The Alchemist - part 1 ( characters and summarized events) PDF

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The Alchemist - part 1 ( characters and summarized events)...

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Character List Santiago Shepherd boy, the protagonist of The Alchemist. He travels from Andalusia in southern Spain to the Egyptian pyramids in search of hidden treasure, learning life lessons along the way. Santiago is a dreamer and a seeker, and he stands for the dreamer and seeker in all of us. Old Woman A fortune teller, and possibly a gypsy, she interprets Santiago's recurring dream, but in a manner so straightforward that he finds it suspect and disappointing. Melchizedek/King of Salem An anonymous old man who is in fact a powerful figure from the Old Testament, he explains to Santiago what a Personal Legend is and urges the shepherd boy to follow his dream. Aside from Santiago himself, Melchizedek is the most important character in The Alchemist. Crystal Merchant A middle-aged resident of Tangier, he hires Santiago to work in his shop. The crystal merchant's Personal Legend is to make a pilgrimage (or haj) to Mecca, but he knows he will never fulfill this dream. He is Santiago's foil, a character who characterizes another by contrast. Englishman A bookish pedant obsessed with alchemy who hopes to learn the fabled craft from a famous alchemist rumored to live at the Al-Fayoum oasis that lies between Tangier and the pyramids. In The Alchemist, the Englishman stands for the limits of book learning. Camel Herder Once a prosperous farmer, his valuable orchards were wiped out by a flood, forcing him into a new line of work. He teaches Santiago the importance of living in the moment. He also represents the possibility of receiving wisdom from unlikely sources. Alchemist The novel's title character. An inordinately learned man, he lives at the oasis and can turn any metal into gold. The alchemist helps Santiago make the journey from the oasis to the Egyptian pyramids. Fatima A beautiful Arab girl who lives at the oasis. Santiago discovers Fatima filling her water jug at one of the oasis's wells, and he falls in love with her. She supports his quest, even though it will take him away from her. Fatima represents true love, selfless and unconditional.

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Dream-Interpreter Episod A shepherd boy named Santiago retires for the night in an abandoned church with his flock of sheep. An enormous sycamore tree has grown in the place where the sacristy used to be. This is where Santiago falls asleep and dreams a recurring dream. The next morning, Santiago talks to his sheep about the unnamed Andalusian girl he is in love with. Santiago will see this girl in a few days, when he sells his flock's wool to her merchant father. Because his parents wanted him to become a priest, Santiago has studied Latin, Spanish and theology in a seminary, but he ended his studies prematurely, desiring instead to travel the world. That is why he became a shepherd. On his way to see the merchant and his daughter, Santiago visits the village of Tarifa. There he meets an old woman who interprets dreams, which she says are the language of God. Santiago recounts his recurring dream to the old woman: He is in a field with his flock when visited by a child who transports him to the pyramids in Egypt; there, the child says, Santiago will find a hidden treasure. Each time Santiago is about to find out the specific location of the treasure, though, he wakes up. The old woman tells Santiago that she will interpret his dream on one condition: She won't charge him any money, but Santiago has to share with her one-tenth of any treasure he finds. Santiago agrees. The old woman says the dream is in what she calls "the language of the world," and that Santiago needs to travel to the pyramids, where he will find a treasure that will make him rich. Because the old woman's interpretation is so straightforward, Santiago leaves her house upset and disappointed. He claims that he will never again believe in dreams. Analysis The Alchemist has many themes, but its overriding message is that people must follow their dreams. This novel is full of examples of characters who pursue their dreams — and characters who don't. It is highly appropriate, therefore, that Coelho's book begins with a dream. The Alchemist's protagonist, or main character, is named Santiago for a reason. Santiago is Spanish for St. James — that is, the apostle James, one of the twelve initial followers of Jesus. Santiago is the patron saint of Spain, and his remains are thought by Roman Catholics to reside in the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela, which is considered the religion's third-holiest city after Jerusalem and Rome. Since the Middle Ages, millions of Roman Catholics have made a pilgrimage to the grave of St. James in

Santiago. Thus the name is associated with pilgrims — seekers after spiritual connection. The shepherd boy Santiago will become such a pilgrim. Santiago spends the night and experiences his recurring dream in a sacristy, the room in a church where sacred vessels and vestments are kept. It is literally a sacred place. And yet, just as he rejected his parents' plans that he join the priesthood, Santiago must leave the sacristy, in order to find God. Thus the episode with which The Alchemist opens is an ironic one. The placement of a sycamore tree in the sacristy is highly significant. Sycamores are native to Egypt, the location of the pyramids Santiago dreams of. Throughout The Alchemist, Egypt will be Santiago's focus and his goal. The fact that the old woman's interpretation of Santiago's dream is more or less identical to the dream itself seems to indicate that we should trust our dreams, taking them at face value rather than examining them for hidden significance.

