The Alchemist

The title of the book I chose for the honors book report is “The Alchemist” by Paul Coelho. HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins Publishers published the book. The original book, written in Portuguese, was published in 1988 and the English translation was published in 1993. “The Alchemist” is a book of Science Fiction. Other genres include fantasy, quest, drama, adventure, psychology, etc. The book is 196 pages, 167 pages excluding the author interview. The story takes place Tarifa, Spain, Tangier, North Africa, and the Egyptian pyramids. The central conflict is man vs. self. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Santiago, faces many conflicts such as man vs. nature and man vs. man but the entire novel revolves around Santiago
battling his biggest obstacle, himself. The main characters include Santiago, the protagonist of the story. He was a humble shepherd who loved to read and whose purpose in life was to travel and follow his personal legend. The gypsy, whose name was never specified, lived in Tarifa and interpreted Santiago’s recurring dream and encouraged him to seek the treasure. The old king, Melchizedek was the king of Salem. He told Santiago, where to find his treasure and taught him everything he needed to know about personal legends, prophets, omens, etc. The crystal merchant was a man who employed Santiago during the time that Santiago had no money to travel. The Englishman was someone Santiago met on his way to the Oasis. He was a very smart man who wished to meet the alchemist. Fatima was a nice, young desert woman whom Santiago fell in love with. She encouraged Santiago to follow his personal legend and promised she would wait for him when he returned to the desert. Lastly, the alchemist was a 200-year-old man whom Santiago was destined to meet. He was all-knowing about Personal Legends and greatly understood the Soul of the World. The point of view is third person omniscient. The exposition of the story was when Santiago, the shepherd kept having recurring dreams about a treasure hidden in the Egyptian pyramids.
The rising action was when Santiago met a gypsy in Tarifa who simply told him he needed to go to Egypt and find the treasure. In return for her interpretation, she wanted one-tenth of the treasure if he found it. Santiago then met the old king, Melchizedek. Melchizedek told Santiago all about personal legends and where and when to find the treasure in return for one-tenth of his sheep. Continuing with the rising action, Santiago continued to follow omens. The omens led Santiago to a bar where a young man stole all of his money, leaving Santiago no money to travel. A crystal merchant kindly employed Santiago until he earned enough money to travel across the desert. Santiago’s employment lasted for eleven months and nine days. Reaching the climax, Santiago traveled to the desert where he met the alchemist. The alchemist led Santiago the rest of the way, teaching him valuable lessons about life and personal legends. Nearing the end of their journey, they both get captured by a tribe and the alchemist says that Santiago can turn himself into the wind. This leads Santiago to be one with the Soul of the World. Following the resolution, Santiago and the alchemist get released. The alchemist takes Santiago to a Coptic monastery where he shows Santiago how he turns lead into gold. Afterwards, the alchemist explains that Santiago is now only three
hours from the pyramids and his treasure. He is now on his own. Santiago reaches the pyramids and as he is digging for his gold, he is approached by refugees who beat him up and try to steal whatever he is digging for. They get angry and call him stupid when Santiago tells him about his journey and what he is doing. One of the refugees unintentionally says that he had the same dream once and he was stupid to think it truly existed. In the midst of his story, he tells Santiago, where the treasure actually is. In conclusion, Santiago ends up returning to the abandoned church in Spain, where he used to sleep with his sheep when he was still a shepherd and finds the treasure at the roots of the sycamore. The most critical decision in “The Alchemist” was when Santiago decided to give one-tenth of his sheep to Melchizedek.
At the time, Santiago’s sheep were all he had and supplied him with his money and way of life. For Santiago to give six of his sheep to an old king whom he didn’t know very well was a very brave and risky decision. This decision pushed Santiago forward to follow his personal legend. Without having sold six of his sheep, he would have never learned about personal legends, prophets, and omens as well as learning to speak the universal language and become one with the Soul of the
World. I could not have read this book at any better time in my life. As someone still in high school and trying to figure out what I want in life, this book definitely took a weight off my shoulders and opened my eyes. As I read, I found some insightful and wise words that I even wrote down in a separate journal to look back on. One of my favorite quotes from this book is “It’s a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your Personal Legend. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it’s because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It’s your mission on earth” (Coelho, 22). Not only is this book a great independent read, but it would be great for classroom study.