16 “But we could sell tea in crystal glasses. The people will enjoy the tea and
want to buy the glasses. I’ve been told that beauty is a great seducer of men” pp. 58-59.
B. Santiago’s Intrapersonal Conflicts in Pursuing His Dream
In trying to pursue his dream, Santiago experiences three intrapersonal conflicts. The first conflict is to decide whether to sell his flock or not. The second
one is to decide whether to return to Spain or not. The last one is to decide whether to leave Fatima or not. These conflicts are explained as follows.
1. To Decide whether to Sell His Sheep or not
The first intrapersonal conflict faced by Santiago is to decide whether to sell his sheep or not. The conflict appears after he meets Melchizedek. He is an
old man who promises to tell Santiago how to find the treasure on condition that he has to give one tenth of his flock. The conflict happens because Santiago wants
to know how to find it but he has to give one tenth of his flock to the old man. He then starts to think about selling his sheep. By selling his sheep, Santiago will
have a chance to travel searching for the treasure. On the other hand, his flock is his companion in travelling around Andalusia. However, Santiago starts to realize
that he has been accustomed to look after them. Even though he is accustomed to do that, he begins to feel burdened since the flock only concerns with food and
water. Yet, if he decides to sell his sheep, he will have to leave something he has been accustomed to. It is life as a shepherd. That is why he is in conflict with
himself when he has to decide whether to sell his sheep or not. There was a small building there, with a window at which people bought
tickets to Africa. And he knew that Egypt was in Africa.
17 “Can I help you?” asked the man behind the window.
“Maybe tomorrow,” said the boy, moving away. If he sold just one of his sheep, he’d have enough to get to the other shore of the strait. The idea
frightened him. “Another dreamer,” said the ticket seller to his assistant, watching the boy
walk away. “He doesn’t have enough money to travel.” While standing at the ticket window, the boy had remembered his flock,
and decided he should go back to being a shepherd. In two years he had learned everything about shepherding: he knew how to shear sheep, how to
care for pregnant ewes, and how to protect the sheep from wolves. He knew all the fields and pastures of Andalusia. And he knew what was the
fair price for every one of his animals p. 27.
From the situation above, based on Lewin’s theory of intrapersonal conflict as cited in Weiner 1980, Santiago faces an approach-avoidance conflict
where there are two different aspects which are involved in one action. Selling his sheep has both attractive and unattractive sides. The attractive side of selling his
sheep is that he will have a chance to travel to search for the treasure. On the other hand, the unattractive side of selling his sheep is that he will have to leave
something he has been accustomed to. As proposed by Decenzo and Silhanek 2002, Santiago uses know who is
involved skill to solve the conflict. By using this skill, Santiago tries to consider his sheep’s habit and his own character. In this case, Santiago thinks he has left
his parents and his hometown and he get used to that situation. He also thinks that his sheep will get used to his absence if he decides to pursue his dream. This can
be seen from the following quotation, “I left my father, my mother, and the town castle behind. They have gotten used to my being away, and so have I. The sheep
will get used to my not being there, too, the boy thought” p. 29. After considering about that, Santiago finally solves his conflict by deciding to sell the
rest of his flock to his friend and meet the old man on the next day.
18
2. To Decide whether to Return to Spain or not
