The Alchemist

Bibliography

Course Hero. "The Alchemist Study Guide." Course Hero. 4 Oct. 2016. Web. 6 May 2020. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Alchemist/>.

The Alchemist Spark Notes

The Alchemist Cliff Notes

Meaning of the Title: It refers to the major character that helps Santiago find his way to the pyramids to find his treasure and fulfill his Personal Legend. However, it also refers to any one of us who seeks to find his own Personal Legend and understand the Soul of the World. The subtitle: A Fable About Following Your Dream states the message of the book clearly. This story is purely a fable of inspiration, fulfillment, and self-discovery/determination.

Setting: The setting begins in the Andalusian region of Spain and moves to Tangier, Morocco, the Al-Fayoum Oasis, and eventually the pyramids in Egypt. The story ends where it began in Spain. The time is the present day.

Protagonist: Santiago, the Andalusian shepherd boy

Antagonist: Sometimes the antagonists are the people who push Santiago to extremes to achieve his goal; sometimes they are his inherent enemies like the thief who stole his money or the Arab tribes at war; but they are mostly his own inner doubts and fears over which he must triumph before he can ever succeed in finding his treasure.

Mood: There are some moments when Santiago’s soul is silenced and he gives in to defeat and wishes to turn back. However, the mood usually ranges from quiet satisfaction to overwhelming triumph. It is meant to be completely and totally uplifting to all who read it.

Point of View: Third person omniscient

Tense: This story is written in the past tense because it tells Santiago’s tale as if it has already happened.

Rising Action: The rising action begins when Santiago sleeps in the church ruins and dreams about the child leading him to Egypt. It ends with the climax, which occurs when Santiago is told by the leader of the Arab refugees that he had dreamed about a church with a sycamore tree growing through its ruined sacristy.

Exposition: Santiago travels from Spain to Tangier and then on in a caravan to an oasis where he meets the alchemist. On the way, he learns lessons from a Gypsy woman, an Old King, and a crystal merchant about the necessity of never giving up on one’s dream. At the oasis, Santiago also meets the love of his life, Fatima. The alchemist then leads him to the pyramids where he discovers where his treasure really is.

Climax: The climax occurs when Santiago is told by the leader of the Arab refugees that he had dreamed about a church with a sycamore tree growing through its ruined sacristy.

Outcome:

Major Themes: One’s Own Personal Legend and the Soul of the World

Minor Themes: Perseverance, Faith, and the Need to overcome the Obstacles of Life

The motif of omens serves a dual purpose in The Alchemist. For one, omens offer Santiago guidance on his journey and reassure him that the Soul of the World has endorsed his journey. As Melchizedek explains, omens make up part of the Universal Language of the World, and if Santiago taps into this language he can always find the meaning in his environment. For example, when the stones Urim and Thummim drop from Santiago’s pocket, Santiago chooses to consider the event an omen. In doing so, he continues to feel that the universe conspires to help him, and he finds meaning in the seemingly random event. In this way, the motif of omens reinforces the book’s theme of the unity of nature.

Personal Legend: Someone's goal and reason in the world

Language of the World: It is how G-D communicates with the humans through the words of the natures around them. Through the desert, the animals, the wind, and the sun G-D can communicate with humans and humans can communicate with them.

Soul of the World: Everything combines into making everything one. Everyone's life affects everyone else's and that's how we all combine to form ONE SOUL.

Symbols/Motifs/Signs/People:

Alchemy
Gold
The Baker/Crystal Maker/ Thief
Dreams
Fatima
The Master Work
Omens
The Englishman
The Spanish Coins
The Alchemist
The Desert
Th Pyramids
The Sheep
Dreams
Melchizedek, the Old King of Salem
The Soul of the World
The camel driver
Fatima
The two hawks Santiago sees fighting in the sky
The language of the world
A fossilized shell
Our eyes
The Hand that has written all
The term the Master Work
The soldier’s house, opened to Jesus
The scarab beetles
The Levanter

Free Will versus Fate

Comparisons between free will and fate come up time and again in The Alchemist, with a number of characters living lives that suggest the operation of both free will and fate. Santiago, the protagonist, demonstrates free will from the beginning to the end of the story. For instance, even though his father wants him to become a priest, he chooses—of his own free will—to pursue the life of a shepherd so he can wander the countryside and see some of the world. Fate is also at work in Santiago's life. Although the theft of his money in Tangier forces him to look for work (fate), taking a job with the crystal merchant is his choice (free will). Likewise, while working for the crystal merchant, he earns enough money to return home and buy a whole flock of sheep, and yet he chooses to stay on in Tangier. He later makes another conscious decision to cross the desert in pursuit of his Personal Legend, despite his enormous success at the merchant's crystal shop. Fate influences his life again at the oasis of Al-Fayoum, where he meets Fatima and instantly falls in love.

