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How Does Santiago Overcome Fear In The Alchemist

1409 Words6 Pages

Sosan Musleh
Mrs. Witty
Latin American Literature
10 May 2023 The Fearful Mind
Emotions may have a significant impact on one's ability to achieve their goals. As Santiago propels to reach the treasure, he finds it difficult to overcome his challenges. For example, fear was a primary obstacle that impacted the protagonist as his journey unfolds. When facing challenges and contemplating failure, fear may have a significant influence on oneself. In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago has a relationship with physiological components as his journey progresses, and overcomes his challenges with fear. Santiago's mindset allowed him to critically think about failure but managed to get over it.
To begin, one of the challenges that Santiago …show more content…

Santiago chose to trust the people around him and have them help him take him to his Legend. Trust allowed him to lose all his money and stay with the fear that he will not be able to reach his treasure. The moment of captivation guided his friend to run and take his money with him. Santiago went to the lowest point of his journey where he had nothing and that was what brought his mind to trepidation. His mind drove him straight to failure and he couldn’t go anywhere without no money. According to The Alchemist, the author states “His heart squeezed, as if his chest had suddenly compressed it. He was afraid to look around, because he knew what he would find. He continued to look at the beautiful sword for a bit longer, until he summoned the courage to look around”(). The quote depicts how the distraction of the sword has left Santiago filled with fear because he was afraid to be alone without his money. Santiago loses all his money but decides to drive back to the Stones and believes that he can get money again. He decides to earn back his money by working with the crystal merchant and overcoming the fear of failure. Lastly, the main character comes across the fear that he can’t reach his goal without money but earns it …show more content…

As he was digging for treasure at the Pyramids he could feel the pressure of the men walking down to him. He reaches the endpoint of his dream and now he deals with the fear that he can’t find his treasure. After the pressure of the men beating him, he realizes that his treasure isn’t at the Pyramids. The overall fear of the men and the realization of his treasure brought him down for a moment of his journey. Santiago employs perseverance to conquer the fear of the last step of his journey. According to The Alchemist: A Psychological Approach Aziz states “Even faced by the threat of his own life by men beating him thinking he has more gold than what is in his pockets, he believes in his personal legend and overcomes his fear that he may not find it. Ironically, it is his perseverance that allows him to discover that his actual treasure is located at his home in Andalusia”(Aziz 26). Moreover, Santiago deals with the last obstacle of his dream and handles overcoming the fear of failure. To conclude, fear brought down Santiago at the last stop of his Personal Legend but comes out of his fear

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