What Are The Lessons Santiago Learned In The Alchemist

Does an adventure always have to be successful or is learning from the obstacles and experiences along the way the true objective? The book The Alchemist is about an adventurous shepherd named Santiago who was on a journey to seek treasure and great adventure which was interpreted by a wise old king and a variety of others. Due to following his heart Santiago encounters life-changing and unpredictable situations. During his journey he learned three important lessons: from his own father to learn and make more decisions on his own,the King of Salem who educated him to always pursue his dreams and heart, leading towards his personal legend, and to attempt the preposterous challenges in the way of his personal legend in which was taught by the alchemist.

To start, one of the most important lessons Santiago learned was from his father which was to learn and make his own decisions. When Santiago was supported by his father to be a shepherd even though his parents wanted him to be a priest the narrator points out,

An alchemist is someone who transforms common earth materials like metal into more valuable materials like emeralds and Santiago met one who accompanied him on his journey. When Santiago’s life was at risk for not being able to turn into the wind the alchemist motivated him by saying ”There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure”(Coelho 80). The alchemist’s statement meant that Santiago was scared of losing everything that he had even his life if he couldn’t turn into the wind. After acknowledging what the alchemist said he managed to do the unimaginable and turned himself into the wind continuing on his journey. As can be noted, the alchemist taught Santiago a valuable lesson to attempt and overcome dreadful moments because they might not be as impossible as he