The Alchemist

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“The Alchemist” is a novel, originally written in Portuguese, by author Paulo Coelho which follows the story of a shepherd named Santiago as he travels along a journey of self-discovery that takes him from Andalusia to the pyramids of Egypt, all starting from the reoccurrence of a dream .The style of writing indicates a fable like quality and ideas involving religious beliefs as well as spirituality are constant throughout the novel. This review is intended to explore the major themes and ideas of the story as well as the style of writing and contradictions as presented by the author. This section contains a summary of “The Alchemist”. The story begins with Santiago, a shepherd boy, arriving at an abandoned church while roaming the fields …show more content…

Constantly throughout the book he claims that every person has his own destiny but few try to reach theirs. In order to attain one’s destiny one must listen to their heart and learn to read “omens” present all around them which could signify being connected to the flow of life and seizing an opportunity that presents itself even if it is a bit of a gamble. Also if a person chooses despite all hardships to keep working towards their objective the universe will conspire to help them, however they will also be tested and quite harshly perhaps, along the way. Although the main character sticks to his resolve to the end, Coelho does show characters who have not done so and emphasized on the rareness of people who do in fact pursue their dream till the very end. Coelho has emphasized on many points that to attain one’s destiny one mustn’t give up on it no matter the hardship or circumstance faced and presented the idea that playing it safe is often more threatening than taking a risk. The idea is very relatable to many readers as the world moves in accordance with practicality ,people chose to follow a path that seems safe and secure even if it isn’t in accordance with their desires ,the number of people that take risks and “follow their dreams” has become increasingly smaller due to fear of failure . However despite our choices many a man has stayed awake pondering on the question “what if I had ….” So a story of someone who did follow through to his dreams appeals to a wide range of

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