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Melchizedek Episode Summary At the local market, Santiago trades his old book for a new one, and just as he is becoming absorbed in it, an old man asks him what he is reading. When Santiago shows it to him, the old man says that the book is important but irritating. The old man goes on to say that the book describes its characters' inability to choose their own Personal Legend. He also says that everyone in the book believes the world's greatest lie: that as people get older, they lose control of their futures and their lives are directed only by fate. When Santiago asks where he's from, the old man replies that he's from many places but was born in a place called Salem — of which he is king. His name, he says, is Melchizedek. He offers to help Santiago find the hidden treasure in exchange for one-tenth of his sheep. Then Melchizedek writes in the sand the name of Santiago's hometown, his parents' names, and the name of the merchant's daughter. While he is writing, Melchizedek's cape falls open, revealing a blinding light. Melchizedek explains that Santiago has discovered his Personal Legend, which he defines as "what you have always wanted to accomplish." According to Melchizedek, every young person knows what his or her Personal Legend is. It is only as they get older that a "mysterious force" convinces people that Personal Legends are impossible to achieve. This mysterious force isn't exactly negative, since it prepares a person's

spirit and will so that he or she can understand "the one great truth on this planet." This truth is that ". . . when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe." Fulfilling that desire, which means fulfilling your Personal Legend, is everyone's purpose, Melchizedek explains. The Soul of the World is fed by people's happiness, he goes on. In fact, a person's only real responsibility is to realize his or her destiny. "And when you want something," Melchizedek concludes, "all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." Melchizedek tells Santiago that he visited him just when Santiago was about to abandon his Personal Legend — searching for and finding a hidden treasure. Melchizedek always visits just when a person is about to abandon his Personal Legend. But Melchizedek, the king of Salem, doesn't always appear as a person. Sometimes, when people are about to abandon their goals and dreams, he appears to them as the solution to a problem or a good idea, or he just makes things easier to achieve. Melchizedek and Santiago arrange to meet at the same time the next day. Santiago will give Melchizedek one-tenth of his flock, and Melchizedek will tell Santiago how to find the hidden treasure. After his exchange with Melchizedek, however, Santiago walks to a ticket counter where he considers buying a ticket to Africa. Ultimately he decides against it. Santiago and Melchizedek meet again, and Santiago expresses his surprise that the same friend who was housing his sheep has agreed to buy all the sheep that Melchizedek isn't purchasing. Melchizedek tells Santiago that this is called the principle of favorability, otherwise known as beginner's luck. The king of Salem explains that a force wants us to realize our Personal Legends, and beginner's luck gives us a hint of what success might feel like. Melchizedek tells Santiago that the treasure is in Egypt, near the pyramids, and that he can find it by following the omens. Melchizedek opens his cape and removes one black stone and one white stone from the center of his breastplate, which he says are called Urim and Thummim. The black stone stands for "yes" and the white stone for "no," he says, advising Santiago to rely on the stones when he can't read the omens. Melchizedek gives Santiago two further pieces of advice: Don't forget the language of omens, and don't forget to follow your Personal Legend through to its conclusion. When he bids Santiago farewell, Melchizedek recalls giving advice to Abraham and apologizes to God for his vanity.

Analysis In times past, literacy was unusual among people who weren't members of the aristocracy or the clergy. Santiago himself is literate only because he studied for the priesthood. Therefore, it is significant that the old man can read and has already read Santiago's book; this means that Melchizedek is actually a very important person of high status. This episode is central not only to Part One of The Alchemist, but to the novel as a whole, introducing as it does the concepts of the Personal Legend, the world's greatest lie, the mysterious force, the Soul of the World, the principle of favorability (beginner's luck), and following the omens. These concepts will recur throughout the novel, motivating Santiago's actions and explaining to him many of the apparently inexplicable things he experiences. The name Melchizedek, Hebrew for "righteous is my king," comes from the Old Testament, in which a character by that name is identified as the king of Salem (another name for Jerusalem) and a priest of God in the time of Abraham. Because the Melchizedek of The Alchemist recalls charging Abraham his one-tenth fee, we can assume that he is the same Melchizedek. Other than Santiago himself, Melchizedek the king of Salem is the novel's most important character. And he is certainly a contradictory figure, urging self-reliance and discouraging passivity at the same time that he intercedes in the service of those, like Santiago, in danger of not being self-reliant enough.

