The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was a great experience. It gripped me again with as much intensity. I came across the title while searching Ben Jonson’s comedy Alchemist to teach my second year students. Resultantly by chance I picked up a writer whose works have been translated into many languages across the world.

Paulo Coelho was born in Brazil. He is one of the most widely read authors in the present time. He truly possesses the mystic power that untiringly keeps the readers stay tuned until it is finished. One who likes reading The Alchemist, is in acute want of finding his dream treasure like the boy, Santiago from Spanish province of Andalusia meets his treasure of dream towards which he is attracted honestly. And who among us is not in search of dream treasure, who among us does not want to succeed, who does not want to be motivated in every step of life, who is not in constant inner struggle between heart and brain? The book is for all especially for those who are of the age of Santiago.

The Alchemist is the story of a boy who is frequently visited by a dream of hidden treasure in Pyramid for which he has not a slight doubt. He hears his heart and to follow his dream, he prefers to travel and to travel, he prefers to be an ordinary shepherd contracting his desires and leaving his parents and home back which seems to be essential to him. He buys some sheep and sets up on a long adventurous journey. The novel is full of symbols. The boy learns how to reach to a destination comprehending the symbols of the Soul of the Universe. He often talks with his heart, his sheep, desert, snake, horse and even his jacket. He sells wool and with the money, the boy buys books and satisfies his hunger. Upon arriving Africa, he sales his sheep and gets enough money to conduct his exotic journey awaiting him ahead.

On the first day of his journey in Africa which is going to be very tougher than earlier, Santiago who is in Tangiers, is robbed and left completely alone, unable to speak a single word of Arabic. At first he is haunted by the thought of giving up and turning around. He works at the local crystal shop for a year, learning much about life and earns enough money to buy a new flock of sheep and return home. At the last minute, though, Santiago decides to risk it all and join a caravan to Egypt. Santiago meets an Englishman who speaks of a Soul of the Universe of which we are all integral part. The Englishman has come all the way to Africa to seek a renowned alchemist. Moving ahead, they hear rumors of a coming tribal war. Then they lastly arrive at the Al-Fayoum oasis where the Alchemist was residing and where he sees Fatima, a beautiful girl to whom he falls in love at first sight and who also comes directly from the Soul of the World. The Alchemist finds Santiago and tells him that he will lead Santiago to his treasure. Almost about reach to the pyramids, they are taken prisoner by a tribe. The Alchemist tells the tribesmen that Santiago is a powerful magician who can turn himself into the wind. The tribesmen are impressed and will free them if Santiago can do it. After three days of meditation, Santiago uses his knowledge of the Soul of the Universe to ask the elements to blow wind. He asks the desert, the wind and the sun and, finally, he asks the Soul of the Universe. Immediately, the wind whips up and Santiago is found on the other side of the camp. Again towards way to Pyramids, Santiago is attacked by robbers. On finding what he is doing here, one of robbers laughs that he had similar dream and this time the treasure is in Spain. Santiago immediately realizes that the treasure was back in Spain and goes back to Spain. He digs under a tree where he had the dream first time and finds the treasure of gold.

Thus, this optimistic story is full of wisdom and philosophy. Any optimistic journey always leads to impeccable success and this journey is not going to be too smooth. Paulo Coelho here suggests that to find the treasure of success, one should be steady, curtailing needs and to be sensible to listening to the Soul of the Universe. He says that when you desire something from the heart, the whole universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. We either have many dreams or no dream to follow. In both of the situations, we don’t listen to heart before embarking on any journey. In the last, readers must not mistake to take the novel about following dream but about listening to heart which is the Soul of the Universe, which is the particle of God in ourselves and which is present in all of us.