Government Arts College, Coimbatore.

1. THE ALCHEMISTA FABLE ABOUT FOLLOWING YOUR DREAM
PAULO COELHO
A Review on
Government Arts College, Coimbatore.

2. PAULO COELHO
 Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at
24th August 1947 .
 He is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist .
 He first published The Alchemist in 1988.
 His other famous works are Veronika Decides
to Die, Eleven Minutes and The Zahir.

3. FACTS
 Written by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho.
 Originally written in Portuguese.
 65 Million copies were sold.
 Coelho only needed two weeks to write the novel.
 It was not an instant success.
 Translated into 80 languages.

4. The Alchemist is one philosophical book which tells
us never to lose hope. The Secret is perhaps based
on that. It teaches us that when a person really
desires something, the whole Universe will conspire
to help that person realise his dream.

5. INTRODUCTION
The Alchemist tells the story of young shepherd
named Santiago who is able to find a treasure beyond
his wildest dreams. Along the way, he learns to listen
to his heart and, more Personal Legend, are not just
his but part of the Soul of the Universe.

6. CHARACTER LIST
Santiago : Shepherd boy, the protagonist of The Alchemist. He is from Andalusia and is a
dreamer and a seeker.
Old woman : A fortune teller who interprets Santiago’s recurring dream.
Melchizedek : The King of Salem who explains to the boy what Personal Legend is and
urges the boy to follow his dream.
Crystal Merchant : He hires Santiago to work in his shop. He is Santiago’s foil from
whom the boy learns many things.

7. Englishman : A bookish pedant obsessed with alchemy and in The Alchemist, he stands
for the limits of book learning.
Camel herder : He teaches Santiago the importance of living in the moment and also
represents the possibility of receiving wisdom from unlikely sources.
Alchemist : The novel’s title character. An inordinately learned man who can turn any
metal into gold. He helps Santiago in his journey to pyramids.
Fatima : A beautiful Arab girl with whom Santiago fell in love. She represents true, selfless
and unconditional love.

8. BRIEF SUMMARY
Santiago is a humble shepherd whose desires are few. Fate intervenes
in the form of recurring dream of a great treasure hidden thousands of miles away
at the base of the Egyptian Pyramids. He meets Melchizedek a wise old king and
decides to seek his treasure. The next day Santiago sells his sheep and embarks to
Africa.
There he is robbed and left alone. Encouraging himself he works in a
crystal shop for a year learning much about life and his Personal Legend. Santiago
decides to take risks and joins a caravan to Egypt.

9. In the caravan Santiago meets an Englishman who seeks a renowned alchemist.
He teaches the boy some secrets of alchemy. Santiago finds both Englishman and
Melchizedek speak of a Soul of the World to which we all are connected and of the
necessity of following our heart’s true desires.
They finally reaches Al-Fayoum oasis where Santiago meets a beautiful girl
named Fatima with whom he immediately falls in love. Later, Santiago gets a vision
of an upcoming battle and warns elders of the oasis. Confirming his vision the
elders offered him a position as a counsellor and fifty gold coins.

10. Santiago considers staying at the oasis with Fatima but the Alchemist finds
and tells him that he will lead Santiago to his treasure. Alchemist teaches the boy to
listen to his heart intently. Almost to the pyramids, boy and Alchemist were taken
prisoner by a warring tribe. The Alchemist tells the tribes man that Santiago is a
powerful alchemist who can turn himself into the wind.
To escape from the tribesmen the boy starts meditating even though he
has no idea of what he is doing. Santiago uses his knowledge of the Soul of the
World to ask the elements to help him. First he asks the desert then the wind and
then the Sun. Finally he asks the Soul of the World and immediately disappears and
reappears on the other side of the camp.

11. The Alchemist takes his leave of Santiago, who continues on to the pyramids.
Once there the boy is attacked by robbers. Asked what he is doing there, Santiago
explains his dreams about the hidden treasure. The boy then accidently finds from
the leader of the robbers that the treasure is really buried in Spain at a ruined
church where he had his first dream.
The boy returns to the church in Andalusia and finds the beneath a sycamore
tree a trunk full of gold, enough for him and Fatima to live happily for a long time.
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12. FAMOUS QUOTES FROM
THE ALCHEMIST
 “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to
achieve it”.
 “it’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting”
 “When we love, we always strive to become better tha we are…..”.
 “One is loved because one is loved”.

13. LESSONS WE LEARN FROM THIS
NOVEL
• No matter what you do, make sure that you do it because it is
what your heart and soul desire.
• You will fail. Don’t give up in the process.
• It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.
• Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your
treasure.

14. THANK YOU