Summary and Analysis Part 1: Crystal Merchant Episode (I) Summary Santiago crosses the Strait of Gibraltar and finds himself in Tangier, a city in northern Morocco, where a man he meets in a bar swindles him out of all his money. As a result of this unfortunate occurrence, Santiago realizes that he is like everyone else: "I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen and not what actually does." He decides to think positively — to consider himself an adventurer rather than a victim. In desperate need of money, Santiago is hired by a crystal merchant, who tells him that even a year's wages would not pay his way to Egypt, which is thousands of kilometers distant. The crystal merchant offers to give Santiago enough money to return to Andalusia. But Santiago declines the offer, telling the crystal merchant that he'll work for him to earn money with which to buy sheep.

Analysis Prior to this episode, Santiago learned mainly from books. Here, however, he begins to learn from his experiences. What he learns first is that people deceive themselves about the world and the way it works. More crucially, Santiago learns that he can continue to be a passive receiver of the events of his life, a victim — or he can embrace his experiences and move forward with purpose, thereby becoming an adventurer. Santiago's realization — that he should see the world as it is, rather than how he wants it to be — would seem to contradict the king of Salem's advice, that if people follow their dreams, the universe will assist them. The author does not address this apparent contradiction, however. In deciding to work for the crystal merchant so as to purchase a flock of sheep, Santiago believes he is moving forward, and he is — though not in precisely the way he imagines, as Part Two of The Alchemist will demonstrate.

Summary and Analysis Part 2: Crystal Merchant Episode (II) Summary Part Two begins after Santiago has worked for one month at the crystal merchant's shop. Santiago offers to build a display case for the crystal, which the merchant can put outside his shop to attract potential customers. The crystal merchant fears that passers-by will bump into it and break the glass. Santiago responds that business has improved since he began working at the store and that the merchant should take advantage of this trend. He explains the idea, learned from the king of Salem, of moving when luck is on one's side — the principle of favorability. After two more months, with the display case in place outside the store having generated an enormous amount of new business, Santiago figures that if he returns home with all the money he has made, he can double his flock in less than a year. Also, he can trade with the Arabs in Tangier or in Spain, because he has learned to speak Arabic. Hearing a tourist complain of thirst after climbing the hill to the crystal shop, Santiago suggests to the crystal merchant that they sell tea and serve it in the crystal, which in turn will help them sell more crystal. Meanwhile, Santiago's aspirations have encouraged the merchant to recall his own abandoned dreams. He uses the word that will feature prominently in this section of the novel: maktub, meaning "It is written." In

Western terms, maktub means that something is destined, meant to be. Santiago and the crystal merchant offer tea at the store, and their venture is a huge financial success. After eleven months and nine days in Tangier, Santiago has earned enough money to buy one hundred and twenty sheep, a return ticket to Andalusia, and a license to import products from Africa. The crystal merchant has made enough to travel to Mecca, one of his own life's aspirations. But the merchant tells Santiago ". . . you know that I'm not going to go to Mecca. Just as you know that you're not going to buy your sheep." The merchant is right. When the stones Urim and Thummim spill out of Santiago's jacket, he recalls Melchizedek and his teachings. Santiago realizes that he will always be able to return to Andalusia and the life of a shepherd, but he will not always be able to visit the Egyptian pyramids. He decides to forge onward in pursuit of his Personal Legend. Analysis In literary terms, the crystal merchant is considered to be Santiago's foil, a character who demonstrates by contrast everything that another character is and isn't. For instance, Santiago innovates and works hard to better the crystal shop's visibility and appeal, while after thirty years the merchant has stopped trying to improve his business. In the greater scheme of things, Santiago is seeking his Personal Legend, whereas the crystal merchant is not. Once he desired to travel to Mecca, one of the five acts required of a devout Muslim. But even after Santiago's changes to the crystal business have brought in enough money to make that possible, the crystal merchant does not seek Mecca. He has abandoned his Personal Legend. By contrast, Santiago earns enough to return to the life that is most comfortable to him, that of a shepherd, yet he chooses to renounce this in his quest to reach the pyramids. The Arabic word maktub sums up the crystal merchant's philosophy: He does something because "it is written" — that is, fated — rather than as a result of his own hopes and desires. Unlike Santiago, he lives life passively, as one who reacts to events rather than as a shaper of them. Coelho offers readers the character of the crystal merchant as an example of how not to live, versus the active, questing ideal embodied by The Alchemist's protagonist, Santiago. The crystal merchant is not a bad man. In fact, he's quite ordinary. But it is precisely his ordinariness that the novel warns against. He is not a villain, or even an antagonist; he is simply Santiago's foil....