The Alchemist

‘’ The desert will give you an understanding of the world; in fact, anything on the face of the earth will do that. You don’t even have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will se in it all the marvels of creation.’’ (127)

The Alchemist is a novel first published in 1988 by Brazilian-born author Paulo Coehlo. It has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling books of all time, and has been translated in over 60 languages. The book follows an adventurous shepherd boy named Santiago who has recurring dream leads him on a journey to find hidden treasure. The book begins Santiago has the same troubling recurring dream, when sleeping under a sycamore that grows out of the ruins of a church, of a child telling him to seek treasure at the base of the Egyptian pyramids. After a gypsy tells him to go to Egypt once hearing his dream, a strange old man appears, claiming to be the King of Salem, tells him it is his

- When Santiago was in the pyramids then he was robbed again by the thieves that brought him to a near death experience.

life is sort of like a huge football game. I believe this because to win a football game it takes diligence, dedication and motivation. This is often true in life and so for , you need to work vigorous at what you are doing, and love what you do. It takes dedication because you would like to be a perfectionist at what you're doing otherwise you can never get anyplace in life. It additionally takes motivation as a result of what you require to possess the state of mind to begin something, and follow through, time after time, to get it right, even if it’s something I may not wish to have to do.

On the caravan, Santiago meets an Englishman who wants to learn how to turn metal into gold. As Santiago travels through the desert, he meets Fatima. They both fall in love with each other. Santiago wanders around the desert and sees two hawks, which gives him a vision. He warns the chief of Fatima’s tribe about the vision he saw. After he tells the chief, the alchemist confronts him. The alchemist asks how he understood the hawks, and decides to guide Santiago across the desert. As they cross the desert to Egypt, they enter a battle zone. A couple of soldiers capture the alchemist and Santiago, and take all that they have. The alchemist proposes that if Santiago can control the wind and destroy the camp, then they can be released. Santiago eventually controls the wind and surprises the whole army. Santiago continues his journey and finally arrives in Egypt. He reaches the pyramids and starts digging but finds nothing. He is robbed by a group of thieves, but one of the thieves tells him his own dream about his treasure in an abandoned church. Santiago realizes that his treasure is back at home, where he started

Many say that every single person on the planet has his/her own destiny, but they always leave out details on how to find it, making it difficult to explore one’s destiny. Movie and book heros demonstrates that it is hard exploring one’s destiny. Take the book The Alchemist for example, which is amazingly written by Paulo Coelho. The main character is Santiago, an ordinary shepherd who lives in Andalusia. He has a recurring dream about a hidden treasure in the Pyramids of Egypt. In order to find out what his dream means, he meets many mentors and good people along the way that help him interpret his dream, including the Alchemist. They tell Santiago that there is an actual treasure that is waiting for him and that he should go after it. He then decides to leave Andalusia and go after his dream in Africa. Along the way he faces many difficult obstacles that almost cost him his life. For example, he leaves Tarifa, Africa so that he could leave with a caravan that was going to Egypt. As the caravan is moving along the desert, the large caravan has to stop at an oasis because there are many tribal wars. He sees the love of his life here, Fatima. But at the end, he is able to experience a difficult journey that leads him to his treasure, which is his true Personal Legend or true meaning in life. Another good example is the movie The Matrix, which is produced by Joel Silver. In the movie the main character, Thomas Anderson otherwise known as “Neo,” is firstly known as a hacker, but he primarily works at a software company. Neo receives many calls telling him to go learn about the truth, but many times he refuses. Finally, Neo accepts to learn about the truth, which is that he's been living in a program world, the Matrix. His crew members Morpheus, Trinity, and many more, explain to him that Neo is the one to save them all. He too faces many life-threatening obstacles along the way. In the end, Neo discovers that he is the “one.” The Alchemist and The Matrix buttress the theme of finding one’s Personal Legend as both main characters, Santiago and Neo, go on a quest with lots of obstacles to find and explore their true destinies and discover who they really are.

As we saw at in The Alchemist, Santiago wants to travel to Egypt to see the pyramids and to find the treasure that he saw in his dreams when he was sleeping in the abandoned

“Dad, where are you going this time?” said Santiago with a smirk. It seems like you’re never here, and I need you. You may not realize it, but I do.

