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The Alchemist
General Question
Summary of the novel
About the author Paulo Coelho D'Souza born on 24 August 1947 is a Brazilian novelist and member of Brazilian Academy of letters since 2002 his novel The Alchemist become an International best seller and he has published 228 more books after that.
He attended school at the age of 17 his parents sent him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20. Later on he rolled in law school and abandoned his dream of becoming a writer one year later he dropped out and lived his life as a hippie travelling through South America North, America, Mexico and Europe and started using drugs later on.
Paulo Coelho
married an artist Christiana 1980 and in 1986 Coelho walked 500 Mile road of
Santiago De compostela in Northern western part of Spain on the Path he had a
spiritual awakening which he described autobiography in pilgrimage after that
he brought The Alchemist and it was translated into 28 different languages and
becomes was best seller book.
Introduction The Alchemist novel by Paulo Coelho
which was first published in 1988 originally in Portuguese language letter on
translated into 28 different languages. Hamish Hamilton translated this novel
into English language in 1993 and after that it become one of the best seller
internationally.
The story of
this novel revolves around a boy named Santiago who had a dream of having
Treasure in the ruined church so he decided to travel to Egyptian pyramid for
the Treasure in between the journey He met many people including Malchizedek
who advised him, a crystal shop owner whom which San Diego worked to gain his
money back and an English man who in the search of Alchemist who can turn
anything into gold, Fatima with whom he fell in love and decided to stay
forever with her but she encouraged him to pursue his dream of having a
Treasure the boy then Encounters a wise man The Alchemist who teaches him to realize
His true self together there is a journey through the desert in which a war is
going on at the end of the story Santiago reached to the pyramids of Egypt. We
will find out what happened in the summary.
Important characters
(1) Santiago= He is
a shepherd boy who is passionate about travelling and sets out of quest for
treasure. He met love of his life Fatima in oasis into and decided to stay
there forever but Fatima encouraged him to pursue his personal Legend in the
journey Santiago encountered many different characters and finally made his
journey to the Egyptian pyramids.
(2) The Alchemist=
The title character of the story of The Alchemist met Santiago in the oasis. He
is an old man and mentor for Santiago for his remaining journey he knows All
The Alchemy skills and shows Santiago how would have the skills be in real life
lessons and also teaches him that Santiago can learn all this Alchemist skills
by just listening to his heart.
(3) Malchizedek= A
wise man who meet's Santiago at the beginning of the his journey when the
fortune teller Gypsy woman told about the Treasure but he is not convinced to
pursue it until he meets Malchizedeck who is also the king of Salem who
consider himself as a saint who appears to people at the moment when they are
giving up on their dreams and help them.
(4) Fatima= Santiago`s
love interest Fatima is a girl living in a desert Oasis. As a desert woman she
a stoic and steadfast. The love between Santiago and Fatima is sincere and true
but also involves fate. Fatima believes in letting her love free and encourages
him to pursue his dream.
(5) The English man= A British man who has come to
Northern Africa in search of Alchemist he studied Alchemy from books but he
wishes to complete the master work which that is the production of Philosopher's
Stone and Elixir of life. He and Santiago had developed companionship through
the desert journey despite they are totally different personalities.
(6) The Crystal merchant= When Santiago arrives in Morocco he
is being looted and lost his all money so he had to work for a crystal Merchant
in a shop. Crystal merchant is someone who is against the change because of
fear he is not pursuing his dream of visiting Mecca once. He is exactly the
opposite kind of person from Santiago.
(7)The fortuneteller A Gypsy woman whom Santiago meets at
the beginning of the novel. She interpret Santiago's dream about Egyptian
Pyramids as he will find Treasure near the pyramids.
Summary of the Novel The protagonist of the story
Santiago who is the shepherd boy from South of Spain particularly Andalusia
Terrain who wants to travel the world but his parents want him to be a priest
in a church. However Santiago persists to travel so at that time only shepherds
and wealthy men travel so he decided to buy some seep and travel in Spain. Once
while travelling he was resting in a abandon the church and he had a dream that
a boy was guiding him to the Egyptian pyramid the very next day we went to
Gypsy woman who is a fortune teller and she interpreted his dream that he find
a Treasure near the Egyptian Pyramids, initially he did not believe this but he
met Malchizedeck who is the king of Salem and he is the kind of person who
appears when someone giving up on their dreams. He advised Santiago to pursue
his dream and he interprets it as an Omen by God and decided to travel all the
way to the pyramids to find the treasure.
