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The Alchemist
In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, the crystal merchant is a man who once had many dreams, as does Santiago. For all of his life, the merchant wanted to go on a pilgrimage. However, work and...
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The Alchemist
In chapter six of The Alchemist, the camel driver tells Santiago his story as the caravan crosses the Sahara. He had been a prosperous farmer and had even earned enough to make the Muslim's...
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The Alchemist
After the general of the warring tribe allows Santiago and the alchemist go free, the pair heads towards the Egyptian pyramids. The alchemist doesn't go all the way to pyramids with the boy,...
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The Alchemist
The alchemist can be considered the most important character in Coelho's novel not only because his name is in the title, or because he shows Santiago how to achieve his Personal Legend and cross...
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The Alchemist
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The Alchemist
Santiago's dream of a child telling him about a treasure is important because it foreshadows the final location of the treasure. I would like to make it clear though that the child in the dream...
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The Alchemist
The Englishman first speaks with Santiago when he sees the boy playing with Urim and Thummim, the stones given to him by Melchizedek. They compare notes about the king who gave them to the boy and...
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The Alchemist
If Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist were set in 2016, the middle of the book could stay the same for the most part, but the beginning and ending could be changed. For example, Santiago would still be...
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The Alchemist
"The old man looked at the boy and, with his hands held together, made several strange gestures over the boy's head. Then, taking his sheep, he walked away" (32). The above passage shows...
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The Alchemist
The Englishman and Santiago share with each other what they have learned up until the time they meet one another in the caravan. The Englishman agrees to listen and observe omens like Santiago has...
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The Alchemist
When the alchemist and the boy are both taken to the military camp, the alchemist uses all of Santiago's money that he has saved for years to buy them three days time to save their lives. The...
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The Alchemist
Before Santiago travels to Africa to start his journey, he receives guidance from the king of Salem. Discussions about achieving one's Personal Legend encourage and inspire both the boy and the...
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The Alchemist
I need to give a little bit of backstory in order to explain the circumstances in which Santiago meets Fatima. Earlier in the novel, Santiago is pursuing his Personal Legend. Unfortunately he...
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The Alchemist
As Santiago and the alchemist are traveling through the desert towards the pyramids, they have a discussion about listening to one's heart. The boy is closer than ever to finding his treasure and...
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The Alchemist
In Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago journeys through the desert and learns many basic truths. The alchemist helps Santiago to understand that the reason he does not leave the oasis is because he is...
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The Alchemist
"The boy's name was Santiago" (3). Santiago is the name of the boy who is Coelho's protagonist in The Alchemist. Coelho only mentions the name of the boy once at the beginning of the novel. It is...
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The Alchemist
I would say that Santiago's first test is getting up the courage to tell his father that he wants to leave and travel the world. He knows that it will disappoint and perhaps even anger his father,...
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The Alchemist
In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, the word fate isn't used, but the theme most closely linked to it is Personal Legend. The premise behind achieving one's Personal Legend is that everyone has one,...
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The Alchemist
After the boy has sold his sheep, and has 6 sheep (10% payment) ready to give to the King of Salem, Melchizedek tells to the boy a parable, not a fable, to help him on his journey. The parable is...
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The Alchemist
Santiago is a shepherd boy who genuinely loves his sheep. He even calls each sheep by name. While he is traveling through familiar country in Andalusia, he happens upon a dilapidated church that he...
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The Alchemist
In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, Melchizedek, the King of Salem, is speaking with the boy about how to obtain one's Personal Legend. One's Personal Legend is fulfilling one's full potential in...
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The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist is a unique story which basically tells readers not to just follow their dreams, but to go accomplish them. The boy, Santiago, represents each one of us on life's...
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The Alchemist
The story is a great story with a wonderful lesson. In the story, a boy is told to carry a spoonful of oil around a castle. He is specifically told not to drop any of the oil. When he returns,...
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The Alchemist
The central conflict for a story revolves around the main protagonist achieving a specific goal. The plot rises as the main character encounters obstacles that get in the way of him or her solving...
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The Alchemist
At the beginning of Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago is traveling the countryside with his flock of sheep. He muses to himself about his sheep as follows: "They were content with just food and...
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The Alchemist
A lot of times I think that people wear their "busyness" as a badge of honor. They feel that if every minute of every day is filled with something, then they are somehow better off or better than...
