Santiago’s Father and fighting the good fight
Well, already nine pages into The Alchemist, and Paulo is already brining up one of the key idea from The Pilgrimage. On page 9, Santiago details the exchange between with his father when Santiago tells his father of his desire to travel, which will mean Santiago will become a shepherd. Santiago’s father tries to warn Santiago about the futility of his desires. Thought Santiago notes, “The boy could see in his father’s gaze a desire to be able, himself, to travel the world — a desire that was still alive, despite his father’s having to bury it, over dozens of years, under the burden of struggling for water to drink, food to eat, and the same place to sleep every night of his life.”
The description of Santiago’s father directly draw from The Pilgrimage where Paulo is told by Petrus about fighting the good fight. Santiago’s father has lost the will to go into combat.
