Alchemist Foil Usage
Usages of Foil Characters
Everyone in this world has someone who is contradictory to them. Similarly, in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the protagonist, Santiago, has many foils. Santiago, the hero of this story, is an adventurous shepherd from a small Andalusian town who sets out to achieve his personal legend, his dream, to find treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. The author of The Alchemist uses foils to allude to Santiago’s traits, and helps the reader apprehend the different situations and other character’s personal legends.
Santiago is a simple boy, living up to his parent’s expectations in becoming a priest. However, this curious boy is also determined to set his eyes on the rest of the world; thus, he decides to leave home and becomes a simple shepherd. With the opportunity to explore the world with his sheep, Santiago travels throughout the country and encounters many people. Eventually, along this journey, he uncovers his dream, discovering treasure at the pyramids in Egypt. Despite Santiago’s adventurous ways, he is reluctant to follow this dream until he meets Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a strange old man who claims to be the king of Salem and helps convince Santiago to go on his journey to the pyramids with a few words of advice to the boy before he leaves. The boy, Santiago, then becomes an enthusiastic dream-seeker going after his personal legend, a dream that everyone has and is destined to follow. Along the way to achieve his personal legend he encounters many people who are similar and different; nevertheless, all help him on his journey. One of these many characters Santiago encounters along his journey is the Crystal Merchant. Santiago works hard for the crystal merchant to, one day, earn the money back he is robbed of. He originally plans to buy more sheep since he is losing hope for his dream and hopes to go back to his peaceful shepherd life. The crystal merchant is quite different from Santiago: “’I don’t much like change,’ he said, ‘You
Everyone in this world has someone who is contradictory to them. Similarly, in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the protagonist, Santiago, has many foils. Santiago, the hero of this story, is an adventurous shepherd from a small Andalusian town who sets out to achieve his personal legend, his dream, to find treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. The author of The Alchemist uses foils to allude to Santiago’s traits, and helps the reader apprehend the different situations and other character’s personal legends.
Santiago is a simple boy, living up to his parent’s expectations in becoming a priest. However, this curious boy is also determined to set his eyes on the rest of the world; thus, he decides to leave home and becomes a simple shepherd. With the opportunity to explore the world with his sheep, Santiago travels throughout the country and encounters many people. Eventually, along this journey, he uncovers his dream, discovering treasure at the pyramids in Egypt. Despite Santiago’s adventurous ways, he is reluctant to follow this dream until he meets Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a strange old man who claims to be the king of Salem and helps convince Santiago to go on his journey to the pyramids with a few words of advice to the boy before he leaves. The boy, Santiago, then becomes an enthusiastic dream-seeker going after his personal legend, a dream that everyone has and is destined to follow. Along the way to achieve his personal legend he encounters many people who are similar and different; nevertheless, all help him on his journey. One of these many characters Santiago encounters along his journey is the Crystal Merchant. Santiago works hard for the crystal merchant to, one day, earn the money back he is robbed of. He originally plans to buy more sheep since he is losing hope for his dream and hopes to go back to his peaceful shepherd life. The crystal merchant is quite different from Santiago: “’I don’t much like change,’ he said, ‘You