The Alchemist: pgs:33-71 Tangier, Morocco and the crystal merchant

Ok, so Tangier is one of my favorite parts of the book because Santiago overcomes a momumental obstacle.  He says he is a stranger in a strange land, and he has gone from being a shepherd with money and sheep to a man with no home and no job and no money all in one day.  He is not normally the type to cry he says he was even too embarassed to cry in front of his sheep, but here in the lowest point in his life thus far he cries. "He wept because God was unfair, and because this was the way God repaid those who believed in their dreams." (pg. 39) While that is not true and we find out later that not even Santiago believes that... it rings true for a lot of people.  The next paragraph I think is full of very common self pity... a lie that man people tell themselves and it is eventually what ends up damning them from progressing through life happily a life full of apathy.

"When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy.  People saw me coming and welcomed me, he thought.  But now I'm sad and alone.  I'm going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me.  I'm going to hate those who have found their treasure because I never found mine.  And I'm going to hold on to what little I have, because I'm too insignificant to conquer the world." (pg.39)

Luckily Santiago had something solid to hold onto... something he could not deny.  It was that Melchezedek actually knew more about him than he had ever told anyone... and there was something about him that made it impossible for him to deny his "Personal Legend"

When Santiago first set out to find his treasure he thought it would be a walk in the park.  He thought that the only hard thing he would have to do was sell his sheep and then use the money to go and get his treasure.  If he was to feel sorry for himself and say "haven't I already given up enough?" then he would never progress and never find his treasure.  Instead he takes responsibility for his actions, he picks himself up, he continues to look for the omens and they end up leading him in the right direction.  We see Santiago's naïveté to how hard his journey will be when he tells the crystal merchant that he'll work for an entire day if the merchant will give him the money to reach Egypt. (pg. 47) He quickly finds out that it's not just that easy he was told it would take him a year to save up.  It makes me think of how a city can be torn down in a day but can not be built in a day.

Santiago made the mistake of instantly trusting his new "friend" with his money.  This is something that didn't make much sense to me because literally that boy had Santiagos entire life savings in the palm of his hands.  And Santiago is too worried about offending a new person in a new land to ask for it back.  Well just like the rest of us he got a little distracted looking at all the new things in a new land (a sword to be exact) and he lost track of his new friend and lost everything.  But he can't say he wasn't warned... the boy told him "Tangier is not like the rest of Africa.  This is a port, and every port has its theives." (pg.37)  In about a week I am headed to South America by boat (if I can find one to take me) and I have already been warned numerous times about the port cities.  We'll see if I can do any better than Santiago did.

I love how Santiago is such a quick learner and yet he just learns a little bit at a time.  He asks the Urim & Thummim if he will find his treasure and he gets no answer because ultimately that is up to him.  He does however get a very important answer that the king is still with him and on his side.... and ultimately that is what he needs to hear to press forward.

On page 44 Santiago learns a most important lesson.... and it's actually something he already knew... but he didn't know that he knew :)  "If I can learn to understand this language without words, I can learn to understand the world."   He already knew this from the way he communicated with his sheep, he knew that he was connected to them, he felt that "All things are one" but didn't know how to verbalize it.  Lucky for Santiago he met the king.

The Crystal Merchant

Ok, so here is my take on the crystal merchant.... as I go through life I see people who are in a similar situation to me or possibly they have chosen a path that I almost chose but decided not to.  Sometimes it can be a scary thing to see yourself in someone elses situation.  The crystal merchant is a perfect example of someone who settles for mediocracy rather than striving for greatness and achieving their personal legend.  I heard a funny saying about being mediocre it goes something like this:

"Beware the loli-pop of mediocracy... for once you lick it.... you will suck the rest of your life" 

You see santiago is still a little down from losing everything and so he wants to return to his comfort zone.  Like all of us know the easy thing to do is to  "go home"  for him to go back to being a shepherd because he is good at it.... he knows how to do it.... and afterall he was pretty happy doing it.  For some.... like the crystal merchant... it is enough to be "pretty happy" but true joy comes from achieving that personal legend.  I'll try to show you some of the ways I came to these conclusions.

Santiago eventually has enough money to return home and buy double the amount of sheep, plus he knows a new language(arabic) so he will be able to do business with more people... and so he says he can return home a "winner"  Afterall... that's pretty good to be able to double your flock in just one year right?  But Santiago has already learned this lesson.  It's the lesson from the baker... does he care about people thinking he is a "winner" or does he care about finding his treasure.

The crystal merchant... just like the baker... opened up his shop so that "some day" he would be able to accomplish the thing that he truly desired... which was to go to Mecca.  He lied to himself every year telling himself that he needed to sae just a little more money before he could leave and make his journey.  Life would send him omens to show him that it wasn't money that mattered.  He said himself that yes he did see rich people on their way to Mecca but that he also saw people far poorer than he making the journey as well.  But rather than listening to the omens, packing his things, and going.... he decided to stay at his shop... and make a little more money.  Later the shop keeper teaches us that "every blessing ignored is a curse"  well in the following years a neighboring city grew larger than Tangier and the crystal merchant lost his opportunity to sell all that he had and go on the journey.

So, life sends another omen to the crystle merchant.  That omen is Santiago.  Santiago helps the merchant sell more crystal than he has sold in quite some time.  Then when Santiago suggests a little change (selling tea in crystal glasses) the merchant once again is overcome by the fear of change.  He shows us that he is happy with mediocracy by telling Santiago all the reasons why expanding the shop is a bad idea.  None of the reasons are good one though... "I'm already used to the way things are" "That's really risky...we could lose money on things breaking" Luckily Santiago applies a previous life lesson and teaches the merchant that it was risky for him to take his sheep out every day.... but that's what he did... because risk... and loss... is just the price of doing business.  So finally the merchant caves in.... decides to finally follow an omen... and says one of my favorite lines "sometimes there's just  no way to hold back the river" (pg 59)

Santiago makes more money for the merchant than he could ever imagine.  It's decision making time.... it's funny that neither person believes in themselves but they both believe in the other person.  Santiago assumes that the merchant will go to Mecca now that he has enough money... but he himself says he's going back to be a shepherd.  While the merchant still overcome with the fear of not having anything to live for after Mecca decides to live in fear and stay at the shop.... but tells Santiago that he knows he isn't returning home....

I love that the merchants words catch Santiago off guard.  He tells him that he's not returning home... and Santiago thinks to himself... "I'm not?"  which is great because its causes him to weigh things out in his mind.  Andalusia and the sheep will always be there waiting for him.... but if he retuns to them now he will live with "what if" in his head for the rest of his life.  He chooses to stick to finding his personal legend... he goes and speaks to a caravan that would bring crystal to his shop (everything happens for a reason) and it is with a caravan that he will leave Tangier towards Al-Fayoum.