The Alchemist (novel)

For similarly-named works, see Alchemist.

The Alchemist

File:The Alchemist.jpg The cover of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
Author	Paulo Coelho
Original title	O Alquimista
Translator	Alan R. Clarke
Language	Portuguese
Genre	Novel
Publisher	HarperTorch (Eng. trans)
Publication date	1988
Publication place	Brazil
Published in English	1993
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	167 pp (first English edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0062502174 (first English edition, hardback)

The Alchemist (Template:Lang-pt) is a bestseller that was first published in Brazil in 1988 and is the most famous work of author Paulo Coelho. It is a symbolic story that urges its readers to follow their dreams.

Originally published in 1988, The Alchemist has been translated into 56 languages, and has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, and is one of the best selling books in history.

Plot summary

Santiago, the protagonist, grows up with poor parents who struggled their whole lives to send him to seminary. But Santiago has a strong desire to travel the world, and so his father gives him three ancient Spanish coins to buy a flock of sheep.

As a shepherd, he spends several years traveling the countryside of Andalusia in southern Spain, enjoying the care-free and adventurous life of a wanderer. As the story begins, we learn that a year ago Santiago met the beautiful daughter of a merchant in a town he is soon to revisit. Even though he spent only a few hours talking with this girl, his strong feelings for her make him question his life as a shepherd and make him consider the merits of a more settled life. He sleeps in a church where a sycamore tree grew where the sacristy once was (refer to end).

When he arrives in the Tarifa, the port before the town where the girl lives, he first decides to go to a gypsy fortune-teller to help him decipher a recurring dream that he had been having. Santiago dreamt twice that a child is playing with his sheep and then takes him by the hand and brings him to the Pyramids of Egypt to show him the location of a hidden treasure. But Santiago always wakes up just before the child is going to reveal to him the exact location of the treasure. The gypsy says that he has to go because if it is a child that tells, it exists.

At first, the boy does not mind what the gypsy says, but when an old man, who calls himself Melchizedeck, the king of Salem, tells him that it is his Personal Legend or his purpose to live, he is interested. Melchizedeck tells him a wonderful story about a man who found true happiness by fulfilling his Personal Legend. The king gives the boy two stones, Urim and Thurim, one black and the other white, the black meaning "yes" and the white "no". These, he says, are for making decisions, although it is best to make them himself. Santiago decides to travel to Africa. He sells his sheep and goes to Tangier, a port in Africa near Spain. But in Tangier, he is robbed. Losing hope, he decides to walk about the city; up in a hill, and finds a crystal shop. When the boy enters the shop, he cleans the dusty crystal glasses in exchange for some food to eat. As he is cleaning two customers enter the store and buy some crystal glasses. The Arab merchant says that it is a good omen, as business had declined and the boy had attracted two customers, and hires the boy. Santiago learns that every person's fate is written, and that there is a Language of the World (unspoken) learned partly by his dealings with his sheep.

After almost a year, the boy decides to leave the crystal shop since he has enough money to buy a flock of sheep twice the size of the one he had before, and since he has since learned Arabic, can sell to Arabic merchants too. But he never buys a single sheep. He decides to fulfill his personal legend - to find his treasure.

He joins a caravan going to the desert where the Pyramids are found. In the caravan, the boy meets an Englishman who for ten years has searched for true alchemists. The Englishman has many books on alchemy that are unusual to the boy. In the caravan, he learns the language of the desert and the Soul of the World.

As the caravan rolls on toward the oasis, the two people in the caravan decide to learn from one another. As the Englishman attempts to observe the desert and learn its language, Santiago reads the Englishman's books and learns about alchemy. The Englishman tells him that the goal of alchemists is to purify metal by heating it for many years until all its individual properties are burned. After a while, Santiago stops reading and returns the books to the Englishman, and each tells the other he is not able to learn anything. Santiago concludes everyone has his or her own way of learning things.

When it arrives in the oasis, the caravan is welcomed and told that it will not be permitted to proceed further because of tribal wars. There is an Alchemist watching the caravan enter and thinks that the omens had told him his disciple was arriving with this caravan. Santiago helps the Englishman look for the alchemist. He meets a desert woman named Fatima who tells the group where the alchemist lives. The boy falls in love with Fatima's at first sight, and tells her that he loves her and wants her to be his wife. The Alchemist's disciple turns out to be Santiago.

