The Alchemist written by Paul Coelho de Souzza is a fascinating novel about a boy’s journey as he tries to fulfill his personal legend. During the journey, there is a time in which he arrives in Tangier, a city in Morocco, Africa. There, Santiago, the boy, meets a crystal merchant. In an attempt to make enough money to travel to Egypt, Santiago strikes up a contract with the merchant: He will work for him in return for food and money. While working there, Santiago discovers the true story of the crystal merchant, who is a man in search of an opportunity to go to Mecca, a holy city in order to follow the five obligations of the Muslim religion. When he was young, he did not have enough money. Now, he is too anxious about changing his life to actually want to leave his shop, which he has relied on for so many years. Santiago explores the deeper meaning of the merchant’s choices and decides, ultimately, to pursue his personal legend to fulfill his lifelong goal, instead of sitting and using the simple thought of his legend to sustain him for the rest of his time.
Life is only so long, so you might as well enjoy it while you can so that you actually live, not just survive. Life goes on for maybe 80, 90 years. During that short period, try to fulfill your dreams, your goals, to die without any regrets about not doing something. The crystal merchant’s anxiety in this story is evident. One of the weirdest things that he worries about is that if he hires staff, his crystal will get broken and that he will get nothing to sell. The crystal merchant, after many years of business, grows attachment to his crystals. He really wants to go to Mecca, but he is worried that nobody will look after his shop. He is scared that if he hires an employee, the employee will break all of his crystal. This causes the crystal merchant to stay in Tangier his whole life, even though he has enough money to make it to Mecca. The merchant knows that in order to fulfill the obligations of his Muslim religion, he must visit Mecca, but the anxiety of his only business failing is still holding him back, and holding him back from his dreams a lot. Though he has a personal legend like everybody else, he ignores it with no improvement or willingness to improve day after day. Don’t let your worries hold you back. Sometimes, you only get one chance in your only life to do so many things.
Being open-minded and welcoming to change will only enhance your life, not deteriorate it. You can’t expect for your life to always be the same. When something gets thrown your way, the best way to continue is to just accept it and use it to your advantage. In the story, the crystal merchant is very stubborn and narrow-minded. He doesn't want to change his lifestyle, even if it means betraying his sought-after religion to do so. When Santiago proposes the idea of building a display case for the market stall, the merchant, at first, is very skeptical. When the boy presses the matter further, the crystal merchant tells Santiago of his dream to visit Mecca. While doing so, he explains that, even though he should do so, he does not pack up his shop and move. The merchant explains that visiting Mecca, his personal legend, is what keeps him alive. He is afraid that if he visits, his life will be dramatically changed, and that he will have nothing to live for anymore. With respect towards the boy’s determination to reach his goal, the merchant allows Santiago to build a display case. Due to his lack of motivation and determination, the crystal merchant lives his life in a single state of sadness, with one thought that keeps him continuing his business: visiting Mecca. Still, though, he refuses to go because it can and it will change the course of his life forever. Embracing the change that comes before you will just help make your life easier to bear the burden of.
Nothing will happen without the desire to do so, the motivation to do so, and the actual doing so. You can’t expect something to happen unless you want to do it, you know you can do it, and you do it. The hardest is actually doing it, because then, you are finally taking action. The crystal merchant, apart from being indifferent to change, also struggles with taking action. He knows, at the end of the boy’s contract, that he can visit Mecca, with his two new employees taking care of the shop. However, he still decides to stay. The crystal merchant is a very sentimental man who is attached to his crystals. His anxiety and the fact that he hates change are problems that keep him back, but the biggest one is that he is too afraid to take action. The merchant is afraid to take action because he is afraid of the results, afraid that if he does embark on the journey to Mecca, when he comes back, his life will be upturned and that he will have no reason to live anymore. With the merchant not taking action, nothing in his life will actually come true like his dreams. The crystal merchant, afraid of life’s many outcomes, doesn’t take action in order to fulfill his personal legend. The non-action taking will only ensure that going to Mecca will never actually happen. Taking action is one of the hardest steps in life. Sometimes, though, you have to do it, or you will just end up regretting it.
The Alchemist written by Paul Coelho de Souzza is truly a great novel. During the section about the crystal merchant’s choice, Santiago learns many life lessons on when to act and when to refrain from taking action. The crystal merchant struggles with decisions on whether to follow his personal legend in an attempt to fulfill his life goal. With his interaction period with Santiago, the crystal merchant also learns about his own personal flaws, reflecting on his past life and whether he actually made the right decisions. The merchant’s ultimate choice and the end of Santiago’s time in Tangier shows us that with time, people’s habits will be etched so deeply that it might be very hard to actually change for the better. By reading this, readers also learn about how to follow their own personal legend, embrace the change that will come with it, and actually take action, instead of just day-dreaming day after day with no or little improvement and maybe even use being busy as an excuse. In this book, everyone learns that everyone has a personal legend and story to follow throughout the course of their lives.
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