“As the sun rose, the men began to beat the boy.” “Finally the boy screamed at the men. “I’m digging for treasure.” And although his mouth was bleeding and swollen he told his attackers that he had twice dreamed of a treasure hidden near the pyramids of Egypt.”
Santiago, a shepherd in Andalusia, dreamed about a hidden treasure near the pyramids of Egypt. Santiago then travels from his home, Andalusia to his destiny, Egypt. However on the way he meets people who support him on his journey and people, who discourage, dispirit and slow Santiago down. He overcomes many obstacles, losing everything he has and regaining prosperity. Santiago is a traveler moving towards his destiny with determination, courage and resilience.
On his journey, Santiago learns how to be determined and this determination helps him achieve his destiny. First, when meeting many mysterious people like the gypsy and the king, Melchizedek who told Santiago that he should pursue his destiny in finding the treasure in Egypt. “Melchizedek watched a small ship that was plowing its way out of the port. He would never again see the boy,” After Santiago lost all his money to a thief in Africa, he was dejected and worked for the crystal merchant in exchange for food. “I can give you the money you need to get back to your country, my son,” said the crystal merchant. The boy said nothing. He got up, adjusted his clothing, and picked up his pouch. “I’ll work for you,” he said.” He worked for the crystal merchant until he had enough money to return to Andalusia, but after spotting Urim and Thumin when they dropped from his old pouch, he remembered Melchizedek and decides to go and pursue his destiny. When Santiago saw the flight of the two hawks, it was a risky choice that Santiago took and told the chieftain because the chieftain had said that whoever like Santiago told him about the omens and the flight of the hawks, they would put him into the dungeon. However the chieftain trusted Santiago so he was determined that he would tell the chieftain because if not, the invaders would have invaded the place. “Who is the stranger who speaks of omens?” ,asked one of the chieftains, eying the boy. “It is I,” the boy answered. And told what he had seen.” As Santiago to moves toward his destiny, in addition to determination, he needs to find his inner strength to overcome the challenges before him.
Throughout his journey, Santiago learns how to be courageous which helps him overcome obstacles. “The people who come here have a lot of money to spend, so they can afford to travel,” his father said. “Amongst us, the only ones who travel are the shepherds.” “Well then I’ll be a shepherd!” Santiago begins to be courageous deciding that he would want to spend his life as a shepherd, traveling place to place with his sheep.
“The next day, the boy met the old man at noon. He brought six sheep with him. “I’m surprised,” the boy said. “My friend bought all the other sheep immediately.” Santiago sold all of his sheep and gave 10% of his flock to the old man. This proves that Santiago is courageous because he sold all of his flock and gave up his life for his destiny. The most courageous action that Santiago took was when he did not flee or show fear to the mysterious horseman who took out his curved sword and place it on Santiago’s forehead. “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. The horseman was completely immobile, as was the boy. It didn’t even occur to the boy to flee.” Santiago never gives up, even though he faces difficult obstacles, as he is quite resilient.
During each event that had happened throughout the journey, Santiago lost hope many times but when he did, he worked hard and did everything to achieve his destiny. “The boy wanted to believe that his friend had simply become separated from him by accident. He decided to stay right there and await his return.” This was his first example of resilience when he trusted a man in Africa who held his money after saving Santiago’s life. The man took all of Santiago’s savings while Santiago was distracted by a shining Scimitar. “We could get to the pyramids by tomorrow,” said the other taking the money. “But I have to buy two camels.” “Suddenly, in the midst of all that confusion, he saw the most beautiful sword he had ever seen. The scabbard was embossed in silver, and the handle was black and encrusted with precious stones.” Santiago fell depressed and felt sorry for him until he was determined to work for the crystal merchant. He raised enough money to go to Egypt. Another difficult event Santiago faced was when the Alchemist told the chief of a tribe that Santiago would give all of his money to the chief, to spare them for three days and on the last day Santiago has turned himself into the wind or else they would get slaughtered.” What is a foreigner doing here?” asked another of the men. “He has brought money to give to your tribe,” said the alchemist, gave the gold coins to the chief.” Santiago then turns himself into the wind sparing his life and kept on going on his journey although he lost everything. Santiago then got a piece of gold from the Alchemist to show his gratitude and to replace the amount of money Santiago lost on the way to his journey. Santiago was at the end of his journey trying to dig up the treasure he had been seeking for, however two mysterious people came to Santiago beating him up to get some gold because they thought Santiago dug for the gold. When they found it with Santiago, “There’s gold here,” he said. The moon shone on the face of the Arab who had seized him, and in the man’s eyes the boy saw death. “He’s probably got more gold hidden in the ground.” They made the boy continue digging, but he found nothing.”
The people then spared his life because of Santiago’s bravery, and Santiago finally new where his treasure was. “The man who appeared to be the leader of the group spoke to one of the others: “Leave him. He doesn’t have anything else. He must have stolen this gold.” The boy fell to the sand, nearly unconscious. The leader shook him and said, “We’re leaving.” Resilience helped Santiago make wise decisions and helped him realize were his treasure really was.
These three characteristics, determination, courage, and resilience, have helped him to overcome obstacles and to make decisions in order to pursuit his destiny. The growth that Santiago gained along the way of his journey helped him find his strengths within him, persistent in deciding his own choices and exceedingly working hard after losing hope. At the beginning, Santiago did not understand these three traits because of the lack of experience he had as a shepherd. After reaching his dream, he gained more experiences and understanding himself more than what he knew as a boy.
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We live in a society where people support each other to work as a team. We need to be cooperative to each other in order to comfortably live and work in the society in peace, and whatever I may be doing in the future, this would be my goal when I look at myself in the future. I have learned to work with others since I have started schooling and through the years, I have learned many things from other people; such as learning new things, sharing ideas to make things better and meeting new people and getting to know them better. In The Alchemist, Santiago needed to corporate with other people like Melchizedek and the Alchemist in order to pursue his destiny. He learned wisdom, made important decisions by receiving things and thoughts from people like Melchizedek in order to achieve his destiny. The most important thing in the book was that Santiago cooperated with the Alchemist and achieved his destiny. I feel comfortable cooperating with other people and I think I am good at it. This I believe should benefit when working with others in school, work place and in society in order to achieve something we are pursuing.
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