Paulo Coelho Changes In The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho tells the story of a young boy named Santiago on his journey to find his Personal Legend (the ultimate goal in one’s life). During this journey, Santiago spends time with a merchant who owns a crystal shop. This crystal merchant helps Santiago by giving him a job and allowing him lodging, and Santiago helps the crystal merchant as well. Santiago exposes the crystal merchant to the idea that change can be beneficial in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist through his initial idea of improving the shop, his open mind toward the crystal merchant’s views on change, and his final improvement upon the shop.

Santiago’s first suggestion for improvement in the shop was his initial step in exposing the crystal merchant to beneficial

change. When Santiago proposes the idea of putting a shelf outside of the shop to the merchant, and the merchant replies, “People will bump into it and pieces will be broken,” (Coelho, 52). This showcases the merchant’s avoidance of and experiences with change. It is through this interaction that readers see that the merchant does not like when things are altered from the way they usually are. Later in the book, the readers see that “The shelf brought many customers into the shop.” (Coelho 56). Therefore, the readers are able to see how this change provided assistance to the merchant, contradicting his original belief. Adding the shelf causes the merchant to see the benefits of differentiating from his routine, as well as Santiago’s always open and creative mind.
Using his unprejudiced mindset, Santiago gets through to the crystal merchant in a different way.

When the conversation about change begins, the crystal merchant states “‘I don’t much like change,’ he said. ‘You and I aren’t like…that rich merchant. If he makes a buying mistake, it doesn’t affect him much. But we two have to live with our mistakes,’” (Coelho 53). This quote provides insight into how the merchant views himself in comparison to other people, such as the “rich merchant”. The readers see that, while he does not consider himself rich, he is still too afraid to make changes that need to be made to improve his financial situation. Later, he opens up more about his past, stating “Before you came, I was thinking about how much time I wasted in the same place while my friends moved on and either went bankrupt or did better than they had before. It made me depressed,” (Coelho 57). Seeing the negative effects of change forced the merchant into believing that was the only outcome of change. Santiago’s open mind while listening to the merchant helped him see how change can be better than sticking to old

habits.
The final advice Santiago gave the crystal merchant about his shop led him to beneficial change.

As the time he spends with the merchant begins to draw to a close, Santiago proposes the idea of serving tea in the pieces of crystal to attract customers that are thirsty after climbing the hill, to which the merchant responds “If we serve tea in the crystal, the shop will expand, and I will have to change my way of life,” (Coelho 58). This resistant statement is now met with a new understanding from the reader, using the past experiences the merchant told to Santiago. Santiago sees that the reason the crystal merchant is hesitant is not because he is stubborn, but because he is cautious of what he could lose. However, the merchant eventually succumbs to the suggestion and “Before long, the news spread, and a great many people began to climb the hill to see the shop.” (Coelho 59). Once again the merchant sees an example of how great things can stem from a small divergence from routine. Through this advice Santiago reveals the last illustration of improvement that comes from

change.
In conclusion, Santiago is able to expose the crystal merchant to the idea that change is not a precursor to awful happenstances, but rather can be quite beneficial through his first idea about improving the shop, his open mind when listening to the crystal merchant, and his last improvement upon the shop in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. This lesson that Santiago helps the merchant learn is important for the merchant to understand, so as to continue to improve his shop and his quality of life. Whether or not the crystal merchant chooses to use what Santiago has attempted to teach him is a similar decision to the one the readers must make as they read and internalize all the lessons in The Alchemist.