In life we are faced with a multitude of choices. We make these decisions everyday; right or left, to be or not to be, to let our lives be ruled by fear or not. In the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the main character Santiago sets out on a journey to find a hidden treasure and along the way he discovers his personal legend, or life goal, and that all things in live are connected. Santiago starts out as a simple shepherd boy, but after a dream of treasure and pyramids which he know nothing about he seeks advice from a gypsy and a wise old man. Both tell Santiago to go to the pyramids in Egypt, where he will find his treasure. After many obstacles and lessons, he finds his treasure and much more. Santiago, and I through him, realized that fear is the only thing that can stop someone from following their dreams and that everything in the world, from humans to the desert sand, are all one. Fear is Santiago’s greatest enemy. Throughout his journey, Santiago is challenged with a feeling of self-doubt. When faced …show more content…
Santiago is shown the true meaning of Maktub, which is that there is a path we are meant to take, and the higher being that put that past for us sends signs or omens to help guide us. Though this path is completely planned for us, it is our choice to decide whether we follow the omens and reach our Personal Legend at the end of the path. Santiago meets many people who say this word: Maktub. One example of how much the people Santiago meets believe in the path their G-d has chosen for them is what Fatima says to convince Santiago to leave her in search for his personal treasure. She says, “If I am really a part of your dream, you’ll come back one day” (101). She means that is it is their destiny to be with each other forever then it will happen, if not then it was not meant to be. Fatima’s pure belief in Maktub is astounding because it is blind
In The Alchemist Paulo Coelho presents a character, Santiago, torn between following tradition and his Personal Legend. Santiago tries to live true to his Personal Legend, which is a path pursued by those who strive to fulfill their purpose in life. Yet throughout the novel tradition, a motif, presents itself as a roadblock holding Santiago back from reaching his dreams. Coelho juxtaposes tradition against Personal Legend to illustrate its purely individual nature and the necessity of the acceptance of change to reach one’s dreams and goals.
People often do not realize their differences, but the differences in people are what set them apart from all others. In Paul Coelho’s “The Alchemist” two characters do such actions. The main character, Santiago, and the arguably secondary character, the Englishman, do such aforementioned actions. The two characters meet in a caravan that is traveling across the Saharan Desert. Although they do have some pretty interesting similarities, their differences are what intrigue the reader more.
A shepherd and an alchemist seem to be stark opposites. A poor sheep herder who lives from the land, alone with his sheep compared to an Alchemist. Rich, powerful, and highly sought out. However, the two have more in common than you might think. They both live with a goal, or a “Personal Legend” (21) as the Alchemist may have put it, that gives them a reason to keep going until they achieve that goal. In the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the main character is named Santiago, who happens to be both, a shepherd and and alchemist. Santiago’s Personal Legend is to find the Egyption Pyramids that will give him treasure. Many people help him along the way to achieve this Personal Legend,however there is
The first two obstacles that Santiago faces are that his father tells him he can not do something that he wants to do and that he wants to pursue his personal legend, but he does not want to hurt those that he loves. For example, Santiago’s father said, “The people who come here have a lot of money to spend, so they can afford to travel. Amongst us the only ones who can travel are shepherds.” Everyone is told by their parents and friends that everything we want to do is impossible. Since Santiago did not have money to spend to travel his only choice was then to become a shepherd to fulfill his desire. T...
In the beginning of the book, Santiago travels to visit a Gypsy who is said to be able interpret his recurring dream. As a child he had always heard stories about Gypsies capturing children, taking them to their camps and making them their slaves. These stories translated into one of his largest fears for Santiago as a child and that fear returned when he visited the Gypsy, “As a child, the boy had always been frightened to death that he would be captured by Gypsies, and this childhood fear returned when the old woman took his hand” (17). The Gypsy eventually tells Santiago that there is treasure located at the Egyptian Pyramids. Without being able to overcome his fears of Gypsies, Santiago may have never went on a journey to Egypt in order to achieve his personal legend. Another example in the book that shows Santiago overcoming his fears is while Santiago and the Alchemist are travelling towards the Pyramids. They are suddenly captured by a desert tribe at war, who mistakes them for spies. In order to save his life Santiago has to turn himself into the wind. Coelho states, “But the boy was too frightened to listen to words of wisdom. He had no idea how he was going to transform himself into the wind” (83). Two days later Santiago is standing in front of the tribal chieftains trying to turn himself into the wind. He is able to stay calm while his life is on the line and
In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho continuously shows how Santiago conquers fear and is greatly rewarded for it. In order to get his treasure and achieve his personal legend he must first travel through the well-known dangers of the desert. It is an extremely expensive trip that many do...