Santiago meets the alchemist after averting a threat of tribal attack on the oasis through a vision he has while watching the flight of two hawks. The alchemist tells the boy that he will never be happy unless he fulfills his Personal Legend. Reluctant to leave the oasis because of his love for the desert girl Fatima, Santiago tells the alchemist that he wants to stay there, accepting the new role of councilor which was offered to him by the chieftain when Santiago saved the oasis by anticipating the nontraditional attack of the tribes. But the alchemist warns Santiago that in the future he would lose his ability to see omens because he stopped listening to the omens that told him to find his treasure and fulfill his Personal Legend. As a result he would lose his position as the councilor and he would regret not pursuing his destiny of finding his treasure.

Eventually, Santiago decides to leave the oasis with the Alchemist in pursuit of his treasure. While traveling through the desert, the boy learns from the Alchemist. He learns that each person who fulfills his personal legend enhances the Soul of the World, and that the world is just here to show God's glory. The alchemist also tells the boy to listen to his heart and understand it so it will not betray him. Santiago and his heart become friends, and Santiago's heart returns to the Soul of the World. Thus, allowing Santiago to understand the Language of the World.

Santiago and the alchemist are captured along the way by one of the warring tribes. The alchemist tells the chief that they have brought money to give to him. The money is accepted without question as it can buy many arms; the alchemist then declares that Santiago is a powerful alchemist and can turn himself into the wind and destroy the military encampment if he wants to. The leader demands to see this; the Alchemist then asks for three days preparation and if they fail he offers their lives. The chief accepts, but tells them they cannot offer their lives as they already belong to him. This is the ultimate test of Santiago's knowledge of alchemy. On the third day, Santiago leads the group to the top of a cliff and tells them that the action will take a while.

Using his knowledge of the Language of the World that he learned from his heart on his journey, Santiago talks to the desert, and teaches it about love, and eventually the desert allows Santiago to use his sands, saying that he would also need the wind to blow them. Santiago turns to the wind, and tells it that it hasn't met its full limits. The wind, curious about what it could do, strikes up a conversation about love with the boy. The wind does not know how to transform Santiago into wind, and suggests the boy talk to the heavens (the sun). The boy tells the wind that it must blow the sands so he will not be blinded when looking at the sun. The boy proceeds to talk to the sun, and after the sun tells him that although he is wise, he doesn't know how to turn Santiago into the wind. The wind, overjoyed that he knows that the sun has its limits, blows even harder.

The "Simum," the sandstorm that results, almost destroys the camp. Two commanders with the chief are fearful and tell him that they should stop this. The chief replies that he wishes to see the greatness of Allah and makes a mental note to remove the two from command as true desert men are not afraid. Santiago is told to talk to the hand that wrote all. The boy turns to the hand that wrote all, as he does so the universe falls silent, he decides to pray. Through his prayer he reaches into the Soul of the World; and sees that the Soul of the World, the Soul of God, and his own soul are all one. Santiago then turns himself into the wind and moves off the cliff to the far side of the camp, he does this as the Soul of God can perform miracles and his soul is the same as the Soul of God.

After turning himself to wind, Santiago and the alchemist travel on to the pyramids with an escort party provided by the general-chief. They stop at a coptic monastery, and the alchemist tells the escort party to return to their camp. There he meets a monk and they talk in the Coptic tongue. The monk invites them in. In the kitchen, the alchemist shows Santiago a demonstration of turning a pot of lead into gold. The alchemist divides the gold into four quarters and gives the monk one of the pieces for his generosity and hospitality. He gives a piece to Santiago, and one for him to return to the oasis. He gives the final piece to the monk for Santiago in case he ever needs it. Santiago and the alchemist talk after they leave the monastery, the Alchemist tells him a story of everybody plays a role in the history of the world. They separate three hours from the pyramids. Santiago's heart tells him that he should dig for his treasure where he weeps after getting to the pyramids of joy.

When Santiago arrives at the pyramids he falls to his knees and cries, where his tears have fallen he sees a Scarab Beetle digging in the sand, an omen. Santiago starts digging in the sand but finds nothing, thieves come and steal his gold and beat him up. Santiago gives up hope, but the robber tells him that he is stupid to have traveled so far. He then tells the boy of a recurring dream in which he had seen a treasure in an abandoned church where shepherds and their sheep slept, hidden under a sycamore tree growing where the sacristy once was. Santiago, who slept in this very same church at the beginning of his adventures, goes back to the monk to get money for the return trip and finds the treasure, a chest of Spanish gold coins. He laughs at the strange way God had chosen to show him his treasure.