SYMBOLISM (in depth from Course Hero and Spark Notes):

In The Alchemist, dreams represent not only an outlet into one’s inner desires, but also a form of communication with the Soul of the World. Santiago’s dream of a treasure in Egypt, for instance, reveals to him his Personal Legend and sets the entire plot of the Alchemist into motion. Whether or not an individual believes in dreams creates a dividing line between the “enlightened” and “unenlightened” characters in the novel. The tribal chieftain takes Santiago’s dream of the hawks very seriously, and he understands the dream as a message from the desert of an impending assault. He also relates a story about Joseph’s ability to read dreams, concluding that those who truly believe in dreams also have the ability to read them. The chief’s insight, we see, allows him to successfully defend the oasis against attack. Later in the novel, the man who beats Santiago does not believe his own dream, but when he describes his dream to Santiago, Santiago recognizes it as an omen telling him where to find the treasure. The importance of actual, sleeping dreams parallels the importance of personal, symbolic dreams as embodied by Personal Legends.
Urim and Thummim are fortune-telling stones that Melchizedek gives to Santiago. The stones are black and white, with their colors representing “yes” and “no” answers to questions—so Melchizedek tells Santiago that he must only ask objective questions of the stones. Because of this, Urim and Thummim symbolize certainty and objective knowledge. This type of certainty, however, is ultimately presented as less valuable than the opportunity to learn from the world and to make one’s own choices. Santiago carries the stones with him throughout the novel, but never uses them, having promised to “make his own decisions.” The constant presence of Urim and Thummim thus also represents the human desire to give up control and decision-making ability. The greatest lie in the world, as stated by Melchizedek, is that humans don’t control their fates. Although Melchizedek is the one who offers the stones to Santiago, they also symbolize the very thing that he says Santiago should avoid: trusting in anything other than himself to make a decision.
There is a humbleness and simplicity to Santiago’s sheep, and the novel reveals these qualities to contain great value. The symbol of the Emerald Tablet reveals the value of humility and simplicity, and the humble characters who support and guide Santiago on his quest include poor merchants, the camel driver, and a generous monk. Even Melchizedek, a powerful individual and a king, appears to Santiago in the guise of a poor old man. Therefore the sheep, in their quiet yet fulfilled lives, symbolize the values of humility, simplicity, and self-actualization. They are living out their Personal Legends as they graze and roam contentedly.
Santiago also learns life lessons by watching his sheep, and later these lessons are reinforced as he observes the desert and listens to his heart. Coelho suggests that because of the interconnectedness of all things, anything can be learned from observing one small part of creation. Santiago’s sheep thus also symbolize the potential of learning through observation, as well as the importance of observing even the seemingly unimportant aspects of life.
Both the Englishman and the alchemist describe the practices of alchemy to Santiago, and in both cases, the specifics of alchemy symbolize larger life lessons. The Englishman explains that the pursuit of the Master Work, in which alchemists spend years carefully studying and purifying metals, actually purifies the alchemists themselves. Self-development goes hand-in-hand with development of the Master Work. From this, Santiago realizes that one may pursue “an alchemy of life,” in which self-development results from study of the world and from application of the other principles of alchemy to everyday practices. Later the alchemist describes many aspects of alchemy—like the origins of the Emerald Tablet—which are also applicable to human life. The alchemist explains Santiago’s connection with Fatima in terms of alchemy, saying that a pure material cannot be tarnished or changed. This is a concept from alchemy, but Coelho uses it as a metaphor for life, and in this context it claims that the love between Fatima and Santiago will not spoil with time—if that love is pure.
Al-Fayoum, the oasis, is considered neutral territory in the desert tribal wars. The elder chief emphasizes this tradition when Santiago confronts him with his vision of a future in which enemy warriors invade Al-Fayoum. There are two reasons for the neutrality of the oasis: first, both sides of the war have oases to protect, and so both share a strategic weakness, and, second, the oasis contains civilians, many of whom are women and children. Al-Fayoum therefore symbolizes neutrality, but also life and prosperity. The literal contrast between the stark surrounding desert and the rich and fruitful oasis echoes the contrast between the prevailing warfare of the desert and the safe haven of the oasis. The oasis demonstrates that a common morality exists among the tribes, even in the face of violent warfare. A neutral territory, which is respected by all parties, promises that there can be some measure of peace achieved on earth.
