The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

It is a waste of time to read “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho, if the question of which part of the story suggests the title “The Alchemist” remains obscure. Many people have read this book. However, most of them don’t know why the title of this novel is “The Alchemist.” Although there is no specific reason about why the title is “The Alchemist” in the story, the novel is entitled “The Alchemist” because Coelho thinks that the life of Santiago, the main character, is similar to that of the alchemist, a character in the story.
Santiago studies how to become an alchemist in the story. An alchemist is a person who uses alchemy: “a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life (Merriam-webster.com, 2017).” In the story, Santiago sees the alchemist use the Philosopher’s Stone to convert lead into gold. He learns what an alchemist does from the alchemist. That’s why the title is “The Alchemist.”
At first the alchemist knew how to change into the wind, but Santiago did not. However, after the conversations with desert, wind, sun and the hand who wrote all, finally, Santiago understands everything in the world, “‘This is why alchemy exists,’ the boy said. ‘So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold (Coelho, 1988, pg. 104),’” and he changes into the wind. Also, Santiago is able to read his omen, like all alchemists do. He does many things that only alchemists can do, so he gets closer to become an alchemist. Therefore, the title of this novel is “The