By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm
Spoilers Ahead: For the past 25 years, Paulo Coelho's novel, The Alchemist has inspired and moved many readers. Millions of readers have made it one of the top best-selling and most translated books of all time. Luckily, I am one of those Readers. The Alchemist is a beautiful and inspirational allegory encouraging it's Readers to move towards their goals, to live their Personal Legend. Readers can take this book and find parallels to their own lives and Personal Legends.
Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy longs to travel and experience new things. He has dreams that are interpreted by a woman who tells him that they point to a treasure in the Egyptian Pyramids. Intrigued by further travel to a new place and the possibility of wealth, Santiago longs to go. The woman had some faith in him because she wants one-third of the treasure when he finds it.
He also meets a man who calls himself the King of Salem who tells him the themes of this book: That everyone has a Personal Legend: "What they have always wanted to accomplish.... and when you want something the Universe conspires to help achieve it." The King reminds Santiago and the Reader of having goals and the importance of achieving them.
The Alchemist is one of those books that gives the Reader a beautiful feeling of connection with Santiago's journey. The fantasy within the book is among the best kind: magical realism in which supernatural unusual things happen in an everyday setting. There are many moments of coincidences and omens that help Santiago on his journey. The King gives him two stones, Urmin and Thummim that help him understand the omens on his way.
He also meets characters like an Englishman who points him in the path of an Alchemist that displays the ability of turning metal into gold and Fatima, a beautiful desert girl who loves Santiago but tells him she'll wait for him to finish his journey. These characters are symbols of people who support others with either unconditional love or a few minutes conversation that helps move their lives in another direction.
Santiago has conversations with the desert and nature which give him lessons about Love and the Soul and give him abilities like turning into the wind when feuding tribes approach. The Reader is filled with a sense of wonder at the magic of ordinary things and people around Santiago and is further intrigued when the magic deepens when Santiago is able to communicate with the world around him, The Soul of the World.
These passages remind the Reader to open up for the signs in their lives, coincidences, and to take a moment to look beyond their world to discover their capabilities: through prayer, meditation, study, knowledge, communication, and listening.
Another theme that pops up in Coelho's narrative is the persistence that a person requires to achieve their Personal Legend.
As the King of Salem points out many give up on it. Santiago works for a time for a Crystal Merchant who considered selling crystals the easiest path to money, has very little interest beyond his little corner of the world, and is completely miserable and grouchy. He stands in for many people who don't listen to their Personal Legend or do things that are safe or easy, just to get money or survive.
Santiago himself has doubts about his journey. While working for the Crystal Merchant, he considers earning enough money to buy some sheep so he can go home without seeing the Pyramids. While resting at an oasis, he considers settling down and marrying Fatima, The Alchemist predicts that they will be happy for a time but there will be doubts over Santiago's head that he could have gone to the Pyramids and could have gotten the treasure. These passages represent the times when people choose something else from their original goal. It may end up well, but like Robert Frost's Speaker wonder about "the two roads diverged in the woods" and wondering where the other path would have led.
Santiago proves like most of his Readers that their Personal Legends can be achieved. It may take awhile, the omens may not be clear, it may seem like Universe is not conspiring in our favor. The end may not be what one expects, but it will be achieved.
The Alchemist is the perfect way to start 2018 with the call towards living a Personal Legend. It is a true inspiration.
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