Why is the crystal merchant important to Santiago?

The crystal merchant serves as an important friend to Santiago during Santiago's time in Tangier, but he also functions as a cautionary case of someone who has become complacent and given up the pursuit of his Personal Legend.

How does the crystal merchant help Santiago?

The Alchemist

In desperate need of money, Santiago is hired by a crystal merchant, who tells him that even a year's wages would not pay his way to Egypt, which is thousands of kilometers distant. The crystal merchant offers to give Santiago enough money to return to Andalusia.

What does the crystal merchant represent?

The Crystal Merchant represented someone who let fear controlled his life. He was a man who had a dream to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

What impact does Santiago have on the crystal merchant's business?

Santiago offers to build a display case to place outside the shop and attract more customers, but the crystal merchant fears people will bump into it and break crystal. He argues that business has been good and asks why Santiago wants more. Santiago says he needs to follow his Personal Legend and go to the pyramids.

What happens when Santiago meets the crystal merchant?

At the end of Part One in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago met the crystal merchant who offers him a job so that he can save money for his trip back home. Santiago accepts, realizing it will take more than a year to save enough money to buy sheep so that he can become a shepherd again.

The Alchemist | Part 2 | At Work with the Crystal Merchant | Paulo Coelho

How does the crystal merchant influence the boy's actions?

How does the crystal merchant influence the boy's actions? By sharing his story and his regrets, the crystal merchant teaches the boy that some people would rather fantasize about their dreams than live them.

What is the crystal merchant's personal legend?

Crystal Merchant A middle-aged resident of Tangier, he hires Santiago to work in his shop. The crystal merchant's Personal Legend is to make a pilgrimage (or haj) to Mecca, but he knows he will never fulfill this dream. He is Santiago's foil, a character who characterizes another by contrast.

What does the crystal symbolize in The Alchemist?

Crystal Glassware: Fragility and clarity are the characteristics represented by the crystal merchant's crystal glassware. Desert: The desert is symbolic of all the obstacles and hardships that stand between people and their dreams. In The Alchemist, characters learn to accept the desert, even listen to it.

What does Santiago suggest to the crystal merchant as a strategy to make more money?

What does Santiago suggest to the crystal merchant as a strategy to make more money? To actually use the crystal cups to sell tea to display their value.

Why does the author include the merchant in the story?

Why does the author include the merchant in the story? He represents an everyday man, good, and hardworking and it shows the way he works. Give an example of Santiago's lively approach to business and the crystal merchant's caution.

Why is the crystal merchant afraid of change?

The crystal merchant resists these changes, because he is content with his small business, just as he fears realizing his dream of traveling to Mecca, because he worries that he won't have anything to live for if his dream is realized.

Is the crystal merchant The Alchemist?

The crystal merchant plays a key part in Santiago's journey and in the overall moral of The Alchemist. The crystal merchant acts as a symbol and a major turning point in the story. He also teaches Santiago significant lessons about following his Personal Legend.

What does Santiago learn from the crystal merchant?

He learns about his Personal Legend, about Arabic, how to work in a crystal shop. He chose for Santiago to work in a crystal shop because crystals are delicates as is a person's Personal Legend and their future.

What does Santiago suggest the crystal merchant also sell?

Hearing a tourist complain of thirst after climbing the hill to the crystal shop, Santiago suggests to the crystal merchant that they sell tea and serve it in the crystal, which in turn will help them sell more crystal. Meanwhile, Santiago's aspirations have encouraged the merchant to recall his own abandoned dreams.

Why does the merchant claim to feel worse than he did before the boy arrived to work for him?

Why does the merchant claim to feel worse than he did before the boy arrived to work for him? The merchant feels worse because the boy has shown him that every opportunity is a blessing and that he could accomplish a lot with the blessings he has but he does not want to make change and accomplish them.

What is the crystal merchant's Dilemma The Alchemist?

The crystal merchant is one of those people you want to pick up and shake into taking some action to make their lives better. The problem is that he doesn't want his life to be any better; he'd rather it always be the same than have to deal with change to make it better.

What is the first interaction between Santiago and the crystal merchant?

Describe the first interaction between Santiago and the Crystal Merchant. The boy stopped at the shop and the merchant knew that Santiago did not have any money. He also told the merchant that he can clean the glass windows if he will give him food in return.

What fear does the crystal merchant have about Santiago's second suggestion of how do you improve his business?

What fear does the crystal merchant have about Santiago's second suggestion of how to improve his business? He will have to expand his business.

Why did the crystal merchant let Santiago clean the glasses?

The crystal merchant says it was a good omen that customers entered while Santiago cleaned and offers Santiago a job. Santiago says he will clean all the merchant's crystal overnight in exchange for money to get to Egypt.

Why does the crystal merchant become sad when he thinks of the pilgrimage to Mecca?

Santiago soon learns that the merchant feels unhappy because he has not fulfilled one of his dreams: to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Because it's the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive.

Why does the boy stay on the job with the crystal merchant?

Why does the boy stay on the job with the crystal merchant? He stays on the job with the Crystal merchant to get money to go back to being a shepherd.

What does Santiago realize after helping the candy seller put up a stall in the plaza?

He realizes that he wants to become a seller in the African bazaar.

What is the primary effect of the crystal merchant's words?

What is the primary effect of the crystal merchants words? The crystal merchant's words are used to help Santiago on his trip, even though the crystal merchant did not complete his dream of going to Mecca.

What was Santiago's first exchange with the crystal merchant and what they learned from each other?

Santiago's first experience with the crystal merchant was eye-opening. He cleaned the crystal display in the window in exchange for a meal. Once the two met for lunch, he was offered a job to work for the merchant. Santiago realized he would not have enough money to travel to Egypt, so he would have to accept the job.

What reason does the merchant give the boy about why he would not go to Mecca now?

What reason does the merchant tell the boy about why he would not go to Mecca now? He wants to sell tea in crystal glasses.