Paulo Coelho Changes In The Alchemist

Maxwell Maltz once said “The 'self-image' is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.” In the realistic fiction book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho there was a boy named Santiago, who’s character changes through out the book. In the beginning of this book, Santiago is just a shepherd in Spain that lives day to day from his sheep. He cared for each of them until he found out about his personal legend. A physic told him that he had to go to Egypt by the pyramids to look for his treasure. From there he went to the north western tip of Africa and had to stay to regain his strength in one of the cities. There he met a crystal merchant, after working for him for a year,

he left with a group of people to cross the desert. Once they reached a small community called oases, they were told that they couldn’t continue due to the tribal wars. Santiago met an alchemist there, and they both set off to find the treasure. Throughout the passage, one may say that Santiago was the same gambling and respectable character through out the entire book because “A shepherd always takes his chances”(Coelho 13). However his character changes because he is more spiritual, and changes his perception on love.

First off Santiago at fist was not the type of person that believes everything you say.

Over time, he started believing in all sorts of things that he may have never heard of if he hadn’t followed his personal legend. “So the boy was disappointed; he decided that he would never again believe in dreams” (Coelho 15). This passage took place in the beginning of the story, Santiago was disappointed in what had occurred when the woman was interpreting her dream. In that, it made him not believe in what was happening in the “spiritual world”. It took a lot to make the boy start believing, and eventually, never stop. The King was the one who saved Santiago from turn down his personal legend, “ ‘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 to do so …’ ”(Coelho 30). After his conversation with the king, he believes in anything that will have to do with his personal legend. From not being a dreamer, and then not only becoming a dreamer but to then follow where the dream tells him can be seen as a very big character

change.

Love is a huge part of the book. In the beginning, Santiago doesn’t truly know what love is. “ ‘It doesn’t matter,’ [Santiago] said to his sheep. ‘I know other girls in other places’ ” (Coelho 6). That is what he told his sheep right before going to see the merchant, and the merchant had a daughter that Santiago always had an eye on. Since he gave up on her before he even went to the merchant that year, he didn’t know what love truly was. Later, at Oases Santiago states, “Fatima was more important than his treasure” (Coelho 95). Now, Santiago realizes what love is. He is committed to this one woman that he fell in love with first sight. Before, time meant more to Santiago than meeting with the merchants daughter. Now Fatima is worth more to him than all the money he can possibly think of. Santiago’s perception of what love is and how he uses it changed which is a big part of a character.

Although one may think that Santiago is still the same from the beginning, “He reminded himself that he had been a shepherd, and that he could be a shepherd again” (Coelho 95).

However, Santiago did Change due to his beliefs, and how he is able to love a person. Since these things change in this character, Santiago was able to go on his journey because he believed the king. Also, because of his new perception of love, he was able to talk to the desert, wind, the sun, and the ‘hand that wrote it all’, and eventually turn himself into the wind so he wouldn’t die from the tribal ruler. He needed to love because he needed to get back to Fatima. These traits were made because of the journey from Spain to the pyramids. This happened in the realistic fiction book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Like Maxwell Maltz once said “The 'self-image' is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the

behavior.”