The Alchemist - Research Paper Example

Institute The Alchemist – Literature Review Paulo Coelho's enthralling novel ‘The Alchemist’ has provided a philosophy for life and hope for many on the very simple ways of life and self belief. The novel has inspired extremely committed following across generations of people around the world. The story, incredible in its simplicity and inspiring wisdom, accounts for the life an Andalusian shepherd boy, Santiago. The journey that the boy takes on the basis of a dream and his self belief leads him from his homeland in Spain through the vast African desert to the Egyptian Pyramids in search of buried treasure. During his quest, the boy comes across a Gypsy woman, a man who identifies himself king, and an alchemist, all directing Santiago towards his treasure hunt. It is certain that at any stage none of these people are aware of the location or identity of the treasure, or if Santiago’s ability to overcome the difficulties he would encounter en route. However, the journey that began as a treasure hunt towards worldly riches turns out to be a journey of discovery of one’s inner self and treasure within. Reminiscent and deeply compassionate, the tale of Santiago is an everlasting testimony to the power of our dreams and the significance of listening to our hearts (Coelho, Paulo). Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian author born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. He began his career as a theatre director and actor and soon was a lyricist as well. He gradually moved over to journalism before finally devoting his life completely to literature. Paulo Coelho undertook a pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986 which was subsequently narrated by him in the book The Pilgrimage. Following The Pilgrimage, Coelho wrote and published The Alchemist in 1987. History has it that the initial sales of the novel were low and slow compelling the original publisher to shelve the novel. However, the book went on to become amongst the all time best sellers from Brazil and probably even in worldwide literature. The authors other books are Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), Maktub (1994) which is a collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, his anthology of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika Decides to Die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001) which is a assemblage of traditional tales, Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and Winner Stands Alone (2009). Additionally, the author undertook another pilgrimage of ninety days globetrotting which included the world famous Tran-Siberian train from Vladivostok to Moscow. It was during this trip that Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage sharing his experiences with the readers. Ever since, the author has taken the electronic social media like duck to water and has daily blogs in Wordpress, Myspace and Facebook along with his presence in media sharing sites such as Youtube and Flickr., offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers. Paulo Coelho well understands the digital world and is amongst the first best-selling author to provide proactive support for free online distribution of his works (Morais, Fernando). The Alchemist is a path breaking book in terms of narrating the philosophy of life through simplistic, overtly didactic storytelling. The narrator of the story is an anonymous omniscient observer speaking in a simple tone and is keenly aware of the thoughts and feelings of all characters in the story. The point of view of the story is third person omniscient, although the spotlight is primarily on Santiago’s journey. At times, the story focuses on a secondary character to reflect some features and thoughts, but quickly returns back to the central character. It is interesting to note that Santiago is simply referred to as the boy throughout the novel. The most visible contest throughout the novel is the conflict that Santiago faces between settling with the treasures he possessed during his journey and pursuing his dream. Every time he is almost convinced to settle for the lesser but assured treasure in hand, his mind soon drives him out of the comfort zone and leads the body to continue with the hunt for the ultimate treasure. It is in this pursuit of the dream that Santiago makes a succession of worldly sacrifices in order to pursue his dream to reach the pyramids of Egypt (Trishit). The central theme of the story is the pursuit of one’s dream, with alternate themes including the unity of nature and the danger of fear. Quotes from the story including ‘It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting’, ‘Never stop dreaming’ and ‘Not everyone can see his dreams come true in the same way’ portends the significance of dreams and the inevitability to follow them to finality. I find this single mindedness that the story brings up about following one’s dreams very significant. Every so often it happens that dreams do occur to each of us and those who do pursue their dreams more often succeed than not. However, the pursuit has to be relentless for one is bound to face challenges in such journeys. The story is replete with sub-plots and quotes which link dreams, courage, fear and intuition. ‘Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life’, ‘Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the language of the world’, ‘Wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure’ and ‘Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World and it will one day return there’ and ‘No heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams’ all bring upon the reader the importance of following dreams and the role of courage, fear and intuition in accomplishing ones dreams (Hunter, Jeffrey W). My favorite quote in the book is ‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’ which has so often been the truth in many of our lives. It is wonderful how everything and everybody around us conjure up facilitating us achieving our goal. It may be described as fate, coincidence or pure good fortune but the fact that all factors find their right places like a set of jumbled pieces set up correctly to solve the puzzle must be considered beyond luck and fate. This fact about the whole universe conspiring to achieve the goal is so often seen in all walks of life including scientific discoveries, sporting achievements, political events of historic nature even changing the geography of the world as a result, miracle cures in the medical world and so on and so forth. During the course of the journey, the pursuit of his dream is also entwined with Santiago’s pursuit of his love as well. ‘Maktoob’, that everything is written to begin with and is destiny is also evident in this story of love. At the beginning of the story, he was longing for ‘Fatima’ without ever knowing who she was or where she was. This feeling is soon overtaken by his desire to achieve his dream. However, when he meets her s second time, his desire to live his life with her is extremely strong. It is noteworthy here that though it is true love now rather than infatuation as it was during their first meeting, neither of them decide against Santiago’s quest of his dream. It can be confidently stated that his love for Fatima was also a significant factor in the staunch pursuit of his goal. It is true love that sets him free in pursuit of the dream rather than holding him back for the sake of his love. The author says ‘When we love, we always strive to become better than we are’ and ‘When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too’ which so often true in our lives too. The story takes Santiago through the travails of the desert and its way of life. He finally sights the Pyramid and desperately searches for the treasures of his dream. But alas, the story takes a turn and it is now that Santiago realizes that his battles with the people, circumstances and nature to reach the Pyramid was only to acquire the knowledge that his treasure was exactly where he originally began his treasure hunt. His treasure lay buried in an abandoned church by a sycamore tree in Spain where he started his journey. However, the important point to note is that the real treasure is the learning that the boy received through his actions during the journey. Quoting the author, ‘There is only one way to learn. It's through action.’ It is the love that he found en route. It is the knowledge that the mind is more powerful than the most powerful of physical weapons. It is the understanding of nature and its ways that he acquired in his long journey. It is the awareness of simplicity of life that he found during his days in the desert. It is his ability to give away all that he had in pursuit of the ultimate goal and the understanding that the smaller gains are momentary and must always be enablers to achieve the final destination. It can definitely be concluded that ‘No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it’. The book is a good read for it tells the philosophy of life with all its intricacies in the most simple and lucid manner possible. The fact that is a story entwined with the spiritual and philosophical overtones makes it readable to all ages starting from school going children, teenagers, adults and the elderly all alike. It provides for all people something to look forward to in life and to understand life as such. The knowledge the book provides that the true treasure is oneself and the belief in one’s capabilities can render wings to the dreams of people. As the authors says, ‘The Philosophy of Life: I'm an adventurer, looking for treasure’ is the binding thread of the story with the needle of love and self belief that together binds the glorious achievements of all characters of ‘The Alchemist in particular and mankind in general. Works Cited Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. Harper Collins, 2006. Hunter, Jeffrey W. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Volume 258. Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 2009. Morais, Fernando. Paulo Coelho: A Warrior's Life: The Authorized Biography. New York: HarperOne, 2009. Trishit. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – A Review. The Guardian, 11 May 2012. Web. 05 May 13. ‹ http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/may/11/alchemist-paulo- coelho-review/›. Read More