Preview

Santiago and the Crystal Merchant

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
560 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Santiago and the Crystal Merchant
Santiago and The Crystal Merchant

Sometimes changes are required to make life easier when you are struggling. In the novel, The Alchemist, Santiago suggests that the crystal merchant should change in order to improve his business. When the merchant agrees with Santiago's brilliant ideas, many positive things start to happen. In this part of the novel, Santiago had just gotten robbed and he has no way to survive. Desperate for food, he offers his assistance to a crystal merchant in exchange for food. The crystal merchant hesitantly accepts and sees that the boy is a good luck charm because he attracts customers to the shop. Because Santiago had just gotten robbed, he finds this place to work at, and it helps him solves his financial problems, so it fits perfectly into the storyline. After working for a while in the crystal merchant's shop, Santiago requests a change in the shop by telling the merchant there should be a display case at the bottom of the hill to attract customers. However, the merchant replies, "‘People will pass by and bump into it, and pieces will be broken,'" (Pg. 52) showing that he is reticent to change, but because of Santiago's attraction of customers, the merchant lets Santiago have his way. The narrative tells that the "shelf brought many customers into the crystal shop." (Pg. 56) From this examination, we can tell that change can be a beneficial thing. Santiago also mentions that the crystal merchant should sell tea in his crystal glasses. Again the merchant shows that he is unwilling to do it. "Lot of places sell tea around here," (Pg. 57) the merchant argues back. Then again, the merchant lets Santiago have his way and sells tea along with his crystal glasses. Again, this new change brings many customers, which results in the merchant's affluence. The book mentions, "Not everyone can see his dreams come true in the same way." (Pg. 56) I found this quote interesting because it tells us that dreams can come true, but

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Santiago In The Alchemist

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the fantasy fiction adventure novel, The Alchemist, written by Paul Coelho, an epic story is told about an individual named Santiago that follows his dreams and defies all odds to find a treasure that might not even exist. He is accompanied by an ally which is also an alchemist. Throughout the story, a main part was the symbolization of Santiago’s heart. His heart symbolizes the good in the world and the most pure way to get what you want.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    List the five aspects of the QUEST and then apply them to something you have read (or viewed) in the form used on pages 3-5.…

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Business and Admin unit4

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages

    An important element of business is change, imagine what could happen if your business stayed exactly the same as the moment that it was established. Some changes happen for a reason some can be small changes but on the other hand some changes can be very large.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crystal Merchant became a good friend to Santiago because he gave him a chance. In return, Santiago helped make the Crystal Merchant’s store successful again. The merchant did not like to take risks and did not like change. He was a religious man. His fear was fulfilling the fifth obligation in his Muslim religion, which was to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Santiago proposes to sell tea in the crystal glasses, “as [the crystal seller] smothered the coals in the hookah, he told the boy that he could begin to sell tea in the crystal glasses. Sometimes, there’s just no way to hold back the river.” (59) The mood in this passage gives the feeling that he should just go with what the hand has written. The crystal seller knows that selling tea in the crystal glasses will surely increase his revenue. If he has the money he would have to go to Mecca, he would have to go, which he fears. However, in this case, he overcomes the fear that would have hindered him from reaching his Personal Legend of visiting Mecca. After being captured by a warring tribe, when Santiago has to turn himself into the wind, at one point, he felt that “the desert only moments ago had been endless and free, and now it was an impenetrable wall.” (141) The mood consists of hopelessness and fear. Feeling hopeless and fearful definitely will not get Santiago any closer to turning himself into the wind, which would help him reach his Personal Legend.In this way, the current mood hinders Santiago from getting closer to his Personal Legend. The moods of these events help show how emotions can affect people on their way to realizing their Personal…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Change can be seen as a positive aspect of everyday life, this change can be big or small.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Today I am here to talk to you about change, and a few different texts that have challenged my thinking and broadened my understanding of change.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tending to Grace

