Santiago

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist can be considered a bildungsroman for his protagonist, Santiago. A bildungsroman is a novel in which a relatively innocent young person achieves spiritual, emotional, and psychological maturity.

In the beginning of the story, Santiago is a shepherd. The parallels to a young biblical Joseph and to Christ are evident. Christ calls “each sheep by name” and tenderly cares for their needs. However, like Joseph, Santiago strongly believes he is called for bigger and better things. He has chosen this life rather than the path his father would have preferred for him (that of a priest), but Santiago has reached a point where he is no longer satisfied with what the sheep can teach him. He aims for more, though unsure of what, and this desire propels him to discover his Personal Legend. Like for all people who decide to follow their dreams, however, the choice is not easy. He must leave his life of familiarity and security to pursue the unknown: “I am between my flock and my treasure,” Santiago realizes. He opts for the hope of a more fulfilling life. His rejection of the norm is the first step on his journey to maturity and to true happiness.

Obstacles will be frequent on his journey from Spain to the Egyptian pyramids, where he is told in a vision that his treasure lies. In the introduction to the novel, Coelho outlines four major stumbling blocks that often dissuade people from achieving their dreams. The first obstacle is people who tell others from “childhood onward” that dreams are impossible to achieve. Santiago’s father claims that no one who pursues dreams is ever satisfied. Later, Santiago is urged by the crystal merchant to stay working for him in his shop. The man scoffs, “I don’t know anyone around here who would want to cross the desert just to see the Pyramids. They’re just a pile of stone. You could build one in your backyard.” Later, when the journey is successful and the treasure his, Santiago understands the words of Melchizedek, who cautioned him against believing “the world’s greatest lie”: that people have no control over what happens to them. Santiago chooses to control his own fate by rejecting first the priesthood, then shepherding, then a comfortable but uneventful life in the crystal merchant’s shop as he furthers his spiritual and intellectual growth.

Overcoming obstacles like the skepticism of those close to him is only one set of difficulties with which Santiago must grapple. However, dealing with these relatively minor roadblocks gives him a sense of confidence to face more challenging barriers. Throughout it all, from understanding the nature of love to the real threat of death, Santiago meets every challenge with courage and enthusiasm, his two greatest strengths.

Without courage and enthusiasm, Santiago could never have achieved the seemingly impossible task the alchemist sets for him: becoming the wind. The choice is either to perform as expected or to be killed. In order to become the wind, he has to intimately understand that “all things are one” and thus be able to speak the Language of the World. This unbelievable task is reminiscent of Jesus’s words from the Book of Matthew: “He said to them, ‘Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’”

Communing with the Soul of the World is Santiago’s last test of his spiritual growth. Although he will have to cross the Sahara twice in order to claim his treasure and reclaim his love, Fatima, the path is assured, for he has mastered all of the lessons he needed to learn. His rewards are greater than he could have ever dreamed.

Santiago’s Father

Santiago’s father downplays the achievements of people who have chosen a nontraditional path and tells Santiago that those who look for more than their lot in life are usually dissatisfied. He wants his son, who has had more education than anyone in the family, to make them both proud and financially secure by becoming a priest.

To his credit, however, Santiago’s father does not stand in his son’s way when Santiago refuses to give up his dream. He even gives the boy “three ancient Spanish coins” he had found in a field. The coins themselves represent his blindness to the treasure that is around him, for these coins point the way to the treasure buried in the very church where his son rests at night with his flock.

Merchant’s Daughter

The merchant’s daughter is Santiago’s first infatuation. He had met her on a previous trip to town to sell his sheep’s wool. He longs for the next time he can return and see her again. But when the two reconnect, she is patronizing of his ability to read and does not understand at all why someone who is educated would willingly chose the life of a shepherd. She does not meet the requirements of a true love, one that would support the dreams of their beloved.

Gypsy Woman

The gypsy woman adds an element of the unknown to Santiago’s quest and also helps Santiago identify his own prejudices. Although he seeks her help, he is fearful of the stories he has heard about the criminal lifestyles many gypsies lead.

Santiago is comforted somewhat by a painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in her home. The inclusion of her multiple ways of looking at the world are indicative of Coelho’s “all things are one” theme.

Santiago learns only a small bit of information from the gypsy’s interpretation of his dream. She tells him that a child appearing in his dream is to be trusted and that the treasure is literally to be found at the pyramids. Although he is annoyed by her lack of specifics at the time, the gypsy is proven right in the end. The child was himself, he should and did trust that inner child, and the answer to where his tangible treasure was to be found could only be discovered by going to the pyramids.

Melchizedek (The King of Salem)

The character of Melchizedek, also known as the King of Salem, is a character from the Bible who has acted as a mentor to those who seek to follow their dreams. He says cryptically that Santiago has succeeded in discovering his Personal Legend, what people hope most to accomplish in their lifetime. However, he explains, over time people begin to doubt themselves and lose track of their personal quest. Santiago, finally, is on the right path. When one is on this proper path, everything in the universe conspires to help him achieve his goals and realize his destiny.

