The Alchemist Thesis

Based on the number of copies each book sold in past 50 years, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is the fifth most read book in the world (Polland, 2012). "The Alchemist" received worldwide attention. The book is mainly about the journey of a guy named Santiago who is trying to achieve his personal legend which is what people have always wanted to accomplish (Coelho 1998, pg.22). In the book, Santiago faced many difficulties and fear of failure, but Santiago was able to overcome those hardships. Just like Santiago, people nowadays face many hardships or fear of failure that prevent them from achieving their own dreams. However, by reading how Santiago overcome his own difficulties, one can gain courage to overcome his or her own adversity. "The

Firstly, "The Alchemist" should be a required reading for all future students before graduation since it allows one to think about one 's own personal legend. All the people in the world have their own personal legend which is what people have always wanted to accomplish. Some might already know what their personal legends are, but there are still many students who do not even know what they really want. Our modern culture leads us to focus on money, and people try to achieve or do something in order to gain wealth. Thus, they do not know what they really want to achieve or do. In "The Alchemist", there is a quote saying that "They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend (Coelho,pg88).” Before reading "The Alchemist", I also had a dream which is to be a doctor. The reason that I wanted to be a doctor was because I can earn much money by being a doctor. Since I focus too much on money, I don 't really know what I sincerely want to be. After reading "The Alchemist", I decided not to focus too much on wealth and try to find my own personal legend. Consequently, students should be required to read "The Alchemist" since they can think about their own personal

Furthermore, "The Alchemist" should be a mendatory book for students to read because it allows one to focus on the present moment. Today, many students concern or worry about their past and future, and they don 't focus on the present moment. However, worrying about past or present does not change one 's life, it will just make them suffer. “The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better (Coelho, pg74)." According to "The Alchemist", if one pay attention to the present and improve upon it, one 's life can also get much better. If students who are worrying about the university or their future career focus on present moment, their future will also get better. Therefore, "The Alchemist" should be a required reading for all future students before graduation since it allows one to focus on the present