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The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist is about a young boy who first learns about Personal Legends from Melchizedek, the King of Salem. The boy represents all of us and the fact that we can all find our...
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The Alchemist
The Englishman is obsessed with alchemy. The text tells readers that he spent most of his father's fortune in pursuit of learning the secrets of that mysterious art. In one of the textbooks about...
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The Alchemist
The first mistake Santiago makes is trusting a thief when he first gets to Tangier, Africa. The young Arab spots the young, naive newcomer to his home and takes him to a tea bar. He shows Santiago...
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The Alchemist
I think one good example that shows courage and determination in Santiago occurs when he decides to tell his father that he wants to travel the world instead of staying home with the family. It...
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The Alchemist
It is interesting how Santiago finds his way to travel. First, his father wants him to be a priest and go to a seminary. The desire to travel is great with Santiago, but he doesn't have money;...
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The Alchemist
Fatima is the name of the girl with whom Santiago falls in love in Coelho's The Alchemist. She represents romantic love, future family, and settling down. She is also another of the many teachers...
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The Alchemist
The oasis that the caravan visits in The Alchemist certainly abides by the law of hospitality--or as some call it, the guest-host relationship. Guests are expected to obey the rules and regulations...
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The Alchemist
Coelho's The Alchemist is the perfect bildungsroman; that is to say, it is a story of the main character's growth, education, and personal edification from novice to expert. Some may also say it is...
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The Alchemist
At the beginning of Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago has been a shepherd for two years. This is a good amount of time to acquire many experiences and skills with any job. And Santiago is a true...
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The Alchemist
One of the first lessons that Santiago learns in The Alchemist is what Personal Legends are and that he has one to fulfill. Once he commits to following his dream to find his treasure, it takes the...
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The Alchemist
Coelho has a gift of combining biblical symbolism with magical realism in his novel The Alchemist. The Urim and Thummim appear in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel,...
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The Alchemist
As one looks back over the story of Coelho's The Alchemist, it would seem that each character in the story serves a purpose in Santiago's life journey—as he seeks the truth of the world—his...
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The Alchemist
Santiago performs a great miracle in front of a warring, tribal chieftain and his soldiers. Without any foreknowledge or preparation, the Alchemist tells the chief that the boy can change himself...
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The Alchemist
The story of the Baker is told to Santiago by Melchizedek, the King of Salem. It's basically about how the Baker botched his Personal Legend by making "safe" decisions. Apparently, the Baker wanted...
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The Alchemist
Coelho is a master writer and does a few things to help his protagonist save himself from the humdrum world of life as a shepherd. First, he sends Santiago dreams of a treasure in Egypt which pique...
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The Alchemist
When Santiago and the Alchemist are captured by a tribal chief, the mentor tells the chief that the boy can change himself into the wind in order to make a wager on their lives. Santiago gets three...
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The Alchemist
Each character in Coelho's The Alchemist is symbolic of a character trait or phase of life that each of us may go through in life. Santiago at first represents Christ as a kind shepard of a flock;...
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The Alchemist
Santiago has a few people who help him on his journey to achieve his Personal Legend. The Alchemist is the final person who is the one who teaches him about listening to his heart and learning...
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The Alchemist
Santiago goes to a gypsy woman for help with interpreting a dream that he has had twice. He learns for the first time of a couple of terms that he learns more about later: the Language of God and...
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The Alchemist
In Coelho's The Alchemist: ...the Language of the World refers to the oneness of all things: that the [pieces of the] universe [are] tied together. Santiago (the boy) is on a quest to find...
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The Alchemist
The journey ends up being more important to Santiago. When the story begins, he has a goal and a destination in mind. He wants to search and find a treasure that is buried in Egypt somewhere....
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The Alchemist
When deciphering between symbols and metaphors, figure out if the object in question represents someone or something else, or if it is being compared with someone or something else. Specifically,...
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The Alchemist
At first thought, the answer to this question might be that Coelho simply uses situational irony to have the treasure buried at the church where the book opens and we find Santiago tending his...
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The Alchemist
This question is quite broad, so I'm going to stay broad as well. I'll try to highlight some important plot movement and basic literary techniques used in the novel. One important detail to...