The Emerald Tablet is one of alchemy’s historic trade secrets. It is a single emerald engraved with instructions for completing the Master Work of all alchemy: the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life. These original instructions were therefore simple enough that they could be written on the surface of a single stone. The alchemist explains to Santiago that alchemists later began to distrust simplicity, and so they created other texts and compiled other information about the Master Work. In Santiago and the alchemist’s time period, many strive after the goal of the Master Work, but with no success. The Emerald Tablet is thus a symbol of the value of simplicity. The novel repeatedly emphasizes the value of trusting one’s self and focusing on one’s Personal Legend, and these projects require that one value simplicity: if a Personal Legend becomes more important than anything else, then one’s priorities and problems become less complex and confusing. The novel also suggests that truth is reached by listening to one’s heart, another process that values simplicity. Learning does not require extensive study, but rather quiet observation. Repeatedly this novel emphasizes the ways humans create barriers to their own success, particularly when they value complexity over simplicity, as in the history of The Emerald Tablet.
Apart from its lesson of simplicity, in itself the Emerald Tablet also symbolizes the interconnectedness of all things. It is a distillation of all of alchemy into one unified object, just as the Soul of the World is the distillation of all life and creation into one thing.
Throughout the novel, the Pyramids of Egypt are held in Santiago’s mind as his end goal, as they mark the location of his treasure. Therefore, the pyramids symbolize his Personal Legend. The pyramids are veiled in mystery because of the incredible effort it takes to reach them across the desert, and because they are a stunning feat of engineering and human accomplishment. They also symbolize the difficulty of Santiago’s quest. They seem like a surreal dream, due to their physical distance and awe-inspiring appearance, which hovers before Santiago for months and months. Ultimately the pyramids are not the end point of Santiago’s quest, however, and he must return to a familiar place, the abandoned church, to find his treasure. Therefore, the pyramids come to symbolize all that Santiago experiences along the way toward the end goal of his Legend. The distances he travels, the people he meets, and the lessons he learns on his journey are all a part of his spiritual quest. The pyramids represent the part of his Personal Legend that involves exploring the unknown and the foreign.
The desert, with its harsh conditions and tribal wars, symbolizes the serious difficulties that await anyone in pursuit of their Personal Legend, but it also serves as an important teacher to Santiago during his journey to the pyramids. As the alchemist puts it, tests are an inherent part of all Personal Legends, because they are necessary to create spiritual growth. More than the desert heat, the desert’s silence, emptiness, and monotony test Santiago. As Santiago learns, however, even the desert, despite appearing barren, contains life and the Soul of the World. Santiago begins to understand his environment, and to see the signs of life in what seems to be a wasteland. Eventually he learns to recognize all of creation in a single grain of sand, and in the greatest test he faces during the book, he finds he is able to enlist the desert in his effort to become the wind.
Omens also serve to demonstrate Santiago’s spiritual growth throughout the story. The omens that Santiago experiences grow in relevance from being small, limited events to important visions that affect many lives. The vision of the hawks and approaching armies that Santiago has in Al-Fayoum, for example, tells Santiago of an assault on the oasis that could lead to the deaths of hundreds. That his omens become more and more important signifies that Santiago is getting closer to understanding the pure Language of the World.

Quotes

“Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.”

“The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.”

“Maybe G-d created the desert so that man could appreciate the date trees.”

“Every blessing ignored becomes a curse."

And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you, achieve it.'

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

“It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”

“Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.”

“If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it.”

"And they found the Philosopher's Stone, because they understood that when something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well."

"I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now."

"We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possession and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand."

“The closer one gets to realizing his Personal Legend, the more that Personal Legend becomes his true reason for being” (75).

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” p 135.

This means that we can't leave life up to fate. We're the ones who have to direct our lives towards our goals.