“ But my heart gets agitated, it has its dreams, it gets emotional.”
(Coehlo 123)
In the Alchemist, Santiago follows his dreams and listens to his heart. He learns to do this from the alchemist, but finds it hard to follow his heart completely, as he thinks it is a traitor to him sometimes. He is a young shepherd boy, going on a journey to achieve his destiny and to find his treasure. The story starts in Andalusia, Spain, but he leaves his home and travels to Egypt, then back to Andalusia, where he finds his treasure. On his journey he meets people who help him a long the way, he falls in love with a woman of the desert, and discovers his true destiny. Santiago possesses three character traits which help him achieve his destiny, he is Determined, Observant and Brave.
Santiago is determined to achieve his destiny, he never gives up and he gets even more determined throughout his journey. One example of when he doesn’t give up is near the beginning, when he gets robbed. He meets a man, who tells him that he could take Santiago to Egypt. The man later steals all of his money and leaves him all alone in this brand new world. Santiago is scared but still, after this happened, he says “ I’m an adventurer looking for treasure.” and he went on with his journey. Later on in the story, when Santiago reaches the oasis, he meets Fatima. He falls in love with her, but is told that he must leave her in order to find his treasure, and achieve his destiny. Even though it was hard for him to leave her, he hoped he would come back to marry her. Then, Santiago gets attacked by a gang of men, wanting his money. Just as they are leaving, one man tells him about a reoccurring dream he had. He dreamt that there was treasure hidden in the ruined church. Santiago is bruised, bleeding and hurt, but that doesn’t stop him from travelling all the way back to the church in Andalusia and finding his treasure. Santiago never gave up, he sees the importance of things around him and knows how they could help him achieve his destiny.
Throughout his journey, Santiago realises the importance of being observant. He first discovers this when he meets Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Melchizedek tells Santiago to go on his quest and find treasure, and tells him to see the world around him. The king says “The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon”. He tells Santiago that he should observe everything around him, but never forget his responsibilities. After learning this, Santiago travels through the desert, observing how the desert and the caravan relate to each other. He notices that the desert and the caravan speak the same language, and that is why the desert lets the caravan cross. When he finally gets to the pyramids, Santiago sees all the omens around him. He believes that the treasure is there because of the omens, but he doesn’t really properly think about it. He digs where he sees a scarab beetle because it is a good omen, and automatically thinks that his journey is over, but gets attacked instead. This shows that he is still learning to observe the world around him. Seeing how things around him work gives Santiago the courage to keep going.
One of the most important traits for Santiago is bravery. Without it, he never would have achieved his destiny. He had to be brave throughout his journey, especially when he was with the alchemist. When he first met the alchemist, Santiago was intimidated and frightened because the alchemist threatened Santiago. He did this on purpose to test the boy’s courage. Santiago stood strong and told the alchemist what he did and why. He did not show any fear, and that took a lot of strength. Later on, whilst he and the alchemist were travelling, they were captured by another tribe. The alchemist told them that Santiago was an alchemist, and that he could change himself into the wind. The chief of the tribe told them that if Santiago was successful, they would let him go, if not, they would both die. When the alchemist was talking to Santiago about it, he said “Don’t give into your fears, if you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.” He was telling Santiago that if he gave into his fears, he wouldn’t be able to achieve his destiny, or get what he really wishes to have. Santiago believed this, and turned himself into the wind after letting go of all his fears. Not only did Santiago have to be brave about his fears, but he also had to be brave when it came to emotions. When the alchemist had to leave Santiago, he was upset, but he had to keep going. He had learnt a lot from the alchemist, and it was difficult saying goodbye, but he did it, and then went on with his journey. The alchemist was like a tutor to him, and obviously cared about him, and Santiago looked up to him as a teacher. Bravery is a key point in this story, because to achieve your destiny, you must face your fears, and be strong. Santiago never would have gotten through his journey if he wasn’t courageous.
Santiago was determined to find his treasure, observant of the things around him, and brave when streghth was needed. These three traits were the key parts of his Santiago’s quest to achieve his destiny and with out them he would never have achieved his destiny. Santiago followed his own dreams, and listened to his own heart. He achieved his own destiny, by following his path. Coelho was trying to tell us that we must find our own way to achieving our destiny, not the way others choose for us. It is this way that we will find our true destiny, because it is not always what we think it might be.
My journey
I have leart about determination through the years. When I was younger, I would often take the easiest path, to be sure of success but now I know I can do better. I am determined to follow my dreams, and my heart, just like Santiago did. I am not going to give up on my destiny no matter what people say, because I know that some day I will achieve it. I now fully know that the only thing stopping me from becoming the best person I can be is my fears, and I should never give into them. It is this determination that helped Santiago, in the alchemist, achieve his true destiny.
First steps by Van Gogh
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