Book Analysis
The Alchemist
1.Story
The Alchemist is a novel (book) written by Paulo Coelho in 1988.
The book tells a story of a shepherd boy, who owns a herd of sheep. His name is Santiago. In his sleep, he has dreamt a dream at two occasions that he needs to go to the pyramids of Egypt to find treasures.
In the beginning, he distrusts the dream; he is unsure if he has to follow and accomplish the dream. But, later on, as he gets a prophecy from an old woman, who interprets his dream and confirms him to follow just his dream. Despite the confirmation, he is not so interested of the dream. This is mainly because of two reasons. One, he hasn’t enough courage to sell his sheep or leave them behind. Second, he falls for a beauty of a girl who
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Crystal merchant: Owns a crystal shop in the city of Tangier. He has lived there thirty good years in selling and buying crystal pieces. It is this shop, where Santiago works before continuing his journey.
Melchizedek : An old man who explains himself as King of Salem, with magical power ,helps Santiago to make a decision ,‘’ ---when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’’(p.22). He also gives Santiago the magical stones Urim and Thummim.
Englishman: seeks the true alchemist after his friend, who has returned from an archeological expedition in the desert, tells him about an Arab with exceptional power. He, himself, travels now in the desert to find the alchemist real.
The alchemist: A man who resides in Al-Fayoum Oasis. He possesses a powerful magic and saves lives because he sees through to the soul of the world. He is the one who points the direction of the treasure to Santiago.
Fatima: A beautiful girl, whom Santiago is in love with, who lives at Al-Fayoum Oasis.
Gypsy: An old woman, in Tarifa, who interprets Santiago’s dream
5. Language and
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It’s is through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.’’
Alchemist is already explained in the story as it is the ability to purify your soul, listen to your heart and speak the language of the world. The title is, then, to show us, the readers, that anyone can achieve his/her dream by possessing the characteristics of alchemist as exactly as the shepherd boy, Santiago.
Santiago finds his treasure at the place where he first dreamt of. The ending, then, can be interpreted as Santiago needs to go in a difficult situation and time to gain the knowledge or wisdom.
7. Own thoughts and options
The first thing I have learned from the story is that every dream I can have doesn’t only be enough to follow them. Instead, I need to inspire myself through opening my heart and try to accomplish them. Secondly, regardless of the time and effort requirement, it is not important to look back. Lastly, as in the story ‘’every blessing ignored becomes a curse’’, have found it to be true because if you are not positive for what you have, you will for sure regret after losing
Santiago made a reasonable sum of money working for the crystal merchant, and decided it was time to abandon his job to continue his search for his treasure. Along the way, he was halted by a tribal war in the desert and forced to stay in an oasis. During his visit he met a young woman named Fatima. After only a few interactions, Santiago decides he wants to marry this woman, “‘I came to tell you just one thing,’ the boy said. ‘I want you to be my wife. I love you’(Coelho, 95). What once was negative became positive. Santiago’s journey had been paused multiple times, and he was stuck in an oasis instead of venturing to the
During his journey, Santiago faces the obstacle of overcoming his fear of defeat. This challenge of his fear of defeat is what is significant to Santiago’s growth. As Santiago arrives in Morocco, he was robbed by a stranger and left with nothing in a strange place. Yet, over time Santiago found a job with a Crystal merchant and, “…he had been working incessantly, thinking only
To begin his long journey, Santiago meets a wise old king name King Melchizedek. He is in a local market when the king walks up and asks Santiago what he is reading. The king continues to say that the book he is reading is important but irritating because it describes the characters inability to choose their own Personal Legend. When Santiago asks where this mysterious stranger is from, King Melchizedek replies with “I am from many places, but I was born in Salem as I am the king there” (Coelho 64). Accepting his statement as true, Santiago continues the conversation allowing them to eventually talk about his dream of the Pyramids. The king wants to help Santiago, but for a price of six sheep. Before leaving with Santiago’s sheep he shares, “’The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon’” (Coelho 32). His message to Santiago reminds him that by following his dream he will witness beautiful sights and people, but that he should always remember the purpose of his travels. Leaving it at that, the king pointed Santiago in the direction to follow his dream.
