The alchemist
when he talked about the pilgrimage to mecca, the crystal merchant argued that having a dream is more important than fulfilling it, which is what santiago was trying to do. do you agree with santiago's rationale or crystal merchant's? least 100

    Santiago’s life mainly revolves around finding out what his personal legend is, and the murchant’s life just involves him working everyday in his crystal shop so he would have enough money to survive. The merchants rationale behind keeping Santiago is that he believes once a person accomplishes their dreams they will go without a purpose for the rest of life. As he stated on pg.55 "I'm afraid if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason to go on living". However I find flaw in that arguement because the reason for setting dreams in your life is to make it reality. Besides if the merchant ever does decide to go to Mecca he'll realize you can always find a new purpose out of a new reality.  

Isn't that good and is kinda of late, but I tried ;)

I mostly agree with Santiago's attitude. Santiago dreams, but the reason he dreams is in order to accomplish his dreams. This motivates him to work hard. Moreover, each step he takes that brings him closer to the dream gives him a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, and teaches him something new. Therefore, Santiago has many small joys before even getting close to his dream. On the other hand, the merchant believes it is better to not accomplish your dreams because if you do, you lose the purpose of your life. However, by having this attitude, the merchant has no motivation to change anything in his life. Moreover, he does not realize that dreams change all the time, and that by the time you reach one, you will most likely already have another one that will continue to make your life rich and interesting.

the audience knows that nora is intentionally failing to dance correctly, but helmer doesnt