© 2015 JETIR June 2015, Volume 2, Issue 6 www.jetir.
org (ISSN-2349-5162)
The Concept Of Pursuing Dreams In The
“Alchemist” By Paulo Coelho
Asmat Nabi
Contractual lecturer
Department of English
Government Degree College women Baramulla
Abstract:
This research paper brings out that dreams have the capacity to create a strong motivation
in a person's life and it will stimulate him to move forward in his dream. It will create many
torments and circumvention in a person's life but knowingly or unknowingly dream will
sculpt the life of a person which will become fruitful. Paulo says dream what that keeps life
more exciting and the thrill of achieving one's dream will always keep a person from going
rogue. Paulo Coelho has also followed his dream in a quest and filled it in his real life. In
the novel The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho narrates how the dream had played a consequential
role in the life of Santiago. This research paper unfolds the unknown and brings out how
an individual strives his best to achieve the best in his life.
Keywords: Dream, Life, Motivation, Quest, Torment.
Introduction:
English literature means different things in different contexts. English Literature includes
literary works. It’s also the body of written works produced in the language of
English.Genre is a type or a class of literature. The genre used by Paulo Coelho in his work
The Alchemist is a quest, adventure, and fantasy. The quest to achieve dreams, an
exhilarating adventure of a shepherd boy Santiago and overjoyed fantasy are found in the
novel "The Alchemist".
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist had inspired millions and millions of
people all over the world. Coelho's life is also the best example. He wants to be a writer
which was opposed by his parents. He came across many frustrations, he has completely
not failed to pursue his dreams but then ultimately he accomplished his dream to become
a writer. Coelho wrote this novel in a couple of weeks. The Alchemist has been translated
into more than 80 different languages. It has been on the bestseller list for more than 315
weeks on "The New York Times". The Alchemist set the Guinness World Record for the
most translated book by any living author and won several international awards including
the United Kingdom's 2004 Nielsen gold book award, France Grand Prix literature Elle in
1995, and Germany’s 2002 Corine International Award for fiction. The Alchemist was
originally written in Portuguese and published in 1988. In 1993, it was published in
English.It's a kind of a self-help book that motivated many peoples of various countries to
pursue their dreams.
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© 2015 JETIR June 2015, Volume 2, Issue 6 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
Persuasion Of Dreams:
In the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, far away in the land of Andalusia, Spain lived a shepherd
named Santiago. He loves to travel. He always used to take his sheep along with him
wherever he went. He will sell the Wools of his sheep for money. It became dark before he
reaches the village. So he shelters his Sheep in an empty Church and himself under a tree
for a night. In his sleep, he dreams that a small boy is playing with his sheep and takes him
to the pyramid where the boy tells him, here is your treasure. The moment he was about
to tell the location he wakes up. He became restless, as the same dream had occurred to
him several times before. At the time he realizes that there is a woman in Tarifa who can
solve this mystery.
He goes to Tarifa and tells her about his dreams. The woman, on the other hand, demands
one-tenth of the Treasure for explaining to him the meaning of his dream. He agrees to the
condition. She tells him that he will find Treasure near the Egyptian Pyramids. Santiago
finds it very illogical and returns from there. He goes to a nearby market, there an old man
approaches him. He notifies Santiago and informs him that he is capable of helping him to
find the Treasure. But Santiago ignores that man. The old man reveals that he is
Melchizedek, the king of Salem and he loves to travel. He always changes his appearance.
So, no one can identify him. The man tells Santiago that he can give him a location to find
the treasure if he agrees to give him one-tenth of his sheep. The old man says,
If a person desires to achieve something,
The whole Universe will help in fulfilling the desire
Santiago replies that he can give him one-tenth of his treasure, instead of his sheep. For
this, the old man says if he promises to give something which he doesn't even have yet, he
will lose the desire to achieve his dreams also. The next day, Santiago gives the man one-
tenth of his sheep. The man tells him that he has to go to Egypt for the treasure. He gave
Santiago two stones, Urim and Thummim to read nature's signal. Santiago embarks to
Africa and he reaches the place Tangier, Morocco. He was robbed by a man. He was left
alone, without money or sheep, in a new place. He regrets to find the Treasure and leaving
everything behind. There be found a crystal merchant shop on a hill. He goes there and tells
the owner that he can clean the crystals and make them gleam like a new one in return for
food. The owner agreed and offers him a job.
He decides to work there for some days. When he has earned sufficient money, he plans to
go back. On working for a few days he notices that people get tired after climbing the hill
and there were no food shops on the hill. So Santiago suggests the owner to start selling
tea in a crystal shop to earn more. In a year, the owner and Santiago earn a lot of money.
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Santiago considers going back to the village and buys double the amount of sheep he had,
but he recalls what the old man had said to him. Santiago joins a Caravan which is heading
towards Egypt. There he meets an Englishman who is in search of an Alchemist. Santiago
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helps Englishman to find the Alchemist. They both reacted well to meet Fatima. Fatima tells
them Alchemist will be in the south of Oasis. Santiago started to express his admiration for
Fatima. Santiago meets Fatima every day. Santiago starts to learn the language of the
desert. One day he sees two Eagles fighting each other and sees a vision that the army is
about to attack the village. He goes to the village and tells the head of his vision. The head
arranges an army and warns Santiago if it doesn’t happen, he will be killed.