Santiago the poor adventurer boy, seeks the treasure in his dreams. Despite having a family that wanted him to become a priest. But as Santiago made way towards his journey, he was faced with the unlucky fate of being robbed of all he had. While he had nothing, he could only go up. He learned to find omens which that will lead him towards a better future. As a result he managed to land a job within a crystal merchant’s shop. Another instance is when Santiago is confronted by the love of his life. He wanted to stay with her forever, however doing so would force him to abandon his journey. Fatima,
He gets robbed a couple times, he is delayed by a tribal war taking place in the desert, and he gets captured in said tribal war. After the first time he gets robbed, Santiago has to work at a small crystal shop. This delays his voyage but he ends up making a sum of money for himself and the owner of the shop with his ideas on how to sell the glasses. When he finally starts to get to Egypt he is stopped in a desert oasis due to a war going on in the desert, this delays him again from getting to his treasure, but there is where he meets Fatima, his true love, and is also named counselor of the oasis after he saves it from an attack. Almost to his destination, Santiago and the Alchemist both get captured by one side of the war.
The book I read is called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist is about a boy from Spain, whose name is Santiago and is a shepherd. The book tells how he gets around countries, and how he deals with his problems and how he solves them. It shows how he follows his dreams, and who helps him along the way.
The book, The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, conveys many messages relating to life and society. The book outlines the story of a boy named Santiago who goes on a journey to the pyramids of Egypt, to find treasure. Along his way he learns about the concept of predetermined destiny, and the soul of the universe. One major moral shown within the book, is the idea that you should always pursue your dreams, despite minor obstacles, as you never know where it may take you.
In conclusion, the book the Alchemist illustrates the hardships and decisions we all must go through in life. It emphasizes that listening to your heart and going on your Personal Journey can be a hard and relentless road to embark on. However, the lessons learned and experiences gains can lead you to immeasurable rewards and
- The climax is when Santiago saw a beetle at one spot of the pyramid, and start digging up to find the buried treasure.
Santiago,the boy who was born in a priest’s family and was put up to become a priest.But ever since he had been a child,he had wanted to know the world ,and this was much more important than knowing about God and learning about mans’ sins.He summed up courage and told his father that he want travel all over the world and learn.He is a humble shepherd whose desires are few–he wants to be free to roam with his sheep, to have some wine in his wineskin and a book in his bag. Fate intervenes, however, in the form of the recurring dream of a great treasure hidden thousands of miles away at the base of the Egyptian Pyramids. When Santiago meets melchizedek, a strange wise man who claims he is a king from a far-off land, he decides to seek his treasure. The next day, Santiago sells his sheep and embarks to Africa to pursue his dream.
Santiago starts out as a normal young man that has the same reoccurring dream when he sleeps under a sycamore tree that grows out of an abandoned church where a young boy tells Santiago to find the treasure at the Pyramids in Egypt. Santiago, not trusting his instinct of what the dream means, goes to a Gypsy dream interpreter
Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist tells the story of Santiago, a young shepherd living in an abandoned church in a small Andalusian town, who is stripped of his comfortable and safe lifestyle after an encounter with Melchizedek, an Islamic king who tells him of his “Personal Legend” (21). Melchizedek points Santiago in the direction of his treasure only after taking one-tenth of his money, giving him two stones, and a lesson on reading omens. Throughout his journey, Santiago meets new friends, has everything stolen from him three times, and travels the vast and unknown Sahara Desert all while achieving personal growth and an understanding of his life’s meaning. His journey leads him to an Oasis
As you most likely know, the real ending to the book was that Santiago was finally in Egypt digging for treasure. Then, some men came along and started hurting Santiago. When the men were about to leave, one of them told Santiago something interesting. The man said that he had a dream about treasure being buried in Spain. He said it was near a church and a sycamore tree, which Santiago recognized from when he was a shepherd. Then, the man said he would never actually go to find that treasure. Santiago then knew where his treasure was. He ended up finding a chest with jewels and gold coins.
Throughout Santiago’s journey to fulfil his Personal Legend the boy is rewarded with not only treasure as a physical substance but also in the form of knowledge gained and experiences lived. Santiago is aware of the importance of his treasure in all forms and displays this awareness after finding the chest of Spanish gold coins, “He placed Urim and Thummim in the chest. They were also a part of his new treasure, because they were a reminder of the old king, whom he would never see again” (pg. 88). Thus, Santiago’s character portrays the message that once a destiny is realised and fulfilled, the pursuer will be rewarded in many forms. Contrastingly, the crystal merchant in which temporarily employs Santiago, is a character used in juxtaposition to show the danger of fear and the life of one who will never fulfil
The Theme of “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho is, always follow your dreams and listen to your heart. At the start of the novel Santiago does not know what he should do when he is confronted by his dream. But by the end of the novel Santiago completely trusts his heart to guide him though life. Santiago’s story shows him learning and living out the theme of the novel.