After
arriving in Morocco Santiago was being looted by someone who is promising him
that he will help him to cross the Sahara desert. As Santiago doesn't have
money He met a crystal shop owner and worked for him to make money so he can
travel further. The crystal shop owner is someone who does not like change,
totally opposite from Santiago. He wants to go to holy place of Mecca but
having a fear of accomplishing dream and leaving behind his shop stops him. After
sometime Santiago left shop and met English man who is in search of The
Alchemist, he studied Alchemy in books and wants to complete the master work of
finding the Philosopher's Stone and Elixir of life. They both Begin a journey
in Sahara desert and become companions although they are very different
persons, English man who is bookish person on the other side Santiago who is
fun loving and very observing person.
Santiago met
love of his life, Fatima at the oasis and fell in love with her at first sight,
he told her about the dream of the Treasure but he decided to stay forever with
her at Oasis. However Fatima convinced him to continue his journey and follow
his personal Legend. Fatima and Santiago have faith in the relationship so he
travelled further to pursue his dream of having a Treasure at Egypt pyramids.
Santiago
continued his journey with a wise man The Alchemist who promised him to help to
him to reach the Treasure but there is a tribal war going on in the desert
because of this they are facing many problems and in the desert they also
losing their hope. At one point The Alchemist teaches him how to convert
himself into desert sand by teaching him this he unconsciously got him to be
involved in their surroundings. At the last they finally reached to Egptian
pyramid and Santiago started digging a hole as a per the dream but he find
nothing, while digging some people were passing by and Santiago told him about
his dream however one of the people who also had a dream of treasure but at the
church although they never traveled to the church. At this moment Santiago
realized that the Treasure is not near payments but the abandoned church so he
traveled all the way back to the church and found the Treasure. As their
promise to Fatima that he will come back and they would spend the rest of his
life so he went back to Oasis and lived happily with Fatima.
As the conclusion of this novel, our
life`s Treasure lies in what we are, where ever we are but we just have to make
journey to get it like Santiago.
Extra Questions(Themes)
(1) The Pursuit of Your Personal
Legend
The most prominent theme in The Alchemist is the idea
that each person has a "Personal Legend"-a type of ideal fate or
destiny-and that each person can chose whether or not to pursue that legend. At
the beginning of the novel, the protagonist Santiago is launched on a quest for
his treasure-his Personal Legend-through his encounter with Melchizedek, a wise
old man. Melchizedek is a Biblical figure, but in the context of the novel...
read analysis of The Pursuit of Your Personal Legend.
"Maktub" is a phrase first
used by the crystal merchant who employs Santiago, and later it is adopted by
other characters, including Santiago, the camel driver, and Fatima.. The phrase
means, "It is written," and it is used by these characters to express
their conviction that some things are "meant to be." Rather than
having faith in a God with a changeable will, these characters believe in a
steadfast, universal plan behind... read analysis of Maktub and What is Meant
to Be.
The idea that each person has a
"Personal Legend"-a type of ideal fate or destiny-and that each
person can chose whether or not to pursue that legend. At the beginning of the
novel, the protagonist Santiago is launched on a quest for his treasure-his
Personal Legend-through his encounter with Melchizedek, a wise old man.
Melchizedek is a Biblical figure, but in the context of the novel, he says that
he appears at critical moments when a person might be giving up on pursuing his
or her Personal Legend. Melchizedek explains to Santiago that all people know
their Personal Legend in their youth, but they forget this Legend as they age
because they are blinded and blocked by fear, anxiety, and other worldly
concerns. Sometimes even good things, such as love, get in the way of a person
pursuing a Personal Legend, as almost happens to Santiago when he considers
staying permanently with Fatima in the desert oasis.