Character List

• Santiago - the main protagonist character of the novel. He is mature despite his age, gives up shepherding and travels away from his home country to find a treasure.
• Gypsy Fortune-Teller - A gypsy who interprets Santiago's dreams of a treasure, and tells Santiago to find it. She incites Santiago's resulting journey to his treasure, and procures a tenth of the treasure from Santiago.
• Merchant's Daughter - Santiago's first love. Met her when he went to shear his sheep.forgot about her when he went on his quest to Africa.
• Melchizedek (The Old King) - A presumed king of the city of Salem, he gives advice to Santiago to fulfill his personal legend. (Tag name refers to kings in religious texts)
• Crystal Merchant - A man in Tangier who hires Santiago to work in his crystal shop and in result, prospers as his shop grows. He pays Santiago the money to travel to the oasis, Al Faiyum.
• Englishman - A man struggling to learn the ways of alchemy and trying to accomplish the Master Work. He spends much time reading and studying about the Master Work, but does not actually physically try until meeting the alchemist in Al Faiyum.
• Fatima - Santiago's second love in the oasis, Al Faiyum. She persuades Santiago to find his treasure before returning to her, and until then, she told Santiago she would wait for his return.
• General-Chief - Chief of one of the most powerful warring tribes in the Sahara. He captures Santiago and the alchemist, and demands to see Santiago turn himself into the wind.
• The Alchemist - an old alchemist who guides Santiago in his journey to find his treasure and a teacher to Santiago of the art of alchemy.
• Robber at Egyptian Pyramids - A robber who takes Santiago's money and beats Santiago for more. When Santiago tells him that he is looking for treasure, the robber unintentionally tells of a dream that reveals where the real treasure is. then a crazy monster pops out the ground and eats him.

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Themes

Fate Vs. Will

Fate is constantly intertwined with will, and a key theme of the book focuses on how much in life is under one's control, and how much is controlled by fate. The old king states that the world's greatest lie is that "at some point during our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate." While this point of view strongly supports that will has a stronger hold on one's destiny, later events, such as Santiago and the alchemist being caught by warring tribes, demonstrate fate's hold on one's life. However, in every situation where fate does take over, the characters are capable to excavate themselves from the situation. For, instance, after being caught by the tribal chief, Santiago is able to turn himself into the wind, demonstrate his power, and is released.

Love

Love is described as a part of the Soul of the World. Love occurs in life and Nature, as everything supports each other, they love each other. Santiago tells the desert that it shows love for the alchemist's falcon by offering it game, after which the falcon shows love to man as it offers the game to eat, and the man shows love for the desert as after one dies, his body is reintegrated into the desert sands. There is also love in people, demonstrated by Santiago's love of Fatima's beauty, and Santiago's knowing that it is part of his Personal Legend to love her. Also, there is true love, a brief definition given by the alchemist; "True love is love that allows you to reach your Personal Legend."

Controlled Luck

The theme of controlled luck is prominent in this book, as the old king and the alchemist both tell Santiago about how if one really wants to fulfill his/her Personal Legend, the whole universe will conspire to help make it happen. Coelho refers to this as the idea of "beginner's luck", or the concept of favorability. Santiago is blessed with beginner's luck, when he decides to go to Africa. He manages to sell all of his sheep very easily, and is given "a taste of success" that whets the appetite to fulfill one's Personal Legend.

Spiritual Enlightenment

In The Alchemist, a kind of spiritual enlightenment is accomplished by fulfilling one's Personal Legend, and adding to the Soul of the World, which is the "light" of most religions (as described in Coelho's Beliefnet Interview). The spiritual influence of this book is omniscient, for example in Santiago's "turning himself into the wind" stunt. He learns the Language of the World, which is basically the language of the Soul of the World. As the Soul of the World is related to the Soul of God, Santiago is able to perform miracles after he has reached into the Soul of the World.

Motifs

Omens

Being able to observe and read omens is a key motif throughout the book. Santiago recognizes the hole in his pouch in which Urim and Thummin fell out of in Tangier as an omen, as he had promised the old king that he would make his own decisions, not let the stones do it for him. The crystal merchant of Tangier recognizes Santiago's presence in the shop as an omen, as two customers came into the shop as he was cleaning the crystals for the merchant. Santiago later finds that going to the desert was a good omen, as he was able to meet Fatima, his love. Santiago reads omens in the flight of two hawks and has a premonition of an attack on the oasis as he is in the Sahara Desert. Omens play a key role in the unraveling of Santiago's fate.

