True Happiness
“In his heart he felt a strange sense of joy: he was about to die in pursuit of his destiny.” (Coelho 105) Santiago, the protagonist in the novel, The Alchemist, leaves his home in Andalusia to seek out his true destiny. Santiago believes that your destiny is a key part in leading a happy life and feeling content with what you have. Even if you die in pursuit in your destiny, it is better then not pursuing your destiny at all. Santiago meets many people on his journey that teach him many life lessons, though the person who impacted Santiago’s life the most was the alchemist. Santiago learns from the Alchemist how to listen to his heart and to have faith in himself and his destiny. Although the journey was long and tiresome, Santiago posse’s traits such as bravery, trust and wisdom these qualities helped him on his journey to achieve his destiny.
During the struggle to realize his destiny, Santiago comes across many obstacles that require bravery. When Santiago has a dream about treasure at the Egyptian pyramids, he meets Melchizedek, the King of Salem who tells Santiago to leave his sheep and go to Egypt. Just before Santiago leaves, never to see the old king again, the old king gives him some words of advice.” Don’t forget that everything you deal with is only one thing and nothing else. And don’t forget the language of the omens. And, above all, don’t forget to follow your destiny through to its conclusion.”(29) Santiago is nervous about leaving Spain and his life as a shepherd. However, he leaves his sheep because he wants to follow his destiny. Santiago is brave because he leaves his home, even though it could be risky. There is also the principal of favorability; the world wants you to accomplish your destiny so it gives you a taste of success so you want to succeed. Santiago found this when his friend bought his sheep straight away, so he was free to travel to Egypt, wear his treasure lies. Later on his journey, Santiago meets an alchemist who accompanies him across the desert. On the way to the pyramids, were Santiago’s treasure lies. They are taken hostage by desert tribesmen. In order to save his life the alchemist gives all of Santiago’s money to the chief to grant Santiago three days to turn himself into the wind. Santiago panics for three days, but at the end of the third day, Santiago makes the wind angry, talking about love, which the wind knew nothing about. The wind became stronger. As its anger increased, churning up the sand, it hid the view from others. In the end, Santiago manages to turn himself into the wind because he can perform miracles because God’s soul is Santiago’s soul. Santiago shows bravery at this time in his journey; he is scared but does not let the tribesmen know, and he does what he has to do. At the very end of Santiago’s time in Egypt, Santiago is digging for his treasure by the pyramids when tribal refugees come seeking money. They beat Santiago within an inch of his life; Santiago tells them the truth, about his recurring dream and digging for treasure. The tribal refugees leave Santiago because they don’t believe Santiago is telling the truth. They don’t believe Santiago because one of the refugees once had a reoccurring dream about treasure. They thought it was stupid to go in search of something they thought didn’t exist. Santiago’s bravery proves powerful at a time when he told the truth, which in the end saved his life. Santiago’s bravery is critical to helping him accomplish his destiny, but Santiago must also continue to have trust in those who help him on his journey. To succeed in his destiny, Santiago must place his trust in many people, but he also has to choose wisely who he trusts.
When Santiago arrives in Africa, he is not used to the strange customs they have so he doesn’t place his trust wisely. At the time Santiago feels “ill and terribly alone. The infidels had an evil look about them” so he places his trust in a boy about the same age as himself that speaks Spanish. He entrusts his money to the boy, who counts the money and says that they can get to the pyramids, but he will need to buy two camels first. When Santiago catches sight of a beautiful sword, he loses sight of the boy who possesses his money. When Santiago turns around, he sees that the boy has run away and taken his money. Santiago, although feeling alone and confused, entrusted everything he had to somebody he had never met before. Santiago learns from his mistakes to choose carefully who to trust. When Santiago meets Fatima he does not want to leave the oasis because he wants to marry Fatima. When the Alchemist tells Santiago that if Santiago does not finish his journey and stays behind with Fatima, he will only be happy for a few years, but then will wish he would’ve followed his destiny. So Santiago trusts the alchemist and leaves Fatima, because the alchemist says that true love would not keep a man from accomplishing his true destiny. As Santiago learns the customs and the language of Africa, he no longer needs to put his trust into the hands of strangers. As Santiago travels across the desert with the alchemist as his companion, he learns to listen to his heart. At first Santiago feels as though his heart is a traitor because it feels the truth; his heart tells him what he is really feeling. Later, Santiago learns to trust his heart, and listen to what his heart has to say, your heart is your direct passage to the soul of the world if you listen to it correctly. Trust helped Santiago in many ways, but Santiago will need to gain wisdom in order to find the true meaning behind his journey.
Without wisdom Santiago would not understand the true meaning of his journey destiny, and beginners luck, and principal of favorability. Santiago is then able to take this knowledge and apply it in other ways. He is able to apply his knowledge when he meets an Englishman. Santiago wants to understand the Englishman’s way of learning. Santiago learns from watching the world around him. So he is curious to learn a different way. After trying the Englishman’s books Santiago says, “but, above all, I learned that these things are all so simple that hey could be written on the surface of an emerald” Santiago talks to the Englishman later about his books being so complicated. The reason is because if you are willing to put in the effort then you will achieve the masterwork. You need to understand deeply and put in the time to achieve this. Santiago understands from this experience that you don’t have to learn from just books. You can learn from watching and observing the world. Santiago learns from watching the caravan that is leading them across the desert. He gained wisdom from the Englishman about the masterwork, which you have to deeply understand in order to accomplish. While journeying to the pyramids, Santiago learns from his experiences about his soul, and how his soul, God’s soul, and the soul of the world are all connected and that he could perform miracles. Santiago gained intense knowledge and wisdom on his journey.
Santiago managed to successfully complete his destiny. He was brave, willing to leave his home in Andalusia to go in pursuit of his journey. Santiago placed his trust in himself, and his companion the alchemist, when he had to make a decision and follow his heart. And last he showed wisdom on his journey, by being able to gain knowledge from not just books, but by observing the world and its people. It is important to achieve your destiny because it is your purpose in life. Everyone is born to achieve their destiny, and once it is achieved, you have realized your purpose in life, resulting in true happiness.
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Loyalty is something you must give no matter what. To always stick by someone, and be there for that person is loyalty. Loyalty helped Santiago to achieve his destiny by learning who to stay loyal to, and when to stay loyal to himself. I use loyalty in my everyday life, it is a trait that allows me to stay loyal to my friends, and to remain loyal to myself. I remain loyal to myself by listening to my instincts, just as Santiago learnt to listen to his heart. This certain trait helped me embrace and realize my destiny. I am often able to put hard wok and determination into my work, as a result of staying loyal to myself I want to do the very best that I can do.Loyalty is not always a good trait to have. Sometimes I find it hard to give things up, resulting in frustration . Coelho has shown in his novel The Alchemist that although it is important to remain loyal , sometimes it is good to take risks and trust others with the the things you are most loyal to. Loyalty will help me achieve my destiny by allowing me to remain loyal to my destiny, and not give up until I have found my destiny and pursued it.
