Santiago Coelho's The Alchemist

The novel, The Alchemist, revolves around a boy named Santiago in search of his personal legend. As a shepherd, Santiago will learn more about the world outside of his comfort zone while seeking for his personal legend. As Santiago explores the unknown, Santiago will meet various people who will help him realize his personal legend and assist in leading him in the right direction. All of the people Santiago will meet and all of the decisions he will make along the way will affect him and his personal legend.

The Alchemist is a story written by Paulo Coelho, about a boy named Santiago, who takes a journey from Spain to Africa. He was trying to find a hidden treasure, that showed up in a recurrent dream. In his journey, Santiago does not only find gold and money, but he finds many other treasures along the way. This book helps us realize, that you should never lose hope. There are many times in this story where santiago runs into minor and major obstacles along his journey. That doesn't stop him, Santiago never gives up and that helps him achieve his personal legend

As Santiago continues his journey, the author places the theme of love and unity of nature. He alludes to the liveliness and hope the heart naturally creates to empower this encouraging tone. He shares that, “your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say” (147). The idea that the heart can speak conveys hope not only to Santiago, but also to the readers reading The Alchemist. Once again creating this peaceful, hopeful tone in the novel. Paulo also uses personification in the story to embody a lively, hopeful tone. He phrases his sentences like “the wind’s curiosity arouse”(147) to spark ideas and obtain an optimistic tone. Not only does the description of the wind, as if it was 3 year old seeing snow for the first time, connect with readers, it also uses word choice that intrigues readers and brings in reader’s focus. Paulo Coelho does a marvelous job at perfectly describing scenes that allow readers to connect but also read in this hopeful

The novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was about a shepherd by the name of Santiago who, through a dream found where his “treasure” would lay. The author of the book Paulo Coelho, was born in Brazil, and has written sixteen books including The Alchemist, and has sold over one hundred and forty million books worldwide. What attracted me to the novel was how there was some supernatural aspects throughout the book. The supernatural aspects made the book more enjoyable to read, because it was different than the typical self-discovery novel, there was something unique about it. I enjoyed the book, and wanted to continue, because I was curious to see what other events would occur throughout his journey, and what Santiago would find. The novel was very empowering, it was motivating for the audience to read, because of the risks Santiago takes on his journey. The author did immensely well on showing both aspects of different peoples lives, one that took a chance, and the other that conformed to society, and didn’t follow their dreams. This motivated the audience, because they didn’t want to be like the Crystal Merchant, they wanted to be like Santiago.

The Alchemist is a novel written by the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, originally written in Portuguese in 1988 and later translated to English in 1993, which follows the journey of Santiago on his quest to not only follow his Personal Legend, but also to discover a world full of changes and transformations. Looking at this story at first glance might give you the feel that it will be about a boy on a quest filled with the expected trials that test his heart, strength, and character. Elements like this are present, however, the story makes the reader think deeply about the motif dealing with following the signs the universe gives. This is due to various symbols and motifs, one having to do with omens, that Santiago and many characters

     After teaching the boy a lot about the journey he will go through, the king gave him omens to follow. Santiago sells his sheep, and travels to a town on his way to Egypt. He finds a man that could take him past the desert to Egypt. So the boy gives him the money that he got for the sheep. When the man shows Santiago the town for a little Santiago loses him in a crowd of hundreds shopping in the markets, and loses all his money. The boy learns not to trust anyone, and is told that there are many thieves in that town.

Some may refer to The Alchemist as a best-selling novel written by Paulo Coelho which explains the ideas of having a dream, or Personal Legend, and going through obstacles to conquer it. The book starts off like any other, introducing and describing the main characters, in this case Santiago is the first to share the interest of peers reading the story. He is said to be a small town shepherd boy who will do anything for his flock of sheep. In the opening scene of the story, Santiago takes his flock to an abandoned church and lies down under a sycamore tree hoping to get some rest. He is soon woken up from a disturbing dream which foreshadows further into the story of his own Personal Legend. Later in the book, Santiago is faced with multiple tests to be successful in finding his treasure. “Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure” (Coelho 15). Paulo continues to add characters in the book that help Santiago throughout his journey.

The profound themes of love, Personal Legend, and the Soul of the World presented throughout The Alchemist render it an auspicious novel because of their meaning and depth. Santiago learns about his Personal Legend, love, fear and the Soul of the World along his journey and becomes a much more knowledgeable individual. Santiago learns the importance of following his Personal Legend and listening to his heart through the alchemist and his feats in the oasis and the desert. He learns about how fear must be overcome, and

M.M. said that “The Alchemist” played an inspirational role in her life. “Usually your treasure is under your head but you do not recognize it until you do a journey of self-discovery.” She said that she felt the novel reflected over her past 15 years. Reading it, she had a new appreciation for following one’s early

The book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is about following your dreams, it explains what a personal legend is and how it can affect someone's life. The book is about a shepherd who is following his personal legend and how different characters of the book can help him. The concept of personal legend is depicted through Santiago and Fatima.

To begin, Santiago learns a valuable lesson about self awareness. For example, while Santiago is talking to King Melchizedek, he tells Santiago a story of a wise man who gave a spoon with oil to a boy, and told him to walk around the palace. The boy does, but does not see any of the wonderful things around him, yet when he looks at those things, he drops the oil, Santiago learns the lesson from the story:"The secret of happiness is to see all of the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil in the spoon” (35).

I would defiantly recommend this book to a friend or a family member. I fervently enjoyed “The Alchemist,” and I think that most people would enjoy reading about Santiago. The novel is universal in its ability to tell a story and

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.

In The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, universal language is on the main themes. It is first known when the boy was leading his sheep, “It was if some mysterious energy bound his life to that of the sheep…” (Coelho 2). This theme continues to grow and expand as the boy goes on his journey to find his treasure and follow his destiny.

The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, is a novel that follows part of the life of a Sheppard from a small village. The Sheppard often has reoccurring dreams about finding treasure so he decides to go on a journey. Coelho manages to create a really relatable novel that will influence my life heavily. By writing about the journey of Santiago, one which is long and full of adventure and struggle. On this journey the main character Santiago must endure harsh conditions and finally live the fullest life that he could never have of had before his adventure.