    • 875 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Topic: Change – What is the author trying to say about change? How does she portray the process of change?…

    • 875 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Unit

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are many factors that are done to help better the business and become more successful. That is why it is important to accept change and co-operate in case changes happen.…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ILM M3:02, M3:03, M3:04

    • 2339 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In all aspects of life, whether it be personal or in business, there is one constant, that being “change is inevitable”. Change within an organisation or a business doesn’t just happen, there needs to be hard work and structure to around what must actually take place to make the change happen.…

    • 2339 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Change is to make something become different which affects all aspects of life. People are forced to change because of different circumstances. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Merchetta and Remember the Titans by Boaz Yakin both show change through different circumstances. Through the different situations in both the movie and the novel, it shows that change is forced upon you, and some changes are good and some are bad, its just the way you look at the alteration.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Guy Montag Change

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Change is a big factor of life, without changes we are like robots. Sometimes we change to adapt, change for a cause, change to be a better person, change for a better living, and some time change for fun. Similarly in the novel Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury changes his main character Guy Montag throughout the novel. He uses other characters to bring changes into Montag’s life. Montag is a fire man, not a fireman who puts fire out rather who works under Captain Beatty to burn books, and houses. In the beginning of the movie he just follows order and burns books but as the novel goes he changes himself to be a better person.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Alchemist Analysis

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Englishman tells Santiago what he’s read: there is an individual language that every living thing speaks, although it is spoken without words, a language of action propelled by emotion: the same lesson Santiago learned from his sheep, and his experiences in Tarifa. Although Santiago does not understand who the Alchemist is, he does understand desire, and he understands that the Englishman is expressing it in his knowledge of alchemy and the universe. At the caravan site, the Englishman begins to explain to Santiago the importance of knowing that nothing is a coincidence. However, Santiago already knows the lessons the Englishman is attempting to teach him.“The boy knew what he was going to describe, though: the mysterious chain that links one thing to another, the same chain that caused him to become a shepherd, that had caused his recurring dream, that had brought him to a city near Africa, to find a king, and to be robbed in order to meet a crystal merchant.” The caravan trip shows Santiago more of the universal language. Each person following the caravan is headed towards the same compass point, the same destination, joined by hunger, fear, and yearning: be it for travel, for refuge, or for those they love and miss. If Santiago was not able to adapt to the harsh conditions in the desert, of the caravan trip itself, he would not have reached Al-Fayoum: he would not have…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Alchemist

    • 2063 Words
    • 9 Pages

    This scene provides an idea of the problem (first obstacle) that Santiago will have to overcome through the book. The scene suggest what Santiago have to do in order to find that treasure – not every step, or every aspect of the procedures but a hit of what he should go –Then with this information, the reader realize that Santiago must cross the desert to reach the pyramids, that he must acquire some money to arrive to Egypt. A foreshadowing event not only tells the reader what a character might do to accomplish ‘’that’’, but with what he might struggle and what the character mush overcome.…

    • 2063 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Man of La Mancha

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Is it possible for people to change, or more significantly, is it possible for a person to be reborn? The process of change is one which brings with it many conflicts both internally and externally, all in all, it is a very lengthy and demanding process. To change a person's beliefs, values and basic underlying core may seem like a mere impossibility, but what the play, "The Man of La Mancha" shows us, is that it can be done. This fascinating play brings up numerous themes and messages and one of the most prevalent ones is that nothing is impossible, especially with regards to change. It is seen that the impact of Don Quixote's idealism on many character's lives, most notably Aldonza's is extremely potent. In a sense, it is seen that Don Quixote is able to take a used piece of trash and recycle it into a brand new valuable object, he is able to make something out of nothing. Don Quixote and his unorthodox idealistic ways is the catalyst which sparks a profound transformation in Aldonza's life which drastically changes her outlooks and philosophies, ultimately changing her into Dulcinea.…

    • 1593 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays