Santiago's Characterization

Concentrate on one Thing, nothing else

“Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him” (pg125) In this novel, The Alchemist, Santiago, the main protagonist, departs his home in Andalusia and starts off on a his journey seeking his treasure. Along the path of his progress, he meets numerous extraordinary people who help and encourage him to pursue his destiny. He also faces innumerable amount of obstacles on his journey and struggles to achieve his goals. Nevertheless, Santiago favorably accomplishes his destiny by being decisive when he faces choices, always remaining faithful and living with enthusiasm.

During his journey, Santiago maintains a decisive mind in a variety of circumstances. First of all, he faces numerous obstacles in his journey. However, when he confronted with danger, he always decides what to do judiciously. As an example, when Santiago meets Melchizedek, the old man tells Santiago where the treasure is hidden, but asks for one tenth of Santiago's sheep. The boy cleverly decides to accept Melchizedek's offer. Actually, Santiago was tempted to remain a shepherd in Andalusia, but because with Melchizedek's help, he chooses to seek his treasure, the right decision. Later on, Melchizedek tells Santiago the reason he asked for one tenth of Santiago’s sheep instead of one tenth of his treasure is because Melchizedek wants Santiago to pursue his dream without losing his desire to work towards getting the treasure. Another example that shows Santiago's decisiveness is when seeking his treasure is with the Alchemist. The Alchemist is another major character who helps and teaches Santiago to pursue his destiny. Like Melchizedek, the Alchemist plays an important role in Santiago’s life. The Alchemist helps Santiago to make a wise decision to continue his journey when Santiago hesitates to sustain his journey because he is tempted to stay with his true love. The Alchemist helps Santiago decide to continue pursuing his dream by telling him what could happen if he ends his journey. The Alchemist warns Santiago, “Don’t forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else.” (Pg 29) This quote helps Santiago maintain his focus, and he decides to keep on seeking his treasure. Clearly, Santiago accomplishes his destiny because he is a great decision maker, but he is not only decisive, he is also faithful throughout his life.

Another good fact how Santiago could accomplish his destiny is because he was always faithful. He does not give up on his journey even when it becomes difficult and always sincere to his tasks. In the book, there are a lot of evidences that can show why he is faithful but in my opinion, I think when a rubber approached to him, saying that he will help him and took all of his money is the best part that describes he is faithful. The reason why chose this is because he was thinking of selling the precious stones, Urim and Thummim, and buy a return ticket back to Andalusia, but later on, he says to himself, “I’m an adventurer, looking for treasure.” Furthermore, the author also shows that he is faithful by writing a sentence, “He had not a cent in his pocket, but he had faith”. This was one of the best examples, and another one that I found is when Santiago has to make a decision whether to stay in the oasis with his lover or go to find his treasure. He even had enough gold and the leader of the oasis requested to be a counselor of the oasis. However, Santiago abandons all the temptations and goes for his main risk. He could be faithful and make a wise decision because the Alchemist explained and says, “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love…. The love that speaks the Language of the World.” (pg.115) Because of this, Santiago realized that he should listen to the Alchemist regarding to what he said. His faithfulness definitely shows that without it, he might have not achieved his destiny though he could not achieve his destiny without living with enthusiasm.

If you have ever read this book, you might have realized that Santiago lives his life with enthusiasm. For example, when Santiago gets rubbed by the thief, he works in a small crystal shop. He actively sells crystal and even made the crystal merchant impress. This is because he sells the crystal with enthusiasm. Hence, the shop becomes widely successful. This was one of particular evidence from a part of the book. Another evidence is not just a part of the book. The example that I found can be found from whole parts of the book. It’s his life and the reason why I think it is a example is because it carries the reason why he is traveling and how he never abandons his destiny. It is because he always lives with enthusiasm. If he has no enthusiasm in his life, he might have broken his journey and live his life same as the others do. I also found a quote that Santiago’s heart tells him things that came from the Soul of the World, which clearly shows without enthusiasm in life, less chance of achieving one’s destiny. His heart says, “All people who are happy have God within them.” (pg.125)This show if you are happy and always enthusiastic, God will be within them and helping them. With his passion, he lives his life positively, thus wherever he goes, it's full of joy and pleasure.

In short, although Santiago's traits, making wise decision, sincerity mind and delightful with positive mind seem insignificant but they really do play a big roll in Santiago’s life. Those traits are even required for us as well in order to live positively and happily. In my opinion, the reason why it is important to achieve destiny is because you will definitely find out something meaningful to you which will also change your surroundings more efficiently. Also, in order to achieve your own destiny you should have strong features due to they are the main things that help you to achieve your own destiny. Although you are not like Santiago, you certainly have your own features that are effective somehow. Eventually, although you think you don’t have any features, you can realize them when you truly concentrate at one thing nothing else.