Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Character of Santiago
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Character of Santiago
Paulo Coelho’s novel, The Alchemist follows the ventures of Santiago, a young shepherd from an Andalusian town in Spain. He disobeyed his father’s wish to enroll at a seminary to become a Catholic priest; instead he became a shepherd in order to fulfill his dream to travel throughout the country, in fact the world. Throughout the novel, his character changes while he is on a journey to find his Personal Legend and to find his treasure that would make him rich. In the novel, he changes constantly and he somewhat represents mankind. At the beginning of the novel, he was afraid to trust his dreams and seek the aid of a gypsy to interpret his dream. Her respond was vague but the massage is what Santiago believed to be the meaning of the dream. …show more content…
Throughout the book, he shows a level of ferocity towards his goal to achieve his personal legend by overcoming obstacles in his life. Although he changes, he is still thoughtful. He represents innocence because while he was in his journey, he witnesses the cruelty of the world around him. As he is the protagonist in the story, he is patient and he trusts in his destiny and his fate. Santiago represents mankind because in each person’s life, they either change mentally, physically, or emotionally. Santiago may symbolize us trying to figure out the questions that are hard for us to solve: What is my purpose in life? What is the meaning in life? Santiago also represents the youth of today. In the beginning of the novel, his father wanted him to become a priest similar to parents wanting their children to have careers they like, but Santiago later tells his father that he wanted to travel the world. His father was disappointed, but he gave his son his blessing almost like parents giving their children their …show more content…
Santiago may symbolize humanity. He represents mankind because he desires to find his Personal Legend and going on arduous journey. Although the journey was hard, but he was determined and he had help. The journey, to me personally, symbolizes life because as Santiago was embarking changes that made a huge effect in his life, the journey was hard but he overcame it. It represents us because in life we go into a journey not knowing when something is going to happen but we have help, not just other people but God himself to help guide us in every way. Santiago also represents mankind because we change in many ways. Despite encountering many obstacles and being cheated, he was patient, thoughtful, and in every encounter he learns. When he asked the Alchemist how to do the task, he gave him a vague response but Santiago did it by himself, this too represents us because we have to use our intuition to solve may problems that lie above our path. Santiago was told that when you want something, the entire universe would help you achieve it. It similar to Christians when Jesus tell us when we need things in life we pray to God the Father and he will help get it in his will. With many people helping Santiago to understand his Personal Legend it shows that they are numerous people are there to help us to overcome many obstacles that lie ahead on the path of life.
In the novel, The Alchemist, Santiago is an archetypal hero who embarks on the most common forms of a hero’s journey. From when he received his calling from his dream, the gypsy woman, and the king, his denial and refusing of the call with his thoughts of assurance of a stable livelihood, his acceptance and beginning of adventure, his help throughout the ways with the aid of the mystical alchemist, to finally the trials that he faces from the start to the conclusion. Therefore, so Santiago is what now, and always has been considered to be the all-known hero.
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 and Pi both discover new ways to understand the meaning of life on their journey: they realize their strengths and weaknesses, they communicate with other living things, they tackle their agitation with logic, and their faith in God strengthens. Santiago understands himself as he discovers on his journey, his purpose of life, which is achieving his personal legend, while Pi discovers his evil side, a side, which he never thought he would ever release. In The Alchemist, Santiago learns through his adventures of life as a shepherd, making him understand himself and the world better. He meets an old man, who claims to be King of Salem.... ... middle of paper ...
The Alchemist was a great book about a young boy, Santiago, who wanted to travel the world. In the beginning of the book Santiago’s family wanted him to become a priest, but Santiago wanted to travel the world. Santiago’s father told him that the only people that travel the world are the rich and shepherds. When Santiago heard the information he then told his father he will become a shepherd. In response to his son’s decision, he gave his son one gold coin to buy his flock of sheep. As time went on Santiago began having a dream, a dream that he kept having. Eventually he met a merchant that he sold his wool to once a year. The boy had fell in love with the merchant’s daughter and the next year the dream was finally going to
By Paulo Coelho there are many symbols throughout the novel that have deep, and specific meanings that helped Santiago throughout the journey of discovering his personal legend. In the beginning of the story Santiago is given two stones, one white and one black. The stones both represent different things but do the same thing during Santiago’s journey. “They are called Urim and Thummim. The black signifies ‘yes’, and the white ‘no.’ When you are unable to read the omens, they will help you do so. Always ask an objective question.” This quote means when ever Santiago is not sure of what to do that he is supposed to ask an objective question and pull a stone out of the bag. Urim and Thummim help Santiago make choices throughout the journey of discovering his personal legend. During a part of the journey the stones fell out of Santiago’s pocket. “He didn’t consider mending the hole - the stones could fall through any time they wanted. He learned that there were certain things one shouldn’t ask about, so as not to flee from one’s own destiny.” Santiago learned that there are choices that everyone has to make personally and not get others insight from. “I promise to make my own decisions.” Santiago made a promise that he would make his own decisions and not let Urim and Thummim make them for him. He realized that he was on his own person journey and that Urim and Thummim represented wisdom and guidance only if he was in the need of
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...