The next day, his vision becomes true. The head appreciated Santiago and gives him 50 gold
coins. He makes him a Councillor of that village. Santiago is now filled with happiness and
decides to stay there with Fatima but Fatima does not agree with his decision and tells him
to pursue a dream. So, Santiago resumes his adventure along with The Alchemist to find
the Treasure. They proceed to travel in the deserts. Some men captured them and accused
them of Spies. The Alchemist tells them that Santiago is an alchemist and can turn into the
wind that can blow away their camps. The head of that area tells them that if he fails to do
so, they will be killed. On the third day, Santiago stands on a high hill and talks in the
language of a universe with the help of the desert, wind, and Sun.
He succeeds in becoming air. They both travels again for a few days and met a Monk. From
there Alchemist and Santiago separate and parted their way. Santiago reaches pyramids
and starts digging. Some people came there and snatches away gold coins, which he had
already with him. They thought he might have hidden his treasure there. So they beat him
and told him to dig fast quickly. At last, Santiago tells them about his dream. They both
laughed at him and tells him that they also had a dream about a destructed church in Spain.
A Shepherd was sleeping in their dreams and a treasure was hidden under a tree. Later
Santiago realizes that treasure is in Spain only, in the destructed Church and the Sycamore
tree is the symbol of Egypt and so he saw Egypt in his dream. He returns to Spain and got
his Treasure. He gave one-tenth of his Treasure to that woman and decided to go back to
Tarifa and live with Fatima.
A dream which means ideas, emotions, or sensations which occur involuntarily in our sleep
but we can also use it to determine our aim in our life as a dream. Many persons gave their
voices about the dream.
The dream is not what you see in sleep,
The dream is something that does not let you sleep
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams
-Eleanor Roosevelt
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These are some of the voices of famous personalities. Dreams can sculpt a person's life.
Here, even in this novel, Dreams sculpted the life of a young shepherd boy named Santiago.
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© 2015 JETIR June 2015, Volume 2, Issue 6 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
In this novel, Santiago had a dream which became a dream of his life. An old man met
Santiago in the market and insisted that he will tell a way to find the treasure but he should
offer him one-tenth of sheep. Santiago registered to do so but later he agreed to give one-
tenth of a sheep to the old man, the king of Salem. In Tangier, Santiago had lost all his sheep
and money. At that time he decided to quit his journey and go back after earning some
money. Santiago works in a crystal shop. When he got enough money, he thought of going
back to Spain and buy double the amount of sheep, which he had before.
The words of the old man came to his mind and he decided to stick on to it. When the head
of the village gave Santiago 50 gold coins and made him a Councillor of the village Santiago
made a decision to settle there in the same village along with the Fatima, but Fatima as
well as his dream does not allow to do so. In all these four situations dreams motivated him
and sculpted his life. In the end, he acquired his dream and his life become perfect. A person
must stick to his dreams against hardships. He should be determined and must believe in
his ability to reach his dream. Had Santiago not dreamt, He might never have gotten the
chance to live a purposeful life nor he could have found his personal legend. His Dream
segregated his life from any deviations and lead him to a meaningful life.
Conclusion:
Every person must have a dream in his life. The path to achieve it may be a hard one, but
in the end, it will be a fruitful one. Santigo’s dream cultivated a strong desire in his life and
it leads him to his own paradise. Though is a dream to find the treasure, he also found
Fathima, together it became his paradise. The dream also cultivates strong desire and it
helps them to lead a life in a better way. Dreams are as significant as the breath that a
person withholds. If a person ceases to breathe he will be demised. Likewise, if a person
ceases to dream or avoids-it, he will rust like metal. In the novel "The Alchemist" Paulo
Coelho gives the best inspiration and obvious vision to follow our dreams. As I said the
author Lynn Andrews also says,
Paulo Coelho gives you the inspiration to follow your own dreams By seeing the world
through your own eyes and not someone else’s
Once the Glue sticks to the sheet, no one can discrete it from the sheet. Like glue, Dreams
adheres to a person making it, almost impossible to become free of one’s Dreams.
There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve
The fear of failure
-Paulo Coelho
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No matter what, we should always follow our dreams. If a person did so, certainly dream
will sculpt the life of that person.
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Thus, Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian author who represented dreams and adventure in a
naturalistic way. His work had inspired many people, yet the researcher believes the same
will happen for generations to come.
References:
•Arias, Juan. Paulo Coelho: Confessions of a pilgrim. Trans. Anne Mclean London: Harper
Collins 2001 Print
Coelho, Paulo, The Alchemist, Trans. Alan R. Clarke. New Delhi. Harper Collins. 2004, Print
•By the River Piedra, I sat down and wept. Tran Alan r. Clarke New Delhi. Harper Collins,
2005 Print
• The Fifth Mountain Trans. Clifford E. Landers. New Delhi. Harper Collins, 2003
• Veronica decides to die. Trans. Margaret Jull Costa. New Delhi. Haper Collins,
2004. Print
•Eleven Minutes Trans Margaret Jull costa. New Delhi. Haper Collins, 2004.
•The Zahir Trans margeret Jull costa new. Harper Collins, 2005. Print
•Marika Schaerti, An Interview with Paulo Coelho. Focus Munich. 19. December.2007
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