The story strongly suggests that
although the choice to pursue the Legend is entirely up to the individual, the
outcome is always better when the Legend is achieved. Yet as Santiago realizes
near the end of the novel, this life improvement comes not so much from the
simple achievement of the Legend, but instead from the purpose and engagement
that pursuit of the Legend gives to one's everyday life. As it turns out,
Santiago was physically close to his treasure from the start, but his journey
to reach the treasure was lengthy in both time and distance. Without the
journey, however, Santiago. would not have learned all that he did, met the
people he met, or fallen in love. Santiago also realizes that to die while in
pursuit of one's Personal Legend alleviates the horror of death. There is
"rightness" to being on the course to one's Legend, even though the
journey is not easy. The book argues that choosing to pursue one's Personal
Legend is the most important choice each human gets to make.
(2) The Interconnectedness of All
Things
After Santiago
arrives in the desert during his pursuit of his Personal Legend, he begins. to
realize that there is a universal language spoken by all humans, animals, and
objects. He learns to speak to the sun and the wind by listening to the desert
and by listening to his heart, which can speak the Language of the World. This
Language allows him to access "The Soul of The World," which is a
God-like... read analysis of The Interconnectedness of All Things.
Santiago feels a great sense of unity
with other people, places, and objects he encounters on his quest, and his
ability to access this feeling of unity allows him to learn about the world.
For example, the alchemist challenges Santiago to find life in the desert, and
Santiago realizes that he does not need advanced skills to do this. He realizes
that the interconnectedness of all things allows his horse to be aware of the
world, and that life attracts life. He lets his horse lead him to rocks where a
snake lives.
The alchemist, an unsurprisingly
important figure in the novel given its title, nevertheless does not teach
Santiago the literal practices of alchemy in which metals are processed and
transformed into gold. But he does help Santiago see that the processes of
alchemy, such as purifying and simplifying or observing something to learn from
it, are applicable to all of life. For example, Santiago learns from the
alchemist that studying the world will teach him everything he needs to know,
just as studying the Englishman's texts might have taught him the particulars
of alchemy. Because of the interconnectedness of all things, the world itself
is a great teacher. Any one thing, no matter how small, allows access to the
entirety of creation. A metal can access and become gold because of this
oneness, and Santiago can transform himself into the wind
(3) Maktub and What is Meant to Be
Maktub can also be a confusing word,
however, as it includes both change and permanence. Santiago foresees the
future-an invasion of the oasis-and he is able to intervene and prevent this
outcome. This implies that the future is not completely settled or
"written" in a way that is unchangeable-but once Santiago understands
that all things are "written," he is able to speak the Language of
the World. This is because everything, including the future, is indeed
pre-written. This knowledge helps Santiago to learn how to turn himself into
the wind when he needs to impress and escape from the desert tribesmen who take
him and the alchemist captive. While this ability to have complete knowledge
may seem contradictory to the ability to change the future, the book argues
that the world (in which all things are interconnected) is certain, as is one's
destiny, and yet any individual can choose to pursue that destiny or not. The
novel also suggests that when one is on that course of pursuing destiny, all
knowledge is available. When one is not on that course, however, one's life is
not fulfilled. One's destiny exists (in the sense that it is written and meant
to be), but it is not always realized.
(4) Urim and Thummim
Urim and Thummim are fortune-telling stones that Melchizedek
gives to Santiago. The stones are black and white, with their colors
representing "yes" and "no" answers to questions-so
Melchizedek tells Santiago that he must only ask objective questions of the
stones. Because of this, Urim and Thummim symbolize certainty and objective
knowledge. This type of certainty, however, is ultimately presented as less
valuable than the opportunity to learn from the world and to make one's own
choices. Santiago carries the stones with him throughout the novel, but never
uses them, having promised to "make his own decisions." The constant
presence of Urim and Thummim thus also represents the human desire to give up
control and decision-making ability.
The greatest lie in the world, as stated
by Melchizedek, is that humans don't control their fates. Although Melchizedek
is the one who offers the stones to Santiago, they also symbolize the very
thing that he says Santiago should avoid: trusting in anything other than
himself to make a decision.
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