Why Is Santiago Important In The Alchemist

Destiney Baker
Mr. Murphy
Period 6
16 October 2014
The Alchemist
In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Santiago is the main character who is trying to achieve a Personal Legend but faces several triumphs during his journey. According to Enotes, “A personal legend, as it's referred to in The Alchemist, is one's destiny in life. It's identifying our purpose in life and pursuing it.” Santiago encounters several road blocks which allow him to meet different people during his journey who pour some form of wisdom into his spirit and teach him directly or indirectly different life lessons. The key characters that all assisted Santiago are the King, the Alchemist, and Fatima. All these characters were very influential to Santiago during his life long

journey of fulfilling his Personal Legend.
The King of Salem also known as Melchizedek assisted Santiago in an important role, simply getting him started on his actual journey.

He has personal powers which allow him to help those on the route to fulfilling their personal legend. He strongly improvises Santiago to begin a journey of accomplishing his personal legend. The King spoke wisdom into his spirit and later on down the line Santiago followed these teachings. He told Santiago about the Soul of the World and Personal Legends. He offers him two magical stones that symbolize “yes” and “no” to be guidance on his journey. His powers persuade Santiago to go and find treasure at the pyramid in Egypt. Even though things get hard, the King tells people pursuing their personal legend to continue to fight through the obstacles. In the kings absence, the magical stone he gave to Santiago allows him to remain strong when in

doubt.
The Alchemist is known to be approximately 200 years of age who resides in Fayoum Oasis. Santiago is sent to him by the Englishman. He also has a form of magical powers and acts as the physical teacher to Santiago although he speaks in riddles, he expects Santiago to learn through his experiences. The Alchemist helps Santiago because he travels with him throughout his whole journey. He is his leader into the right direction. The Alchemists wisdom engulfs him with the Soul of the World. With the Alchemist help, Santiago learns to read and talk about the world around him, which leads him to the treasure and him encountering his own magical powers. Santiago takes this knowledge and runs with it even though no direction can lead anybody to the Soul of the world but their own heart and mind.
Fatima is the only female character in the Alchemist. She is very attractive and charming in Santiago’s eyes. She gets water from the well as her occupation. Her and Santiago develop romance but she knows that at some point all men have to leave so she is used to it. She tells Santiago that he has to go and accomplish his personal legend and not be stuck on her. She includes that if the love they have is real, in the end he will come back for her. She didn’t have a personal legend of her own which is probably why she wanted him to accomplish his. Even though she is willing to wait on him, he still struggles to depart from her. She aims toward loving him though.
Throughout Santiago’s life long journey, he encounters 6 different obstacles presenting themselves in the way of his main goal. His perseverance allows him to move past each burden. The first obstacle that stood out to me was the decision Santiago had to make to follow his personal legend and become a Sheppard. In spite his family against his reasoning for wanting to travel the world and experience things to shape his life. This was difficult for him and presented itself as an obstacle because he had to give up the life he was accustom to living. The King in term helped him make up his mind to follow his dreams. This resulted in him beginning to become a Sheppard.
Another obstacle that was a setback for Santiago was having to sell his sheep. The sheep taught Santiago how to talk through words. Sheep live to eat and drink and have shelter. He believes that they don’t really have an understanding about life and there is something deeper, even though they’re only animals. But this is how Santiago lives and most people, not doing what we may be predestined to do. He has to sell the sheep which brings him something to go up against. He has developed a bond with these animals and knows their personalities.
He was also robbed several times.

The first robbery was in Tarifa. Trusting a man to take him across the desert, he gives up all his money. He gets distracted and loses the thief. The second robbery occurred with him and the Alchemist. He and the Alchemist were captured during the tribal war and the Alchemist threw him under the bus and offered all of his money. Another obstacle was him having to turn into wind within 3 days if he wanted his life. Lastly he was robbed shortly after arriving at the pyramids. Searching for treasure, thieves came and went into his bag retrieving the gold he had from when the Alchemist gave him a piece. They found nothing else but still beat him. They told him where the real treasure was and he went back to get the other piece. It was 4 parts, one for Santiago, Alchemist and the monk. The alchemist knew he would lose it so he left an extra piece with the monk for Santiago used to travel to

Sycamore.
The four obstacles handed to us by the book are pessimism, love, fear of failure or defeat and self-worth. Santiago faced pessimism from his family at a young age. Being told everything is impossible and them telling him that becoming a Sheppard brings no joy. Pessimism isn’t really evident in my life because my family believes in me and assures me that this world is mine and I can have anything I want if I go after it. Santiago used his own decisions in spite of the negativity thrown at him to formulate how he will find his treasure in life. We all need to live and stop being sheep in life because nothing comes easy.