Santiago is a young boy who fits into the flawed hero archetype. His story tells of his journey to find his Personal Legend and the many new people and experiences he encounters. Santiago is flawed in the way that he does not have enough confidence in himself to complete the task set out in front of him. He is constantly putting himself off track and avoiding what he has to do. In the beginning of his journey, he faces a setback and his money gets stolen. While finding a solution and a job, he gets distracted loses sight of his dreams. A couple months into the job, he thinks, “...Egypt was now just as distant a dream as was Mecca for the merchant…” (Coelho 58) and he glorifies his new plan to “disembark at Tarifa as a winner” (Coelho 58) with his improved flock of sheep. However, he continues his journey two years later, despite his break in confidence. When Santiago reaches the Oasis during his journey across the desert, he gets sidetracked once more by a woman. This woman’s name is Fatima. The second time they meet Santiago speaks without thinking and says, “‘I came to tell you just one thing...I want you to be my wife. I love you.’” (Coelho 98). This alone demonstrates his rash actions of an inexperienced hero who causes his dreams to be postponed. However, Santiago is also a successful hero despite his flaws. He still continues his journey, no matter what, and eventually reaches his goal. Even through
Upon arriving they said they would stay at the oasis until it was safe to cross the desert. A camel driver tells Santiago that, “There are rumors of tribal wars” (The Alchemist 80). When entering the oasis they had to hand over their arms and stay in tents with locals and fellow travelers. During his short time at the oasis Santiago experiences love at first sight with a girl named Fatima. As the war drags on Santiago tells Fatima about his personal legend and she encourages him to continue on to Egypt. Although she has been waiting for him her entire life she still insisted that he achieve his personal legend. She said if they are meant to be together they will meet again one day. Then Santiago left the oasis with the Alchemist towards the pyramids. Through this he realizes that each challenge he faces on the way to his destination forms part of God's
In conclusion, Santiago’s journey had different stages that got him closer to achieving his personal legend. Overall the Hero’s Journey of santiago was about him going through challenges and for him to trust in his heart. This can also be compared someone when wanting to accomplish something but then you would think you won’t be able to accomplish it. Clearly, he has been able to complete his journey through stages which had also got him closer to the end every time he has accomplished one of the stages, so the stages are also there so when passing a stage you will be able to keep going without any
Santiago is faced with many fears in his life: getting his fortune told, transforming into the wind, and the fear of losing all his wealth while in Tangier. However with the help of his mentors, he learns that fear guides a person in pursuing his or her dreams. Although, there are other characters who demonstrate the negative side of fear- like the crystal merchant. “The crystal merchant awoke with the day, and felt the same anxiety. . . he had been in the same place for thirty years. . . it was too late to change anything” (Coelho 47). The crystal merchant demonstrates a character where fear rules one’s life. As a result, the crystal merchant lives unhappy the rest of his life and fears that if he changes his life he will have nothing to live
Santiago is, undoubtedly, crafted as a Christ figure, from his innocence to his crucifixion. His innocence is derived from the narrator’s doubt and the doubt invoked in the reader, that Santiago deflowered Angela prior to her marriage; he is murdered for this reason. In the novella, Santiago attempts to flee from Pedro and Pablo Vicario once he realizes that they are out to kill him; unfortunately, he does not make it into the safety of his home. As the stabbing progresses, Santiago stops defending himself and lets the brothers continue “knifing him against the door with alternate and easy stabs” (Márquez 118). With the surrender of Santiago, the entire town became horrified “by its own crime” (Márquez 118).
To begin with, the fear of losing beloved things or people presents people with dilemmas that influence the continuation of their journey and they can only bypass these dilemmas by getting rid of the fear altogether. To begin, Santiago’s fear of losing everything he already earned makes him second guess his plans and therefore discourages him to continue his journey. Santiago expresses his doubts by stating that his “‘heart is a traitor…it does [not] want [him] to go on.’ ‘That makes sense,’ the alchemist answered. ‘Naturally it [is] afraid that, in pursuing [a] dream, [a person] might lose everything [they] [have] won’” (Coelho 145). Throughout the novel, Santiago learns to always listen to his heart, but in this situation if he did, it would result in abandoning his journey. The alchemist encourages Santiago to move on from this fear by stating that it is normal to feel scared, but not normal to give up on a dream because of a feeling. Santiago’s best solution in this situation is to conquer his fear of loss altogether and erase the doubts in his mind for a smoother journey. Next, the fear of losing life in the midst of the journey makes Santiago wonder if it is appropriate to risk his life to pursue a dream. Santiago learns how to handle this situation as “the camel driver had [once] said, to die tomorrow [is] no worse than dying on any other ...
The Theme of “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho is, always follow your dreams and listen to your heart. At the start of the novel Santiago does not know what he should do when he is confronted by his dream. But by the end of the novel Santiago completely trusts his heart to guide him though life. Santiago’s story shows him learning and living out the theme of the novel.
Starting from the very beginning of the novel, Santiago was defined as someone struggling against defeat. He had gone eighty-four days without catching any fish. However, the old man refused defeat every time; he made up his mind to sail out past all the other fishermen to where the bigger fish usually were. He finally caught a marlin after a difficult three-day battle, and even after that he continued to fight off sharks from eating his prize, even though he knew the effort was useless. Both Santiago and the marlin showed pride, honor, and bravery, and both were victims of the same general rule: they must kill or be killed. Santiago realized this as he reflected upon a tired warbler flying towards shore, where, he believed, it would surely
... the character of Santiago. He is not as determined as Ahab when it comes to his own nature. He is able to accept that humility and love do not take away his pride and in fact they are life sustaining. Ahab cannot give up the only thing he knows, his passions. Knowledge does not come in the face of a world that remains as mysterious and evil when we leave it as it was when we entered it. For Santiago, there is some measure of relief from the indifferent universe through the interdependence of human beings. Ahab never finds this measure of relief. Yet, they both retain some measure of dignity because they know they cannot conquer the universe but they do not let it conquer them either.