Book Summary
Book Summary : The Alchemist
A walkthrough through this beautiful piece by Pablo Coelho
Authored by Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist is a simple read with very powerful emotions and philosophies portrayed by the characters of the novel.
More than the literature aspect of the book, it resembles a self-help masterpiece. The main philosophy behind the book is clearly stated multiple times throughout the text, “When you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true”. The entire story revolves around this motto.
The story is about a shepherd boy named Santiago, who sees recurring dreams about finding a treasure in or around church ruins. The last time he saw this dream was in the old church where he was resting with his sheep. He gets curious about that dream and decided to consult a fortune-teller to enquire about it, who interprets the ruins to be the pyramids of Egypt. The novel also puts light on the romantic mood of the protagonist, toward the merchant’s daughter, who purchases the wool from him regularly. He visualizes how the daughter must have been waiting for him and how he will ask her to marry him. But his Personal Legend had some other plans for him altogether. The word Personal Legend is introduced to him by the old king he met on his way, who claims to possess some magical powers. He also promised to help Santiago find his Personal Legend and instructed him to sell his sheep to gather funds to travel to Egypt. The old king also gives Santiago two stones, Urim and Thummim, with which he can decide between a good and bad omen (event). Santiago decides to follow the uncanny king.
On his way to Egypt, he was cheated and robbed by a man and he lost all the money he gathered by selling his sheep. The devastated protagonist then met the crystal merchant, whose shop was not in good financial standing. Santiago advised him some changes to the shop to increase his income in exchange for a job. He then works with the crystal merchant for the next eleven months, helping him improve his business and also collecting some money for the next part of the journey. He finally decides to cross the Sahara to reach the pyramids.
He meets an Englishmen in the caravan going toward Egypt who has a very strong desire to meet The Alchemist across the desert and learn alchemy. The Alchemists were known to be able to convert any metal to gold and he wanted to do the same. He was constantly glued to his books throughout the journey to learn as much as possible before meeting the famous Alchemist. The caravan reaches the oasis (which is a fertile spot amidst a desert), where the protagonist meets Fatima and falls in love with her. He promises to return and marry her even after he meets his Personal Legend or the ultimate purpose of life. The desert at that point was in the middle of a war and hence their caravan had to stop at the oasis for quite a few days. Santiago meets another important character of this novel in this oasis — The Alchemist.
The oasis is promised not to be attacked during any war in the desert, owing to its purity. However, Santiago senses something strange and informs the chief of the oasis about the probability of an attack. Although his predictions were laughed upon, he convinced them to prepare an army if the predictions prove to be true or accept punishment in the other case. He was awarded when his predictions came true. This is when he met the Alchemist who eventually accompanied him to the Pyramids amidst the war.
They were held captive by one of the warring tribes during the journey, where Santiago demonstrates his oneness with the ‘Soul of the World’ by turning himself into a dust storm. They are allowed to proceed after that. They are almost near to the pyramids and hence the Alchemist headed back towards the oasis and Santiago towards the pyramids.
The protagonist digs the pyramid grounds with a lot of excitement, where he was again beaten up and robbed. He told a thief about the dream of a treasure to be found under church ruins (which the fortune teller interpreted as the Egyptian Pyramids), which led him there.
This is when he realized the treasure he had was in the church ruins under the sycamore tree where he originally had the dream.
Santiago heads back to the old church ruins in his home country and finds the treasure right in the place he dreamt of it. The wind blew towards his face which he interprets as the wind of a kiss from Fatima.
Follow my page and give a clap to the article if you like the content.
