The Alchemist is a novel about an Andalusian shepherd, who strives to reach his treasure hidden inside the Pyramids. One night, while sleeping among his sheep, Santiago dreams a strange dream about his destiny in the desert. Being emerged by the frequency of the same dream, the boy decides to visit a gypsy woman in order to interpret his deviating dream. The gypsy woman tells him apparently that his destiny will take him to Egypt, where he will find a precious treasure. Santiago sells his flock and begins his challenging journey to the Pyramids, being affected by what the king has told him. In Tangiers, his first stop, he is robbed by a thief and works with a local merchant to make money by taking vast risks. The shepherd joins a caravan travelling through desert to Egypt. Disrupted by the on-going tribal wars, the caravan stops at an oasis where the boy gets to know his love and an alchemist, who understands the boy’s intrinsic ability to identifying omens. The alchemist guides the boy …show more content…
It’s kind of a novel that it is impossible to guess what may happen further. I was really impressed by the alchemist’s quotes about the life and destiny throughout the book.The story explicitly focuses on the concept of life and destiny, not alchemy. Paulo Coelho implies with this novel that once you dream something, you have to fight for it until the end. Therefore, he scattered Santiago’s obstacles through the book to depict that challenge is inevitable if someone strongly wants to achieve something. I think the author designed the character, Santiago, to prove that everybody, even a shepherd, could have unique experiences as he aspires and takes actions. Throughout the story, I observed the obstacles that the shepherd goes through to acquire the treasure that is Maktub- means written in Arabic. That’s why the novel taught me: “When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve