Relationships In The Alchemist

Relationships are one of the most essential qualities one needs in order to overpass the constant struggles life bombardes towards your path. The unconditional support, reliance, and deep affection leads to a better management of dealing with the outcome of stress and uncertainty of the moment. This idea of the importance of relationships is further explored in Paulo Coelho's novel, The Alchemist. The novel revolves around a young shepherd boy named Santiago and the journey he makes from his homeland in Spain to the egyptian pyramids, where his seemingly treasure is buried. Along the way, Santiago encounters a king, a crystal merchant, and an Alchemist, which all support and direct Santiago in the direction of his personal legend. Coelho suggests,

In this point of the novel, Santiago has completely giving up on his dreams of pursuing his personal legend, however; through the influence of the crystal merchant, which serves as an example of someone who has become blind to pursuing his personal legend, Santiago further develops the motivation and strength he needs to never give up and to always pursue what he desired. For example, One of the most important things Santiago learned from the Crystal Merchant is the importance of following one's heart and their personal legend. The Crystal Merchant was a symbolic message for the consequence of not following one's dreams. It results in one becoming a sheep, or someone who follows monotonous routines. For instance, the Crystal merchant states that, ‘‘Because I know the things I should be able to accomplish, and I don't want to do so,’’ which further provokes the idea of cowardness amongst himself. The old merchant is too afraid too loose the things he already has then to pursue his personal legend, which then leads to a dramatic impact on his life becoming extremely ordinary and simple. The old king's situation is an extremely important reminder for Santiago in terms of him pursuing his own personal legend. He serves as a warning to him, that those that are too scared to pursue their personal legend face major

The alchemist is portrayed as a mentor figure for Santiago, mainly towards the last stage of his of journey. He represents the change he brought to Santiago as he teaches him knowledge of how Alchemy works. Through the influence of the alchemist, Santiago intuitively learns to become more conscious of himself and the universe around him. He starts to notice the inner strength he possess and shows bravery to release it. For instance, towards the middle of the novel, one of Santiago's main goal and ambition was to pursue the art of mastering Alchemy. He became extremely passionate and curious about learning the true meaning behind Alchemy, and fascinated by the outcome and knowledge you gain afterwards, by the influence of the Englishmen. However; towards the beginning of his quest on learning Alchemy, he found it remarkably confusing and complicated, especially in terms of the different coded instructions on many of the books which taught it. Furthermore, as he progressed through the novel, a greater understanding of Alchemy was developed in an instructional sense, but not realistically with action, thus he continued to struggle with finding who he truly is and the spiritual power he had inside of him. Nonetheless, since the Alchemist is a major mentor for Santiago, he is the vital reason for Santiago’s well informed knowledge of Alchemy and how to master it in a