The Alchemist

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   acouto Student
   College - Junior

   Page eight offers the reader a glimpse into Santiago's past:

   "His purpose in life was to travel, and, after two years of walking the Andalusian terrain, he knew all the cities of the region. . . That he had attended a seminary school until he was sixteen. . .But ever since he had been a child, he had wanted to know the world, and . . . One afternoon, on a visit to his family, he had summoned up the courage to tell his father that he didn't want to become a priest. That he wanted to travel."

   this quote indicates that Santiago is 18 at the beginning of the novel.

   From the moment he meets the King of Salem until he begins working for the crystal salesman no more than a week has passed.  He works for the salesman for "eleven months and nine days" (60).   For the rest of the novel the time period is not explicit, but Santiago has to cross the Sahara, then back again. This type of journey on camel-back would have taken months.  It seems as if the entire tale takes place in a span of roughly 2 years, so by the end Santiago is probably about 20 years old.

   As for the time period, Coelho seemingly attempts to create a "timelessness" for his story, but cultural clues, and the emphasis on alchemy might indicate the Middle Ages; however, the exact historical period isn't that relevant to the larger themes of the story.

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   Posted by acouto on Saturday April 19, 2008 at 9:35 PM
   
   

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