In the novel “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho we follow our young hero Santiago who starts off as a simple shepherd, but comes upon his own personal legend in which he is introduced to a whole new world filled with companions that help him along his journey. He dreams of the Pyramids in Egypt and wishes to understand this recurring dream so finds a gypsy who tells him to simply travel across the desert to find his treasure in Egypt. This leaves him pondering the idea to leave all he has come to know and love in pursuit of his supposed personal legend. It is not until he is approached by a wise old king in the marketplace that once again speaks of his personal legend and how he should pursue it in order to find his treasure in Egypt. Santiago

And this being then they let Santiago and the Alchemist go. After this they were escorted as far as they wanted. As they were on there journey he was going to climb up another dune and he heard his heart whisper to him “ Beware of the place that you are brought to tears, That where I am and that's where the treasure is”. And so the boy Climbed up the dune slowly and he reached the top of the dune and saw the great pyramids of

Devastated, he stumbles upon a crystal shop. He immediately sees that there are some changes he could make to it that would increase business for the merchant who owns the shop. He suggests them to the owner, but he is stuck in his ways and does not like change. Fortunately, he gives Santiago a job and he ends up proving himself correct. Business was booming as soon as they cleaned the crystal in the window and built a better display case for their products. He befriends the merchant and tells him of his situation, including the dream, the King, and the treasure. Sadly, the merchant breaks the news to Santiago that he would have to work a very long while more if he was to ever have enough money to get to his treasure. He tells him his own life story. He too had a personal legend but chose to stay at his practical job at the shop rather than to follow some dream he once had. Santiago realizes that he is right and decides to save up to buy his sheep back rather than continue his journey. He works for two more months and then decides to leave the crystal shop and head home. As he is packing his things and getting ready to go, he thinks back to what the King of Salem had previously told him. He notices that if he doesn’t find his treasure, he can always go back home. But, if he goes home now, he might not have another chance to go to the Pyramids. “If I don’t find it, I can always go home. I finally have enough money, and all the time I need. Why not?” (65) Santiago chooses to continue his journey even when he was already so convinced he could not do it. The crystal merchant told him that he could not afford it but by the end of his work experience there, he could. Although he did not plan on ever working for this man, he gained a lot of valuable experience through him such as skills about

Following your personal legend Paulo Coelho book is known around the world and is very famous. This book is based on a character known as The Alchemist .He travels with a boy who is a shepherd named Santiago to find his dream. ”It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting” (Coelho 11)He helps him find his personal legend but has to go through a rigid journey first. He begins in his hometown city Andalusian in Spain and ends up traveling all the way to Egypt .

As he travels through the desert he encounters a Horseman then he asks "Who dares read the meaning of the flight of the hawks?" Santiago with no words just bows his head and says "It is I who dare to do so. Many lives will be saved because I was able to see through to the soul of the world." The man in the black slowly lowers his sword and explains to Santiago that he is the Alchemist. One's personal legend, while also staying true to his dreams. After returning to Andalusia, Santiago goes back to the church where he dreamed of the treasure near the pyramids. He digs where he slept, beneath a sycamore tree, and there it is Santiago's treasure. The lesson learned is to embrace the present, be unrealistic, and the main one focus on your own Journey because It’s easy to be influenced by others, but you’ll be miserable if you end up living someone else’s life. There’s nothing wrong with taking advice and learning from others, but make sure it aligns with your desires and passions. As a result, of focusing on your own Journey there's only one way to learn is to always take

Santiago explains his dream of being transported in front of the Egyptian pyramids and being told there would be treasure there. The Gypsy encourages him to follow the instructions and find the treasure, and as such, Santiago obeys whilst travelling towards the pyramids. After months of travelling and meeting different people, Santiago settles at an oasis in the desert. There he meets various peculiarly dressed woman. A friend of his that he met along the way asks the woman if they knew of the alchemist. After a decline, she advises “the boy that he had better not try to converse with women who were dressed in black, because they are married women. He should respect tradition.” Santiago adheres to the land’s traditions and ignores the women dressed in black. After this encounter, the women are seen as guides that give advice to help others. If she would not have done that, Santiago and his would have been in trouble for disrespecting the tradition of the local women. However, because of the advice he is able to maneuver and avoid any sort of

For this summer’s reading assignment, I choose to read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. To be honest, I didn’t choose this book based on the complexity of it, but because it was recommended to me by four of my peers. When I found out the number of pages, I, like any other student who had two weeks left of summer, downloaded the pdf version and started reading. As I began reading, I was instantly intrigued. Within the first 5 pages of the novella I was able to make a spiritual connection that foreshadowed in The Alchemist. I related this book to a movie "Joseph, King of Dreams". Both Joseph and Melchizedek had a destiny.