Melchizedek strikes a deal with the boy: he will tell him more about the location of his treasure, but Santiago must first give him one-tenth of his sheep. He does tell him what he has promised, but he has also taught Santiago a valuable lesson: “Everything in life has its price.” Santiago will think carefully before making deals in the future. Melchizedek teaches not just how to succeed but how to be wise.

Although he is a god-like figure, Melchizedek is humanized when Santiago leaves him. He feels a real love for those whom he has helped and “hoped desperately that the boy would succeed.” But he also understands the transience of human fidelity: “It’s too bad that he’s quickly going to forget my name,” he laments. “I know it’s the vanity of vanities, as you said my Lord. But an old king sometimes has to take pride in himself.”

Crystal Merchant

The crystal merchant is another obstacle that Santiago must overcome in his journey. But as with all obstacles, Santiago takes away valuable lessons from the test. The merchant offers him a job when he is robbed and helps him get back on his feet. However, the man is one who has not listened to his heart and sought his Personal Legend. In postponing his dreams indefinitely, the merchant allows too much time to pass. The man wanted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca but never did. Now he is too old, his friends are gone, and he is too set in his ways. The merchant confesses, “I don’t want to change anything, because I don’t know how to deal with change. I’m used to the way I am.”

Not satisfied with the death of his own dream, the man begins to hate seeing the dream alive in others. He tells Santiago that dreaming of more than a comfortable life is foolish, and for a short time Santiago believes that the man may be right. After all, he was earning a good living, he was comfortable, and the work was not hard. But Santiago is still able to change and the idea of confinement to the shop and this life forever is abhorrent to him. Despite the merchant’s best efforts, Santiago decides to go. The man accepts his decision and teaches Santiago a valuable word in Arabic, “maktub,” meaning “it is written.”

The Englishman

The Englishman serves as a contrast to Santiago’s way of learning. Santiago meets him when the two are preparing to join the caravan. The Englishman is desperately seeking the famous alchemist who is purported to live at the Al-Fayoum Oasis. He thinks that all of his knowledge will be found in books and does not learn from experience the way that Santiago does. When Santiago returns the books he has lent, he reacts in a bitter way, thinking to himself that “his soul must be too primitive to understand those things” found in the learned tomes.

Caravan Leader

The caravan leader is responsible for taking his cargo and people across the brutal and unforgiving Sahara. Like everyone whom Santiago encounters on the journey, the caravan leader has something to teach the young boy. His lesson is patience. When the caravan is within sight of the oasis, Santiago is eager to move forward. But the caravan leader makes him wait. He argues that they all need food and rest before proceeding, and he is right. Santiago will not forget this valuable lesson about respecting his physical needs.

Fatima

Fatima is Santiago’s soul mate. When the two meet, they feel an instant and undeniable connection. She proves that her love is real by passing the test of true love. True love, Coelho argues, will not stand in the way of those who “genuinely wish us well and want us to be happy.” Fatima passes by insisting that Santiago continue to follow his dream. If their love is really a part of his dream, she says, he will come back to her once it is achieved.

Fatima is also instrumental in teaching Santiago about the Soul of the World. A woman of the desert, she has learned the hard lessons of life but also the interconnection of all things and the eternal nature of time. When she urges Santiago on, she tells him that “those who don’t return become a part of the clouds, a part of the animals that hide in the ravines and of the water that comes from the earth. They become a part of everything….They become the Soul of the World.”

They are both rewarded for her faith. When Santiago finally masters the lessons of life and finds his treasure, he hears Fatima’s voice carried on the wind. The final words of the novel are “I’m coming, Fatima.”

Tribal Leaders

From the tribal leaders, Santiago is reminded that every choice in life has a price. Santiago elects to tell the leaders of his visions of the oasis coming under attack by outside forces. If he is wrong, he will have to pay with his life, but he will be rewarded if he is correct. Santiago has to trust in himself in order to have the strength to withstand such a threat.

Insurgents

Santiago meets the toughest challenge of his journey when he faces the rebel insurgents. They capture Santiago and the alchemist, who claims that Santiago himself is the alchemist and that he can turn himself into the wind. The captors are incredulous, but they grant Santiago three days to prove his abilities.

They represent those challenges that might even take one’s very life in pursuit of one’s Personal Legend. What Santiago learns from this frightening challenge is that the true goal of his pursuit is the journey itself. As the alchemist tells him, dying while trying to realize your dreams is “a lot better than dying like millions of other people who never even knew what their Personal Legends were.”

The Desert, the Wind, and the Sun

These earthly and heavenly elements are characters in their own right as Santiago must learn to speak their language, the Language of the World, in order to enlist their help and succeed in his most dangerous challenge—convincing the insurgents that he is, indeed, an alchemist.

Through meditation, Santiago discovers he can speak to the desert, then the wind, and then the sun. He finds that while these entities bring individual power to the earth, man alone is able to understand and appreciate love. The desert can contribute its volumes of sand, the wind can make the sand a force to be reckoned with, the sun can be everywhere all over the world. But only man can harness the powers of all three of these beings and become better than he is. Love is the power that brings change.