The Alchemist is a very well written and intriguing book by Paulo Coelho. It is a story about a young shepherd known as Santiago who abandons his live in Spain and embarks on a journey to Egypt, during his journey for treasure hunt he faces many obstacles. Making several different stops he realizes truth about himself, the world, and the kingdom of god which are interrelated in the story. Paulo uses the characters of The King Salem, The Crystal merchant, the Alchemist and Fatima to explore the theme that true happiness can only be achieved if one works hard towards his goal or purpose in life and to realize one’s personal legend, one must work hard, make great sacrifices, and take risks. True happiness is only when one realizes his Personal legend.
In the first half of the novel, Santiago meets Melchizedek, also known as the king of Salem, who tells him
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He guides Santiago towards his Personal Legend and teaches him about the Language of the World and understanding the Soul of the World. They both men on a journey to seek their Personal Legend. Before the two part each other the alchemist tells santiango, “What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.” ( Page) In short, the alchemist explains in order to realize one’s dream one has to make sacrifices and that courage is necessary to decode the “Language of the world”. He advises him to listen to what his heart says, believe in his journey and never give