The Alchemist  by Paulo Coelho                  

Book Review by  Jeffrey Aikens

 

    The tile of this book is called “The Alchemist” written by Paulo Coelho

 

    This book is about life’s trails and tribulations.  Discovering who you are, following your dreams and knowing where your destiny lies.

 

    The narrator of this story is Paulo Coelho.

 

    The story takes place at dusk in an abandoned church in Spain.  A statement from the book lets us know this, “Dusk was falling as the boy arrived with his herd at an abandoned church”.

 

    One of the five conflicts we see in this novel is man vs. fate

 

Character Summary

 

Santiago a major character, his role in the story was a shepherd in search of his destiny.  Santiago a boy, who didn’t like to settle, traveled with his herd of sheep.  Fascinated with the mysterious of life, he wanted to see the world.  Passion and ambition being a big part of his life inspired him to search for treasure in Egypt. Due to his ambition he met people along the way who helped him on his quest.  Some words spoken in this book helps us to understand the character, these word are traveler, omens, courage and dreams.  The boy owning his own herd of sheep traveled and sold them.   Being a great believer of omens he also understood that some things in life are not destined to happen and can be changed with signs from omens. And having the courage to make a sacrifice to follow his dreams was a big step for Santiago, a small price to pay for the wisdom he gained through his journey.  His wisdom allowed him to listen to his heart and because of that the world wasn’t a mystery to him any more. I loved this about the character because this inspired me to listen to my heart and understand what my personal legend is.

 

Melchizedek another major character, his role was a king of Salem in the story, his role also helped inspire Santiago to sell his sheep and follow his dream.  Melchizedek was an old man who was very wise and perceptive; he knew things about other people that weren’t publicly known.  Due to his traits he could help people out and their most desperate time. Some words spoken in this book helps us to understand the character, these words are old, wise and shocking.  Melchizedek, the king of Salem was referred to an old man in the story.  The wisdom his displayed on his understanding of life baffled and shocked people.  He spoke of things that were confidential and controversial.  He’s character doesn’t change at the end of the story because he was more of a symbol of truth then a character flawed. I was very fond of this character because although he spoke of things involved in the story it also had meaning that can be applied in the real world.

 

The Alchemist, the most important character of them all, his role was a key symbol of knowledge in this story.  Although very young the alchemist contained wisdom past his time. He also possessed certain traits that made him as a human being a precious commodity.  A trait he possessed was turning lead into gold.  When Santiago met the Alchemist, the Alchemist helped him decipher the language of the world and helped him understand that we are all connected to soul of the universe.  Some words spoken in this book helps us to understand the character, these words are guide, alchemy, science and code.  In the story the Alchemist severed as a guide for Santiago.  Alchemy something he inherited, he learned the science of it from his father.  However, what made him so special was he’s skill to turn lead into gold.  The way he lived his life and conduct he’s self was by certain code.  The Alchemist in this story does not change as character for he is like an icon.   I loved this character because he represents something I want to obtain a massive amount of, knowledge.

 

Conflict and Plot

One scene that describes major conflict is when Santiago arrived in Africa in place called Tangier where he found a bar and had a drink.  While he was in the bar he met a boy around his age.  The stranger posed a question that intrigued Santiago and the stranger was willing to help him find what he was looking for.  After he was finished, Santiago paid the owner and was on his way out when the owner grabbed his arm and began to talk to him in an angry stream of words.  Santiago wanting to retaliate, at that moment his new friend pushed the owner aside and pulled Santiago outside with him.  At this point Santiago trusted the boy and gave him all his money to buy camels.  They arrived in a big market place and Santiago had momentarily got distracted by a beautiful sword and when he turned around his new friend was gone.

 

Another scene that describes major conflict is when Santiago was crossing the desert with the caravan and being a big believer of omens felt something was wrong and saw evil things in the sand.  When they stopped at an oasis he visited Elders who had armies fighting in tribal wars in that part of the desert.  When he told the men of what he saw they were skeptical at first but believed in their history and found that people who had these certain traits were telling the truth.  With this in mind one of the Elders told Santiago that for every time a man uses his gun to fight off an enemy he would receive a gold piece.  However, if none of his men didn’t use their guns not even one within three days, they would use their guns on Santiago.

 

The greatest tension that leads to the resolution is when Santiago was climbing dunes in the desert in the middle of night in search of his treasure.  After climbing a certain amount of dunes he saw the pyramids and realized he search was over.  He reached a specific spot in the desert and began to cry then he looked down and saw a scarab beetle and knew that was a good omen and began to dig. He was digging most of night until several figures approached him.  Their backs were to the moonlight, and the boy could see neither eyes nor their faces.  They were refuges from the tribal wars.  They began to search his personal belongs, what they found was a piece of gold.  Seeing this they figured Santiago dug it up and they wanted him to keep digging.  Santiago knew he had to do what they said because in one of the Arab eyes the moon light had shown, Santiago saw death.  They made Santiago continue digging, but his capturer found nothing.  As the sun rose, the men began to beat Santiago.  With being bruised and bleeding the boy felt death near.  A man who seemed to be the leader of the group told the other men to leave him because he probably stole the gold.  The leader told Santiago he was going to live and told him not to be so stupid next time.  For the leader had shared one of his dreams he had.  The leader said “Two years ago, right here on this spot, I had a recurrent dream, too.  I dreamed that I should travel to the fields of Spain and look for a ruined church where shepherds and their sheep slept.  In my dream, there was sycamore growing out of the ruins of the sacristy, and I was told that, if I dug at the roots of the sycamore, I would find the hidden treasure”.  Then the group of men walked a way from Santiago.  Still shakily, Santiago heart was bursting with joy because he knew where the treasure was.

 

Theme

 

Santiago arrives back at the abandoned church in Spain.  Instead of having sheep, he had a shovel.  The boy smiled, and continued digging.  Half an hour later, his shovel hit something solid.  An hour later, he had before him a chest of Spanish gold coins.  There were statues embedded with jewels and precious stones.  Santiago seeing this realized that life is generous when you pursue your personal legend.

    The author’s message in this novel is follow your dreams know matter what happens.

 

    This applies to people in general because most people have a dream one time or another.  But as some people get older and reality kicks in, people defer their dream and some sadly never pursue them.

 

    I think this applies to me because I have a dream and one day would like to see it become reality.  I would hate to have regrets at an old age of what could have happened.

 

Personal Opinion

 

    I loved this book because it can inspire someone to follow their dreams and listen to their heart.  And not care what other people think of them.

 

    When I was reading this book I was going through a rough time in my life.  This book lifted my spirits and inspired me to listen to my heart and follow my dreams.  Now I’m focused on achieving it and won’t let anything stop it.

 

    Yes, I would recommend this book to others because it can motivate and inspire people to do well for themselves and the people around them.

 

The background image is taken from

http://hiphopcongress.com/expression/lit/images/coehlo/alchemist.jpg