Who Is Santiago Change In The Alchemist

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.

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

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.