Through the novel The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho compares how he and Santiago listened to their hearts and used it as strength to achieve their personal journey. Santiago achieves his dreams through strength and will. Santiago never really had a purpose in his life outside of being a Shepard, and once he truly followed his own dreams and did what felt good, like finding a wife and traveling to the pyramids to make her happy, he really wanted to be more than just a shepherd and stay in Spain all his life. “He was excited, and at the same time: maybe the girl had already forgotten him. (Coelho 6) Santiago never cared about anything other than his sheep, and when the king wanted information on what he was supposed to do, he had to give up something that meant a lot to him , especially because he didn't really do anything other than take care of his sheep and his farm. “For The Alchemist, Coelho adapts four principles of storytelling: the personal quest, awareness of omens, the soul of the world and the idea of ​​listening to one's heart as a guide. » (Sylvia1) The writer really connects Santiago and Paulo, because they both have principles that they followed in their lives to fight against their weakness. The main focus is really on their father in the younger parts of their lives. The bond between the two fathers is very important and it's the reason why Paulo is the person he is today, and it's really the main reason why he wrote this story and how he even became writer. He adapted that to the book and to Santiago, about how he wanted him to be who he was, and didn't let him follow what he wanted. This is really demonstrated throughout the story, a very strong bond between the writer and the master...... middle of paper ...... the novel was written with the aim of showing people that there is real value in trusting your heart and what it tells you, Coelho trusted it and a lot of other people did as well, and they had huge success and it completely changed their lives. Lose the self to find yourself, listen to your heart, become one with the soul of the world and follow your dream. » (May 1) To summarize, following your dream and making that dream come true is important in life. , that listening to your heart can also totally change the way a person acts, feels, and presents themselves to other people around them, and ultimately change their confidence level to do what they really want to do with their life, just like Santiago and Coelho did. They both found true happiness within themselves by listening to their true inner selves and ultimately made them happy people..