Plot In The Alchemist

Plot in The Alchemist The four obstacles are presented to us in the early pages of the introduction. The first obstacle: we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. The second obstacle: love. The third obstacle: fear of the defeats we will meet on the path. Finally the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream of which we fought for all our lives. We find the first obstacle Santiago faces in page 9, where Santiago mentions to his father at a early age that he did not want to become a priest that instead he wanted to travel and see the world. His father explained to him that the people that travel and see the world are wealthy people. Santiago insisted that him too wanted to see where the wealthy people lived, that he would love to see their castles in the towns where the wealthy lived, but his father explained that the only people that traveled amongst them were the shepherds. Santiago made the decision to become a shepherd, so the next day his father gave him three ancient Spanish gold coins so the boy could buy his flock.
The love that he has for traveling the same love that made him tell his father he did not want to become a priest, but instead travel to many places. This is the second obstacle Paulo Coelho talked about in his introduction were he mentioned “we know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream” Paulo Coelho mentions that we do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us going further. Santiago did just that, he abandoned everything in order to pursue his dream to become a