Personal Legends

The Personal Legend is a being's reason to live. Everything in the world has a Personal Legend, and by reaching one's Personal Legend, they add to the Soul of the World, the purity of the world. The boy's Personal Legend is obvious, to find his treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. The alchemist fulfilled his Personal Legend, to become a true alchemist and accomplish the Master Work. The crystal merchant's Personal Legend is to visit Mecca, and the Tarifa baker's Personal Legend was to travel the world. The Personal Legend of a person surfaces at childhood, and one can never find true happiness without fulfilling it. The Personal Legend of Santiago drives him to his treasure, as he chose to accomplish his Personal Legend, and the alchemist to become the most famed alchemist in the world. While others like the Tarifa baker and the crystal merchant, choose to ignore the Personal Legend, and thus shape their life to be forever wanting. The Alchemist

Symbols

The Elixir of Life/Philosopher's Stone

The two alchemy objects are physical representations of the Soul of the World, the Master Work, which is the result of completely purifying metals. The Philosopher's Stone, being completely pure and powerful as the Soul of the World, has the property of turning metals into gold, the most advanced ("evolved") and purest of all metals. The Elixir of Life cures all illnesses and gives immortality. These objects represent the purity in the world, and in people trying to reach their Personal Legend.

Similarities with other works

The plot draws largely from an English legend, "The Pedlar of Swaffham", which has been also used by Leo Perutz in "By Night under the Stone Bridge" and Borges' Tale of Two Dreamers, collected in Universal History of Infamy, according to Critic Neerav Bhatt..

An even earlier possible source is in the work of the 13th century Persian poet Jalal al-Din Rumi, who in one of the stories of his Mathanawi (written between 1260 and 1273) tells an almost identical tale. In a modern translation the story (told in verse) is titled "In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo: In Cairo, Dreaming of Baghdad". (The Essential Rumi, transl. Coleman Barks, New York: HarperCollins, 1995) In it, a poor man in Baghdad who inherits a lot of money and land only to squander it quickly and become poor again has a dream, in which a voice tells him to go to Cairo and dig in a certain spot to find his wealth. When he gets there, while wandering the streets and begging for coins he is picked up by a night patrol. When he tells his story to the patrolman, the latter calls him a fool and tells him of a similar dream (which he had dismissed) about a place in Baghdad, describing the very street and house in which the poor man lives.

Many have compared The Alchemist to Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, a children's book about another boy, the Prince, who leaves his home in search of greater things, learning valuable lessons about life and love on the way. It is interesting to note that much of The Little Prince also takes place in the desert.

There are many parallels to Siddhartha's journey in Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. They both develop a spiritual aspect being alone early in life. Later, just like Siddhartha on his journey, Santiago has to become a business man; his ideas succeed in making him wealthy, but he is apart from the business of business. The Alchemist parallels the boatman in Siddhartha, who, after transporting Siddhartha across the river, sends him on his way to follow his destiny, knowing he will return. The love story develops and ends differently; Santiago has a different Personal Legend in that aspect. Both are "spiral" stories with the same places visited more than once.

Some have also compared and contrasted this story and the journey of Santiago to the Biblical account of the Prodigal Son.

Style

The style of writing is simplistic, with correlations to that of The Little Prince, fairy tales, or spiritual writings. The novels is narrated by an omniscient narrator and the diction is related to stories/tales from the Qu'ran, the Bible, and Egyptian mythology.

Literary Significance

The Alchemist was #94 on "The BBC Most Read Top 100" List in a survey conducted in April 2003.

Translations

Originally written in Portuguese, it has, as of 2004, been translated into fifty-six languages, and has sold more than 40 million copies in more than 150 countries, making it one of the best selling books of all time.

In China & Australia it has gained particular success. The Herald Sun listed it as one of the five most commonly stolen books from Melbourne's book shops.

In the foreword, Coelho explains that this is a symbolic version of his experience described in The Pilgrimage.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

A motion picture version has been in development at Warner Bros. since 2003, with Robert Schwartz and Stephen Storer producing, as a vehicle for Laurence Fishburne, although Coelho has stated on his website that he has tried to buy back the rights to the film for the sum of $5 million.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Laurence Fishburne and indie production company A-Mark Entertainment have bought the rights to make a movie version of the novel, with Fishburne set to direct. Since 2003 the adaptation had been set up at Warner Bros., as a vehicle for Fishburne (who also wrote the script), but the project had stalled. Coelho's novel, about a world-traveling Spaniard who seeks Egyptian treasure but eventually finds spiritual enlightenment, is an international best-seller; the new filmmakers are said to be envisioning their project as an adventure film — Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones.

In his "To Die Alive is to Take Risks" interview with Beliefnet, Coelho states that people often go to the movies, and after watching it, say that the book is much better. He reasons that people make the clearest film in their minds.

The English audio book version is read by actor Jeremy Irons.

References

• Coelho, Paulo (1993). The Alchemist (Reissue edition ed.). Australia: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-062-50218-2. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

External links

• The Alchemist Movie Website
• Paulo Coelho's Official Site
• Paulo Coelho's Blog
• Book Review on The Alchemist
• Paulo Coelho Fan Site
• Quotes by Paulo Coelho
• Study Guide for The Alchemist
• Book Review The Alchemist