In the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, we go through a journey of a young shepherd named Santiago. Santiago is a Shepard who comes to be quite unsatisfied with his life. He chose to become a shepherd because this allowed him to travel the world as he so pleases. Santiago started to have dreams every night where he would hear a young boy’s voice whisper to him to seek treasure at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. Because he noticed that he was becoming too content with his life he decided to go on a journey in hopes to pursue a purpose in his life. In this book, one’s purpose in life is referred to as their personal legend. 
Throughout his journey, Santiago comes across multiple people that aid his path specifically the king who convinces him to follow his dream and the Alchemist who teaches Santiago about the principles of alchemy. A lot takes place on his journey of finding the treasure. Santiago got sidetracked and dealt with adversity but through it all Santiago always got back on track because he was determined to fulfill his personal legend which he eventually does at the end of the story. The central theme of Santiago’s journey was for him to seek the life that he felt was made for him. He had a job where he makes money got to travel but he felt he was destined for more. Santiago had a talent for alchemy and wanted to pursue it even if it meant he had to drop everything and travel the world to achieve his personal legend. Alchemy is defined as the process of taking something ordinary and turning it into something extraordinary and that is what Santiago did with his life and is what the author intended readers to take away from his life. This journey of finding out one’s purpose/identity is a concept that we went over through our class.