The Alchemist

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho de Souza often known as Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist,
best known for his novel The Alchemist. Coelho was born on the 24 th August, 1947 in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil. The genre he is comfortable with are Drama and Novel. Coelho has
written and published more than twenty-five books in all, including collections of essays
and newspaper columns, though most are novels. Some of his best-known books are: By
the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Fifth Mountain, Veronika Decides to Die, The
Devil and Miss Prym, Warrior of the Light: A Manual, The Zahir, and Eleven Minutes . He
has received a lot of awards and honors in his writing career including Goldene Feder
Award, Bambi Award, Nielsen Gold Book Award, Nielsen Gold Book Award etc. The
author, now internationally recognized, lives with his wife in Europe and in Rio de
Janeiro.

The Alchemist
The Alchemist is a novel first published in the year 1988. Originally written in Portuguese
by its Brazilian-born author, it has been translated into at least 67 languages as of today.
The original title is O Alquimista. The book features the Genre: Quest, adventure and
fantasy. The book contains 208 pages at its 25 th anniversary edition. An allegorical
novel, The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his
journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there.

Santiago is a young shepherd from Andalusia and is happy about an upcoming trip to a
town where he had been the previous year, as he had met a girl he got infatuated with.
She is the daughter of a merchant who buys wool from him, a man with trust issues who
demands Santiago shear his sheep in front of him in order to avoid any fraud. He sleeps
in an abandoned church, where he has a recurring dream involving the sight of
pyramids. When he explains it to a gypsy woman, she interprets it pretty
straightforwardly, saying that he must indeed travel to Egypt to find a buried treasure.
At first, he is hesitant because he enjoys his life as a shepherd and he had to go against
his parents’ will to pursue it, since they wanted him to become a priest.

He then runs into an old man who is named Melchizedek, who explains the concept of
“Personal Legend,” which is the personal fulfillment everyone is bound to pursue. It is
"what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows
what their Personal Legend is." He tells him he must listen to omens in order to find his
treasure, and he gives him two magic stones, Urim and Thummim, which answer “yes”
and “no” to the questions he can’t find an answer to by himself.

Santiago makes it to Tangier after selling his sheep, but once there, he is robbed of all
his money by a man who had told him he could take him to the pyramids. This doesn't
faze him too much, as he starts working for a crystal merchant, actually bolstering his
employer’s business with his clever ideas. The crystal merchant used to have a Personal
Legend himself—making a pilgrimage to Mecca—, but he gave up on it.

Once Santiago makes enough money, he is unsure what to do. Eleven months have
passed, and he is unsure whether he should return to Andalusia to buy sheep with his
earnings or proceed with his quest. He eventually joins a caravan to travel to the
pyramids. There, he meets a fellow traveler, known as the Englishman, who dabbles in
alchemy. He is headed to the Al-Fayoum oasis to meet an alchemist, as he hopes to
learn how to turn any metal into gold. While traveling in the desert, Santiago learns how
to get in touch with the Soul of the World.

Wars are simmering in the desert, so the caravan remains at the oasis for the time
being. Santiago decides to help the Englishman find the alchemist. Their source of
information is Fatima, a girl he meets as she is collecting water from the well and with
whom he promptly falls in love. He proposes marriage to her, and she consents,
provided that he completes his quest. She is a “desert woman” who can read the
omens, and knows that everybody has to leave before returning.

After venturing out in the desert, Santiago has a vision, courtesy of two hawks attacking
one another, of the oasis being attacked. Attacking an oasis is a violation of the rules of
the desert, so he relates it to the chieftains, but they say that he will have to pay with
his life if the oasis does not end up being attacked. Soon after this vision, he meets a
stranger wearing black garbs sitting atop a white horse who reveals himself to be the
alchemist.

