The Alchemist

Sign Posts: Part Two

Contrast and Contradiction- After Santiago's wealth were stolen, he decided to work at the crystal merchant's place. There he came across that the merchant also has a dream, to visit the Mecca, but he doesn't want to achieve it. "All I wanted to do was put together enough money... and could go to Mecca..." the merchant said, and then Santiago asked why he wasn't able to do so and his reply was, "Because it's the thought of  Mecca that keeps me alive. That's what helps me face these days that are all the same...". This shows how the different the paths of Santiago and the crystal merchant's are, and this creates an obstacle for Santiago to pursue his dream. Merchant's way of thinking is very different in compare to Santiago's. The merchant particularly wants to avoid the dream because of his fear and complacency, and he thinks that after achieving his dream he won't have anything to live for; while Santiago is very open-minded, and he clearly wants to achieve his dream and pursue his personal legend. Because of the way the merchant thinks, it makes Santiago unsure about pursuing his dream, and he questions himself to go back or not and to live the way he normally did or just go on with the journey. But later in the novel, Santiago realized that it is okay to let go the normal and comfortable life in order to achieve something significant, and that was mainly because he thought of how the merchant earned a huge profit by taking a risk, which could possibly change his lifestyle, of serving tea in the glass as well as putting out the glass piece to attract customers similar to his situation. Another thing which affected Santiago to pursue his personal legend and dream was when he and the merchant had a conversation while smoking, and the merchant gave him blessing as well as used the word "Maktub", which can be considered as that it is already decided for him to go or it is his fate that will make him go.

Memory moment- After talking with the merchant about whether or not to pursue his personal legend and achieve his dream, Santiago had a memory moment. He thought about the sheep and how they taught him, "Language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time he was trying to improve things at the shop", and this shows how he was able to achieve a part of his dream with the help of sheep, and this foreshadows that in future he is likely to be using what he learned from the sheep to achieve his dream and pursue his personal legend. He also thought about the merchant, and for a second he wanted to be like him and avoid his dream, but then he thought "I can always go back to being a shepherd... I'll never have another chance to get to the pyramid in Egypt", and this proves that at this point he was able to overcome his obstacle and he regained his confidence, which makes him prepared for his journey to Egypt.

Reflection:

I was surprised when Santiago met the Englishman, and the reason for that is he mentioned and talked about "Alchemy", which basically is related to the name of the novel The Alchemist. The Englishman's character can be considered a little self-centered, because at first he wasn't very talkative when Santiago approached him, but when "He took Urim and Thummim from his pocket, and began laying with them... The stranger shouted, "Urim and Thummim!"; this shows how he did paid attention to others, but only talked when it was something that concerned him. The Englishman also used a biblical allusion while he was having a conversation with Santiago, more specifically when Santiago mentioned about the king, "Not at all. It was shepherd who were the first to recognized a king that the rest of the world refused to acknowledge .... ", and this tells about the Englishman representing as an educated person in the novel.

Questions:

1. Is the Englishman going to influence a change in Santiago in anyways?
2. What is the significance of the word "Maktub" ?