Tien Tran
Gudenas
English 9
2 June 2023
8. What role do minor characters play in the text?
Paulo Coelho's fiction novel "The Alchemist" recounts a fictional tale of Santiago.
In “The Alchemist” minor characters play huge roles in the text shifting the story of the protagonist. Santiago, a young 18-year-old man who continually has dreams of riches hidden among Egypt's pyramids. Intrigued by the dream, he becomes a shepherd to travel to the pyramids and find his personal legend. Paulo utilizes minor characters to make the novel a meaningful and interesting text. A minor character who plays a significant role in shaping the story is Melchizedek. Melchizedek encounters Santiago at a plaza when they are both sitting down reading a book, notwithstanding disliking the
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Melchizedek describes the idea of a personal legend along with making an offer to give him a hint to achieving it. A personal legend is what a person has always wanted to accomplish. Santiago perceives him as a con artist as his offer was for one tenth of his sheep. Nevertheless even with the rough first impression Santiago had, Melchizedek plays a role because he convinces Santiago to not become a shepherd, furthermore realizing his true dream of his life in the form of his personal legend. Melchizedek clarifies this by admitting that “But I had to insist on the payment of six sheep because I helped you to make your decision”(33 Coelho). This is a case where a minor character who never shows up again who appears in one chapter alters the story. Paulo once consequently uses more minor characters to play a role in the text using Arab military soldiers. In Egypt after meeting the Alchemist they are both imprisoned under suspicions that they are spies for an enemy camp. Santiago, at death’s door if he doesn’t beat the gamble The Alchemist made with the soldiers, uses his heart to communicate with the wind. “In the silence, the boy