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Character Development In The Alchemist

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Character Development In The Alchemist
Character Development In The Alchemist
The novel The Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho is about a boy that is on a journey to find his personal legend. Throughout his journey he is helped by many people he meets, but he also has to overcome many obstacles that try to prevent him from finding his personal legend. In The Alchemist the main character Santiago shows a lot of character development through the ongoing knowledge he gains throughout his journey. At the start of the book Santiago shows immaturity with having a careless job as a shepherd and when he gives up on his journey to find his personal legend. Santiago begins to develop when he is given a job as a crystal merchant's assistant and he learns a lot of knowledge to help him through his journey. Santiago really shows a lot of development when the Alchemist teaches him that he needs to listen to his heart and when Santiago learns how to turn himself into the wind. At the beginning of the novel the character Santiago is a shepherd boy who is still young and immature. Santiago makes this impression when he is talking about his job as a shepherd, and how there are many "joys of carefree wandering." (pg 7) His job is fairly relaxed, he does not have to worry about much and he gets to travel to different places which he likes to do. The job does not have many responsibilities which is not good for Santiago because he is not learning much and it is the same repetitive tasks he does every day. Santiago also shows immaturity when he is told that he will never get enough money to go to Egypt working at the crystal merchants shop and he completely gives up his journey and decides that he will use the "money to buy some sheep." (pg 47) This shows immaturity because he still does not understand that a personal legend is something very important and few people know their own personal legend. Santiago is immature at the beginning of the book because he is a shepherd boy who has no worries or responsibilities yet. He

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