“I’m an adventurer looking for treasure,” he said to himself (Coelho 40). Santiago, the protagonist in the story The Alchemist, a shepherd boy in Andalusia, Spain is pursuing his dreams of traveling. Santiago believes that he knows everything he has to know about his life as a shepherd boy, however, that is not what his destiny has in store for him. One night underneath a sycamore tree in Spain, the boy has a dream about a bundle of treasure underneath the Pyramids of Egypt. The King of Salem, Melchezedek and a gypsy convinced the boy to follow his dream, thus following his destiny. Along the way Santiago met a lot of different people which one way or another helped him achieve his destiny. Santiago displays many different unique characteristics; he is truly described by being brave, adaptable and observant. Which all work together to help him find his destiny.
During the journey there were a couple of obstacles Santiago had to face. No matter what happened, he had to show his bravery to reach his destiny. First of all, at the beginning of the book Santiago decided to sacrifice his old life as a shepherd boy and sold nearly all of his sheep to embark on his new adventure. He made a deal with Melchezedek, the King and priest of Salem, to sell his sheep for two stones, Urim and Thummim, to help him start his journey. ‘“It is I who dared so,” he repeated, and he lowered his head to receive a blow from the sword. “Many lives will be saved, because I was able to see through the Soul of the World.’ The sword didn’t fall. Instead, the stranger lowered it slowly until the point touched the boy’s forehead. It drew a droplet of blood.” (105). At this time Santiago was faced with a “stranger” who he assumed was from the attacking army against the Oasis, a cloaked man asking Santiago why he told the chieftains. Of course Santiago was assuming that this man would kill him. He gathered his courage and told the stranger that it was a good thing that he told the oasis, as now the enemy force wouldn’t have the slightest chance of winning. Little did Santiago know, the “stranger” turned out to be the Alchemist (another character who helps Santiago) testing his bravery and courage. The bravery and courage helped him defeat all the obstacles in his path also causes him to be adaptable.
While Santiago passed all of his obstacles there was another characteristic that matters: adaptability. First of all, the huge adaptable change for Santiago was to leave his life in Spain and go to Egypt in Africa. Since he wanted to follow his destiny he had to give up a few things such as his old life as a shepherd boy, his sheep, and his supposed love for the merchant’s daughter. “When I had my sheep, I was happy. People saw me coming and welcomed me, he thought. But now I’m sad and alone. I’m going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me. I’m going to hate those who have found their treasure because I had never found mine. And I’m going to what little I have, because I’m too insignificant to conquer the world” (37). Santiago had just arrived in Africa. Everything in this “world” was completely different from the world he left in Spain. Santiago met a friend who turned out to be a thief, taking all of his money and leaving poor Santiago in the midst of the market. From then on the boy understood that there aren’t that many people that can be trusted and learns how to accept the fact that he was alone and he had to figure out how to get money and live off of his earnings. In the journey many different things were thrown at this flexible character, however he was able to be adaptable and often observant. Santiago awareness helps him observe the wonders of the world.
Everyone has a right to follow their own dreams, like Santiago they all have different qualities, which helps them with their life. For Santiago, he follows his destiny with bravery, adaptability and observance. With bravery, anyone can overcome the obstacles in their way; adaptability one can face new and or difficult changes without any problems or complains. Finally with observance, one is aware of their surroundings, making every decision carefully. For an individual their traits might not be the same as Santiago, however it brings them a step closer to their destiny.
My Journey
So far in my life, I have realized and learned from various incidents and mistakes, and funnily enough I found out that being an apologetic person is not always appalling, which describes me in a way. Usually when people look at or think about an apologetic people they somewhat see a non-confident person, who messes up a lot. However, to me it's a bit different. From what I have realized being an apologetic is really beneficial, one can easily realize if they are doing something wrong or if they did something wrong they can say sorry or try to make up for what they have done wrong, learning a new lesson. Like the saying "you learn from your mistakes." and learning from my mistakes brings me a step closer to fulfilling my destiny. Everyone knows that sometimes saying sorry for something you have done is not as easy as it seems, it requires a lot of courage, courage that helps you through your "journey".Also helps you move on and take away the guilt of something that went wrong. However, it has it's flaws as well if your too apologetic no one will really take you seriously, or they will change their thoughts of you. There has to be a balance.
If I was part of Raphael's "The School of Athens" I would be both Plato and Aristotle, the two main figures in the painting. The two figures split the room in half, a mathematical side with something higher in the world and also a scientific side. To me I believe both sides, first of all I am greatful for all the science that was founded and developed at that time, for it has helped us in our world today, with all our technology. Most of the science that was found then we still use. But on Plato's end, I believe that there is something higher than us out there in the universe, that is what my culture and belief has taught me. But I sometimes find myself thinking, without the fact that says we have evolved from apes, how were we formed and what made the universe? I've always thought that the universe couldn't have just been there in the begining of time, everything has a creation, well, thats what I believe.