The oasis does get attacked, and thanks to Santiago’s warning, the dwellers are able to
defeat the raiders. This does not go unnoticed by the alchemist who, in turn, decides to
mentor Santiago and to help him reach the pyramids. However, they’re soon captured
by another group of warriors in the desert. The alchemist tells Santiago that, in order to
progress with the trip, he should become the wind.
Being more and more acquainted with the Soul of the World, Santiago concentrates on
the desert and eventually manages to become the wind. This scares the captors, who
promptly free both him and the alchemist.

They make it to a monastery, where the alchemist turns some lead into gold and divides
it. His journey stops here, as he has to return to the oasis, but Santiago proceeds, and
eventually reaches the pyramids. He starts digging in the place he dreamt about finding
his treasure, but is ambushed by raiders and takes a severe beating. One of the raiders,
upon inquiring about what Santiago was doing there, derides him for his dream,
mentioning that he had a dream about a treasure buried by an abandoned church in
Spain, and that he was not stupid enough to pursue it.

This gives Santiago the answer he was looking for. Once he returns to the church in
Spain, he promptly digs up the treasure, remembers he owes a fraction of it to the gypsy
woman, and decides to reunite with Fatima.

This story is inspired by the writer’s own life realization. His life's major turning point
occurred when Coelho met a stranger in an Amsterdam café who told him to make the
traditional Roman Catholic pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.
Coelho did so in 1986. As a result, he experienced an epiphany that readers of The
Alchemist will recognize: He decided to follow his dream. Coelho set out to become a
writer, the same way Santiago set out to follow his dream.

Character development
Santiago - An adventurous young Andalusian shepherd determined to fulfill his Personal
Legend, which is to find a treasure at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. He is the book's
protagonist.
The Alchemist - A 200-year-old, extremely powerful alchemist residing in the Al-Fayoum
Oasis. He dresses in black, rides a white horse, and carries a scimitar, the Philosopher’s
Stone, and the Elixir of Life. He often speaks cryptically, but he understands the Soul of
the World and the importance of Personal Legends.
Crystal Merchant - A struggling merchant who owns a crystal shop on top of a desolate
hill. His shop was once popular but lost much of its business as Tangier lost its status as
Egypt’s premiere port town. He is a good-hearted, devout Muslim, but has a crippling
fear of change.
Englishman - A well-educated science student determined to learn the secrets of
alchemy by learning from a true alchemist. He is a skeptic and loves reading his books.
Melchizedek - The King of Salem. He appears to possess magical powers and helps those
pursuing their Personal Legends.
Fatima - A beautiful and chaste young "desert woman" who lives at the Al-Fayoum
Oasis. She understands that she must allow Santiago to travel in pursuit of his dream.
Gypsy - An old woman living in Tarifa who interprets dreams. She reads palms and uses
black-magic iconography, but she also keeps images of Christ.
Camel Driver - A friendly former orchard owner and devout Muslim who feels content
with his life despite losing his orchard in a flood. He has made the pilgrimage to Mecca
and lives his life in service of omens from God.
The Tribal Chieftain of Al-Fayoum - A strict and ruthless tribal chieftain who lives in
luxury. He enforces Al-Fayoum's status as a neutral ground and believes in dreams and
omens.
Merchant’s daughter - The beautiful and intelligent raven-haired daughter of the
merchant who buys wool from Santiago.
The Monk - A welcoming Coptic monk living in a monastery near the pyramids of Egypt.
Merchant - A merchant who buys wool from Santiago on a yearly basis. He worries
about being cheated so he demands that any wool he buys be sheared from the sheep
in his presence.
Santiago's father - A kindly, unadventurous family man who hoped Santiago would
become a priest but gives him his blessing to become a shepherd.

In Conclusion, understanding the omens that come our way is the most important in the
pursuit of our personal legend. Moreover, appreciating those that come our way with
honesty is key in shaping their association with us that protects us in pursuit of our
Personal Legend. It facilitates the transition from one event to another that ensures that
the benefits of the treasure can be passed back to those that made it possible to
achieve our Personal Legend.

The hidden lesson of the book can be quoted from an amazing line of the very book-
‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’.