In the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago discovers his personal legend in a recurring dream, where a little boy shows treasures in Egypt and pursues him to go to the pyramids and look for them. Even though Santiago knows that this will be a tough journey since the beginning of his trip, he insisted in following his dream by overcoming test after test in the journey. Using specific demonstration of the helpers throughout the trip, Coelho successfully exemplifies that following one’s Personal Legend can lead to discovering new aspects about oneself and life.
To start Santiago’s journey, he meets a wise old king of Salem named Melchizedek as one of the enlighteners and helpers who strengthens Santiago’s belief on following his dream. Melchizedek is introduced as a strange-looking old man that simply wants to talk to the boy about the book he is reading. As the conversation goes on, they start to discuss about Personal Legend and the Soul of the World, “The boy didn’t know that a person’s ‘Personal Legend’ was. ‘It’s what you have
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He is the last character Santiago with in his journey, and he guides him the rest of the trip to the pyramids. The alchemist teaches Santiago to listen to his heart. “The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now of betraying the other. When his heart spoke to him, it was to provide a stimulus to the boy, and to give him strength, because the days of silence there in the desert were wearisome.” (Coelho 139) Without the alchemist, Santiago would have never learned to listen to his heart and would have never spoke the language of the desert and the wind. Thus, Santiago has learned many valuable lessons and techniques of himself and the world; all while following his