First of all, the author shows that through persevering through adversity anyone can achieve their dreams. During the book Santiago continuously faces problems that he will have to overcome to achieve his Personal Legend. In this scenario, Santiago is in the city of Tangier when he is suddenly robbed of all of his money, by a thief who promised to take him to Egypt. However instead of thinking of himself as a victim of a thief he decides that “I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure” (34). Santiago was able to persevere through a situation that many people would not have been able to overcome and not able to continue their journey. Being able to persevere through
Without the decision of Santiago pursuing his dream of traveling and later becoming a peasant, he would have never achieved his “personal legend.” Through his “personal legend” of finding his destiny, Santiago encounters many situations where his occupation as a shepherd benefits him. For example, when Santiago met the King of Salem, Melchizedek, he trade him six of his sheep in return for knowledge that helped him throughout his whole entire journey to the Pyramids. If Santiago followed his parents desires and became a priest, this whole journey of finding his destiny would have never taken place because it started
The characters Santiago meet in the book influence his decisions.King Melchizedek, Fatima, and The Alchemist are the ones who make Santiago’s dream possible. At first the King seems like a peasant but underneath the raggedy clothes was a breastplate of gold. He is the man that starts Santiago’s journey to his own Personal Legend. “To realize one’s Personal Legend is a person’s only real obligation.” (25). From that quote you could see that he is telling him to go for it, pursue your own personal legend. Santiago’s next encounter is with Fatima. Fatima is a women of the desert. After Santiago told her about his personal legend she knew that it was sign, they were meant to be. All she could really do was help him continue to his goal. "I'm a desert woman, and I'm proud of that. I want my husband to wander as free as the wind that shapes the dunes.” (99). She is allowing him to be free and go on pursuit of his dreams. The
Coelho incorporates many internal struggles into Santiago’s life in order to prove that they don’t restrain people from achieving their personal legend. Through the use of the hero’s journey, Santiago faces many internal struggles such as when he attempts to understand
"They come in search of new things, but when they leave they are basically the same people they were when they arrived. They climb the mountain to see the castle, and they wind up thinking that the past was better than what we have now. They have blond hair, or dark skin, but basically they're the same as the people who live right here." Santiago’s father is saying that no matter how much Santiago travels, or how much of the world he sees he will come back the same person. Santiago’s father is an important person in his life. Without his father believing in him Santiago might not believe in himself either. Santiago seems to know what he wants in life, but with his father practically telling him it is wrong he might not succeed. Santiago needs others believing in him or he will not have the motivation to succeed in finding the treasure. Not only does Santiago need others believing in him, but he needs to believe in himself as
Santiago is a heroic figure because he was always kind to others. He was always helping someone with something. For example: when Santiago was working at the Crystal shop, he helped the Crystal Merchant, improve his business. When Santiago was leaving the Crystal Shop, the merchant stated “You brought a new feeling into my Crystal Shop”(61). The Crystal Merchant is talking about how much Santiago has changed his business. Santiago has helped the merchant’s business by making a display case to put outside the store, cleaning all the crystal and adding new things, such as the tea. Santiago also helped an Englishman by helping him find the Alchemist. The Englishman wanted to speak to an alchemist. The Englishman stated “I need you to help me find out where the alchemist lives”(90). Because the Englishman requested for help, Santiago helped him. It took over half a day to find the alchemist, but fi...
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).
Christ is a fisher of men, but Santiago is merely a fisherman; Christ is a figure with a divine mission, Santiago one with a secular mission (to bring back an oversized fish); Christ is a martyr who willingly but reluctantly dies for his convictions, Santiago is a persevering champion who is willing to die only to win a battle with a fish; Christ is a teacher of spiritual and ethical wisdom, Santiago is a professional with skill and slogans to impart (38).
Firstly, a major part of the story is set on the sea. The sea acts as a backdrop against which the reader views Santiago’s character. Santiago’s character is clearly seen through his interaction with the sea. We see Santiago’s’ strength while he strives to catch the fish. The community where he lives used to think that he has bad luck and that his best days were over, however, Santiago is able to prove everyone wrong thanks to the sea. The sea serves as an ideal location because it is turbulent and can be difficult to navigate. “Man can be destroyed but not defeated” This shows Santiago’s strong determination and strength to kill the fish he admires the most. Even though he loves the fish he is determined to kill this fish to show his strength using elements of the sea.