I
would say that Santiago's first test is getting up the courage to tell his father that he wants
to leave and travel the world. He knows that it will disappoint and perhaps even anger his
father, but Santiago still asks. He even came away with his father's blessing.
An early setback was when Santiago was robbed. He had sold his sheep in order to
finance his search for his Personal Legend, but soon after Santiago was robbed and lost his
money. He recovered by getting a job with a crystal merchant. Within a year, he and the
crystal merchant had become wealthy men.
Santiago then continued on his
quest to find his Personal Legend. The next setback was learning that he must stay at the
oasis, because the caravan refused to continue on to the pyramids. The caravan would stay put
until it was safe to travel again. Unfortunately the bands of robbers attempt to come into the
oasis. Santiago had a vision that they would attack, so the oasis was able to defend itself.
That is not the last time that Santiago had to deal with Arab marauders
though. Santiago and the alchemist are both captured at one point. Santiago was only days away
from reaching the pyramids that he had been so desperately seeking. Santiago once again was
forced to give up all of his money. This time it was to save their lives.
Later, Santiago was digging for his treasure, and he was again accosted by robbers.
They beat him until they discovered that Santiago had no money.
I might say
that his final setback was discovering that the treasure he so desperately sought was back in
his hometown. That's not a terrible setback though, because he got to go back home and got rich
in the process.
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