pursues their dreams either in life, or in their imagination, or through books.
Santiago’s journey is influenced by the Crystal Merchant because the Merchant not only gives Santiago the skills, knowledge and money to keep going, but also inspires Santiago to continue on with his journey. The Crystal Merchant supplies Santiago with

When the Englishman lent Santiago his books, it teaches the boy how to read the language of the world which allowed him to spot omens later. While returning the books to the Englishman, Santiago explains that he learned, “ The world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things,” which allows Santiago to spot omens, like seeing the army in the eagle’s dive, later on in his journey (Coelho 83). Santiago also learns that people learn in different ways in order to follow their personal legend. While travelling through the desert, Santiago warns the Englishman, “ you should pay more attention to the Caravan... We make a lot of detours, but we’re always heading for the same destination,” and he replies, “ Books are like caravans in that respect,” showing that both could learn from each other, which allowed him to further his