The Alchemist By Paul Coehlo

The Alchemist Reaction Paper

The novel, The Alchemist by Paul Coehlo, follows around Santiago who's occupation at the time was a shepherd who had a desire to live life to the fullest. The book introduces the readers to Santiago having a nightmare and he is afraid that his nightmare is symbolic of how his life is at its current stage. To further comprehend his dream, Santiago meets with a gypsy who explains to him that he has a quest to find a treasure. Then, he encounters and old man, Melchizedek, who claims to be the King of Salem and encourages Santiago to embark on his Personal Journey to find the treasure. Throughout, the story the protagonist goes through a series of obstacles to search for the meaning behind his life. There are a
However, there are elements in the book such as the Soul Of the World which is the ability that he gains to talk to the wind and the sun that makes the book fictional. Through this fiction, readers are able to learn the conflict going inside Santiago's conscience which was overall, how he wanted to live his life. Personification is the literary element that Coehlo utilizes throughout the book in order to support the fact that Santiago can talk to the elements of the world. The narration personifies the wind in a later section of the book, "The was a proud being, and it was becoming irritated with what the boy was saying." (Coehlo 147) Towards the end of the book, Santiago has a mind-blowing experience when he talks to the wind and the sun about love and the past obstacles he had to overcome to make it to the point where he is close to finding the treasure that will give him direction towards the pursuit of happiness. At the end of the book, Santiago comes to the realization that he himself wanted to see the pyramids and it plays into the moral of the story is that he was heeding his own desires to see the pyramid instead of the quest of finding the treasure. "It's true; life really is generous to those who pursue their Personal Legend, the boy thought," said Santiago, this proves that the overall journey was the accomplishment and not the treasure. (Coehlo 166) Furthermore, The
Some of the characters in the story do not contribute to the Personal Legend that Santiago is journeying on throughout the novel. For example, the Englishman and his character stray away from the main plot as he has his own story with wanting to encounter the alchemist for his own beneficial needs. Coehlo should only focus on Santiago's agenda as there is no need for character development in the insignificant characters such as the Englishman. On the other hand, the alchemist plays a significant role in the story as he is the one that brings Santiago with the reality that enjoying your life is the most important aspect one must achieve in order to be fully satisfied. Overall, Coehlo wrote an excellent novel that personally made learning to pursue my own desires and to not listen to anyone else an enjoyable reading