Scribd
Upload
22 views2 pages

Alchemist

The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho that follows Santiago, a shepherd boy from Andalusia, on his journey to find treasure in Egypt, representing the pursuit of one's personal legend. The story emphasizes the importance of following one's dreams and destiny, as Santiago faces various hardships but remains determined to achieve his goals. Ultimately, the novel conveys that true happiness comes from pursuing one's personal legend, as illustrated by Santiago's choices and the wisdom of characters like Melchizedec and the Alchemist.

Uploaded by

balanetcentre2024
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
22 views2 pages

Alchemist

The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho that follows Santiago, a shepherd boy from Andalusia, on his journey to find treasure in Egypt, representing the pursuit of one's personal legend. The story emphasizes the importance of following one's dreams and destiny, as Santiago faces various hardships but remains determined to achieve his goals. Ultimately, the novel conveys that true happiness comes from pursuing one's personal legend, as illustrated by Santiago's choices and the wisdom of characters like Melchizedec and the Alchemist.

Uploaded by

balanetcentre2024
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

THE ALCHEMIST

INTRODUCTION

The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho, first published in Portuguese in 1988. This
novel has been translated into 56 languages .It is an allegorical novel. The main character
in this novel is Santiago, the shepherd boy from Andalusia. Overall, this novel tells the
story about Santiago who travels from Andalusia to Egypt to find treasure.

Paulo Coelho was born on the 24th August, 1974 in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. He is a famous author. He began the first career as an author in 1982.
Some of his famous novels are The Pilgrimage (1988), The Alchemist (1988),
The Valkyries (1992), By the River Peidra I sat down and Wept (1994), The
Fifth mountain (1996), Manual of Warrior of Light (1997), Veronica Decides
to Die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), Eleven Minutes (2003), The
Zahir (2005), Like the Flowing River (2006).

OPENING OF THE STORY

The Alchemist is about an andalusian young shepherd boy called Santiago


Santiago. It tells of Santiago’s journey through countries in search of his personal legend
in order to satisfy his life. It also explains the hardships he encountered on his journey on
the way and how he solves these problems. Santiago chose to be a shepherd because he
loved travelling and he could only reach his goal and pursue his dreams by travelling.
Coelho shows Santiago’s determination and how he pursues his dreams of getting the
hidden treasures he dreamt of in the Egyptian pyramid. The book shows how he got help
from Melchizedec and the Alchemy. "When you really want something to happen, the
whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true”. These were words of
Melchizedec to Santiago so as not to give up.

THEME OF THE NOVEL

The most powerfully conveyed theme in The Alchemist is the theme of trying to
find one’s destiny by pursuing one’s personal legend. Santiago had a dream of hidden
treasures in the Egyptian pyramids and finding the treasures was his personal legend. The
theme of finding one’s destiny is conveyed throughout the novel by the protagonist
Santiago. Santiago’s main focus was to find his destiny which he believed was in the
Egyptian pyramids he had dreamt of and nothing could have stopped him because he
seriously believed in his dream. In pursuit for his personal legend, he even defied his
parents’ wish of becoming a priest just to pursue his dreams. Santiago never gave up on
following his dream despite the hardships he encountered on the way he took risks as long
as he finds his personal legend. Coelho explains this when he says “were in danger of
being crushed against ship by the pressure of the water” but Santiago continued pursuing
his dream of finding the treasures.

THE PURSUIT OF PERSONAL LEGEND

The theme of personal legend is seen in the story where Santiago has to leave the
flocks and Fatima so as to pursue his dreams. The flock was the only thing he got but he
had to sell them and part ways with them so as to be free to pursue his destiny. Even
though he loved Fatima, he had to leave her behind because he felt that she might be a
hindrance for him finding his destiny. Santiago could not find happiness in Fatima the
woman he loved because his happiness was focused in finding his destiny which was
finding the hidden treasure then other things would follow. He had to leave her after the
alchemy described to him that "true love is love that allows you to reach your personal
legend" and Fatima allowed him to pursue his personal legend. The alchemy also advised
him to listen to his heart and pursue his persona legend first then come back for Fatima.

“Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the
World, and it will one day return there”

The alchemy has to coax metal in order to achieve its personal legend of turning
into gold . If one does not live in pursuit of their individual dreams, they will end up
regretting since they will not be able to reach their personal legend. This is clearly shown
by the crystal merchant whose personal legend was to visit Mecca and Tarifa Bakers who
was to travel but they never pursued their dreams. They are later seen regretting why they
gave up because they cannot get the wealth the earth offers to those who followed their
personal legends.

CONCLUSION

In the world today, people do not take dreams serious but they pursue their personal
dreams in order to achieve their personal legend. At the end of the story, Santiago
becomes successful because he discovered, pursued and achieved his personal legend and
if he did not follow his personal legend then he could not have found the treasure.

You might also like