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8/8/2019 Book Review - The Alchemist 1
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/book-review-the-alchemist-1 1/13
Presented By:Digant S. Desai - 057
Ajay G. Bairy - 098
8/8/2019 Book Review - The Alchemist 1
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Paulo Coelho
y born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
y In 1980, he walked the 500 plus mile Road of Santiago in
northwestern Spain where he achieved a spiritual
awakening that he later described in The Alchemist
y He published The Alchemist in 1988.
y His style of writing is inspirational and motivating.
y Sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and has been
translated into at least fiftysix languages
y Other books ±
y The Pilgrimage,
y The Zahir,
y Brida, etc
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T
he Alchemisty "WHEN YOU REALLY want something to happen, the whole
universe conspires so that your wish comes true."
These words echo throughout this novel. The author
inspires that one should not shy away from his dreams.
y The Alchemist, is written in a fable format.
y What is a fable?
y Generally speaking, fables use recognizable, simple
characters and settings in order to illustrate a simpletruth about life or human nature.
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The Plot«y The story begins with a poor Andalusian shepherd boy named
Santiago tending his flock in the countryside. He stops forthe night beneath a sycamoretree in the courtyard of anabandoned church and dreams
of great treasure.Curious as to the meaning of hisdream, Santiago sets to meet an old
gypsy woman in Tarifa.Santiago enters the town ofTarifa where the gypsyinterprets his dreams. Then he
meets a mysterious stranger,Melchizedek, the king of Salem,
who speaks to him of his dreamand the location of the treasure.Melchizedek convinces the boy to
embark upon a physical and spiritualjourney in search of both self and
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y Santiago sets out on a journey from his homeland in Spain
to the Egyptian pyramids (where
Melchizedek suggests he will find his
treasure). He goes to Tangier in Africa
where he is robbed of the money he raised by
selling his flock. He is forced into working at acrystal shop where he learns that
everyoneÑs fate is written and that there is
an unspoken Language of The World which he
must learn to speak.
The Plot«
y After a year in the service of the crystal sellerSantiago has to decide whether to return to
Spain and purchase another flock of sheep or toreturn to fulfill the journey towards histreasure.
y Deciding to continue his journey, Santiago joins acaravan that will take him across the desert.While in the caravan, Santiago meets an
Englishman who is in search of the secret ofalchemy. Santiago reads the EnglishmanÑs books
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y In the middle of the desert, the caravan arrives at an
oasis and cannot proceed further due to the danger of
tribal wars. While at the oasis, Santiago falls in love with
Fatima, a young desert girl and meets an old alchemist and
he must choose between remaining with his love or strike
out once more on his personal journey.y Convinced by the Alchemist, Santiago leaves for the
dangers of the desert. After short
journey, they are captured by one of the
warring tribes.
The alchemist attempts to convincetheir captors that Santiago possesses
the power of the wind. Unconvinced, the
captors demand demonstration and Santiago is forced,
over a three day period, to learn to speak with
the elements of the natural world and to harness their
power.
The Plot«
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y Three hours from the pyramids, the alchemist gives him apiece of gold and leaves him. Santiago then continues on tothe pyramids. Arriving at his goal, Santiago seeks to realizehis treasure and begins to dig in the sand (after recognizingan omen that he is in the right spot). While digging for histreasure, Santiago is over come by thieves who steal the
piece of gold and leave him for dead.
yHowever, as they are leaving, one of the thieves mentions adream he has had of a treasure hidden under a sycamore treeby a church in the Andalusian countryside and Santiagorealizes that his true treasure is at the location where hebegun his journey, completing his cyclical transformation.
y Santiago then travels back to the Spain wherehe finds his treasure and reflects upon thejourney. Finally, as the breeze picks up, he isreminded of the oasis and Fatima, to whom hevows to return.
The Plot«
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List of Major CharactersSantiago He is a shepherd boy, who because of
a recurring dream, decides to find his treasure
at the pyramids in Egypt. Along the way, he
meets a Gypsy woman, an Old King, a crystal
merchant, an Englishman, and an alchemist, all of
whom teach him something about fulfilling his
Personal Legend and striving to find his treasure.
He is a very wise young man and yet one who has
much to learn. Because he holds fast to hisdream, he becomes a better man.
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y The Gypsy Woman She is the first one Santiago
consults about his dream.
y The Old King He is the second to help Santiagoand gives him the stones named Urim andThummim and some money in exchange for hissheeps. He also advises Santiago to never stopdreaming and follow the omens.
y The Crystal Merchant He is a man for whomSantiago begins to work and who profits fromthe boyÑs aptitude in improving sales. He teaches
Santiago how important it is to follow throughand not give up on his dream.
y The Englishman He is a young man who hasspent ten years of his life reading about alchemy
with the hope of discovering the Master Work.
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yThe Alchemist
He is rumored to be over 200 years old and lives onthe AlFayoum oasis. He has an advanced sensethat Santiago is coming to the oasis and knows itis his responsibility to lead him to the pyramids.Along the way, he teaches the boy much aboutlistening to his heart and reaching out for hisdream no matter what the cost. He never doesanything for the boy except guide him and allow
him to learn for himself.
The alchemist has the Elixir of Life and thePhilosopherÑs Stone, which allow him to make any
metal into gold.T
hat is his Personal Legend,which he had achieved many years before.
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Minor Charactersy Fatima She is the beautiful young woman whom
Santiago meets at a well on the oasis. She directsthem to the alchemist, but in the process of thatfirst conversation, Santiago falls in love with her and
she eventually falls in love with him.A
s a desertwoman, she is willing to wait for him to find histreasure and fulfill his Personal Legend.
y The Camel Driver Santiago meets him on the caravanjourney to the oasis and from him learns all about the
importance of the present. He had lost everything tothe flooding of the Nile, but now he is content towork as a camel driver and take one day at a time.
y The Tribal Chieftain He demands that Santiago turnhimself into the wind and in the process, discovers
that the boy has seen the glory of God.
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LEARNINGSy The Alchemi st i s a novel that appeal s i nst antl y,
bec ause we c an easil y i denti fy with Santi ago: as
all of us have dreams, and are dyi ng for
somebody t o tell us or i nspi re us, that they may
c ome t rue.
y T hi s book has a cent ral theme that i f you do not
foll ow your dreams then you will be wasti ng
your li fe afrai d of t aki ng a chance, when you
c oul d be enc ounteri ng an emoti onal , spi rit ual , andli fe changi ng experience.
y MinorThemes:
Perseverance, Faith, and the Need to overcome the
Obstacles of Life
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