Santiago's decision to become a shepherd

Santiago's decision to become a shepherd is the foundational act of his life, a deliberate choice of a wandering, observant existence over a settled, religious one, which sets the stage for his entire journey toward his Personal Legend. It is a rebellion against the expectations of his family and the conventional path laid out for him, and it is the first concrete step he takes toward realizing his destiny, long before he knows what that destiny is.

Identity and Background

Santiago was not born a shepherd. His parents, a simple farm family who worked hard just to have food and water, had wanted him to become a priest, a source of pride for them. To that end, he attended a seminary until he was sixteen, studying Latin, Spanish, and theology. But ever since he was a child, his true desire was to know the world, a yearning that he found much more important than knowing God and learning about man's sins. One afternoon, on a visit to his family, he summoned the courage to tell his father that he did not want to become a priest, that he wanted to travel. His father argued that among their kind, only shepherds traveled, and that the people who came to their village from all over the world were basically the same as those who lived there. Santiago insisted, saying he wanted to see the castles in the towns where those travelers lived. His father, seeing a desire in his son's gaze that he himself had buried under a lifetime of struggle, gave him his blessing and three ancient Spanish gold coins he had found in the fields, telling him to use them to buy his flock.

Life and Plot Trajectory

Santiago's life as a shepherd is one of constant movement and learning. For two years he walked the Andalusian terrain, leading his sheep through the countryside in search of food and water. He knew all the cities of the region, and he learned everything about shepherding: how to shear sheep, how to care for pregnant ewes, how to protect the flock from wolves, and what was a fair price for every animal. He owned a jacket, a book he could trade for another, and a flock of sheep, and he was able every day to live out his dream of travel. He believed that if he were to tire of the Andalusian fields, he could sell his sheep and go to sea. This life of freedom and self-determination is what he chose over the seminary, and it is the life he is living when he has the recurrent dream that sets his quest in motion. Even after he sells his flock to follow that dream, the skills and mindset of a shepherd remain with him. When he works for the crystal merchant, he draws on his experience, suggesting a display case by saying, "Well, when I took my sheep through the fields some of them might have died if we had come upon a snake. But that's the way life is with sheep and with shepherds." The merchant later notes that the boy's very presence in the shop was an omen, and as time passed and money poured into the cash drawer, he had no regrets about hiring him. The boy estimated that if he worked for six more months, he could return to Spain and buy sixty sheep, and yet another sixty, doubling his flock in less than a year. The months passed, and he became happy in his work, thinking all the time about the day when he would disembark at Tarifa as a winner.

Key Actions and Objectives

Santiago's primary objective as a shepherd is to travel, to see new places, and to live a life free from the constraints of a fixed home. He is not merely a laborer; he is a thinker and a learner. He reads books to his sheep, tells them of his loneliness or happiness, and comments on the things he has seen in the villages they pass. He observes that the sheep are content with just food and water, and that they have forgotten how to rely on their own instincts because he leads them to nourishment. This observation leads him to a profound realization about trust and dependence. His decision to become a shepherd is also a decision to embrace a life of risk and chance, as a shepherd always takes his chances with wolves and with drought. This willingness to embrace uncertainty is what later allows him to take the even greater risk of selling his entire flock to pursue his dream of treasure.

Relationships and Conflict

Santiago's choice of profession creates a clear conflict with his father's initial wishes. His father, who had wanted him to be a priest, ultimately supports him by giving him the gold coins, but the boy can see in his father's gaze a desire to be able, himself, to travel the world—a desire that was still alive, despite having been buried for decades. The life of a shepherd also shapes Santiago's relationships with others. When he meets the merchant's daughter, he is able to tell her of the Andalusian countryside and relate news from other towns, a pleasant change from talking to his sheep. He recognizes that he is feeling something he had never experienced before: the desire to live in one place forever, with her. This desire directly conflicts with the very nature of his chosen life as a shepherd, which is defined by movement. Later, when he is robbed in Tangier and has lost everything, he laments that when he had his sheep, he was happy and made those around him happy. The memory of his life as a shepherd becomes a touchstone for his sense of security and identity.

Change and Ending

Santiago's identity as a shepherd is not a permanent state but a stage in his development. He sells his flock to follow his dream, and he never returns to that exact life. However, the lessons he learned as a shepherd—patience, observation, understanding the language of his animals, and trusting in the path—become the foundation for his later learning. The alchemist later tells him that every search begins with beginner's luck, and that every search ends with the victor's being severely tested. Santiago's initial decision to become a shepherd was his first act of beginner's luck, the first step on a path that would lead him to a king, a thief, a crystal merchant, an Englishman, an alchemist, and his true love, Fatima. At the very end of his journey, when he returns to the abandoned church to dig for his treasure, he shouts up to the sky, "You old sorcerer... You knew the whole story. You even left a bit of gold at the monastery so I could get back to this church." His journey, which began with the simple decision to become a shepherd, has come full circle, returning him to the very place where it all started, but with a transformed understanding of the world and himself.

Narrative Role and Evaluation

Santiago's decision to become a shepherd is the crucial act of departure in his hero's journey. It is the choice that separates him from the ordinary world of his family and the seminary and places him on the path of the wanderer. This decision is not just a plot point; it is a philosophical statement. It embodies the novel's central theme that one must have the courage to follow one's own desires, even when they contradict the expectations of society and family. The shepherd's life, with its emphasis on movement, observation, and a connection to nature, is the perfect training ground for the alchemist's quest, which requires the same qualities. The decision is the seed from which the entire story grows, and it is the standard against which all of Santiago's subsequent choices are measured.