Talk:The Alchemist (novel)
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The Alchemist is a magical and inspirational novel loved by millions around the world
Does anyone know what time period this novel was set in, the author was very vague in that area.
In personal experience, it seems that to make the book more universal, authors do not mention the time. How many times have you picked up a book, only to discover it was written in a time period that you cannot relate to, so you put it down, and find something else. Think of everything that you could have appreciated in the book if you had not had a prejudice against seemingly ancient literature and ideas. But to answer the question it could be anywhere from the 1500's-1800's.
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[edit] Plot
It would be very helpful if someone wrote a quick synopsis of the plot. –Ua747sp 08:39, 3 Jan 2007 (UTC) yes please do i really want to know the plot of the Alchemist. )^.^(
How does one go about doing that? I've just finished the book and could write one, but am having trouble figuring out how the editing process works. Amaris 00:27, 26 March 2007 (UTC)Amaris
An alchemist traveling in a caravan in an unspecified place and time recounts a fable that he read along the way. The story is a modified version of the myth of Narcissus. The twist in this version is that the lake in which Narcissus drowns weeps for the death of Narcissus not because of his beauty, but because the lake could gaze at its own beauty in the eyes of the young boy. This idea is taken from a short prose-poem by Oscar Wilde called 'The Disciple'.
Santiago, the protagonist, grows up with poor parents who struggled their whole lives to send him to seminary. But Santiago has a strong desire to travel the world, and so his father allows him to use his inheritance to buy a flock of sheep.
As a shepherd, he spends several years traveling the countryside of Andalusia in southern Spain, enjoying the care-free and adventurous life of a wanderer. As the story begins, we learn that a year ago Santiago met the beautiful daughter of a merchant in a town he is soon to revisit. Even though he spent only a few hours talking with this girl, his strong feelings for her make him question his life as a shepherd and make him consider the merits of a more settled life. He sleeps in a church where a sycamore tree grew where the sacristy once was (refer to end).
When he arrives in the town where the girl lives, he first decides to go to a gypsy fortune-teller to help him decipher a recurring dream that he had been having. Santiago always dreams that a child is playing with his sheep and then takes him by the hand and brings him to the Pyramids of Egypt to show him the location of a hidden treasure. But Santiago always wakes up just before the child is going to reveal to him the exact location of the treasure. The gypsy says that he has to go because if it is a child that tells, it exists.
At first, the boy does not mind what the gypsy says, but when an old man, who calls himself Melchizedeck, the king of Salem, tells him that it is his Personal Legend or his purpose to live, he is interested. Melchizedeck tells him a wonderful story about a man who found true happiness by fulfilling his Personal Legend. The king gives the boy two stones, Urim and Thummim, one black and the other white, the black meaning "yes" and the white "no". These, he says, are for making decisions, although it is best to make them himself. Santiago decides to travel to Africa. He sells his sheep and goes to Tangier, a port in Africa near Spain. But in Tangier, he is robbed. Losing hope, he decides to walk about the city; up in a hill, and finds a crystal shop. He finds that business declined when the nearby city developed. When the boy enters the shop, he cleans the dusty crystal glasses in exchange for some food to eat. As he is cleaning two customers enter the store and buy some crystal glasses. The Arab merchant says that it is a good omen, and hires the boy. Santiago learns that every person's fate is written, and that there is a Language of the World (unspoken) learned partly by his dealings with his sheep.
After almost a year, the boy decides to leave the crystal shop since he has enough money to buy a flock of sheep twice the size of the one he had before, and since he has since learned Arabic, can sell to Arabic merchants too. But he never buys a single sheep. He decides to fulfill his personal legend - people in the caravan decide to learn from one another. As the Englishman attempts to observe the desert and learn its language, Santiago reads the Englishman's books and learns about alchemy. The Englishman tells him that the goal of alchemists is to purify metal by heating it for many years until all its individual properties are burned. After a while, Santiago stops reading and returns the books to the Englishman, and each tells the other he is not able to learn anything. Santiago concludes everyone has his or her own way of learning things.
When it arrives in the oasis, the caravan is welcomed and told that it will not be permitted to proceed further because of tribal wars. Santiago helps the Englishman look for the alchemist. He meets a desert woman named Fatima who tells the group where the alchemist lives. The boy is infatuated with Fatima's beauty at first sight, and tells her that he loves her and wants her to be his wife. At the very same time, the alchemist living at the oasis realizes that he will meet a disciple who would learn from him the secrets of alchemy. Apparently the disciple turns out to be Santiago.
Santiago meets the alchemist after averting a threat of tribal attack on the oasis through a vision he has after reading about the flight of two hawks. The alchemist tells the boy that he will never be happy unless he fulfills his Personal Legend. Reluctant to leave the oasis because of his love for the desert girl Fatima, Santiago tells the alchemist that he wants to stay there, accepting the new role of councilor which was offered to him by the chieftain when Santiago saved the oasis. But the alchemist warns Santiago that in the future he would lose his ability to see omens because he stopped listening to the omens that told him to find his treasure and fulfill his Personal Legend. As a result he would lose his position as the councilor and he would regret not pursuing his destiny of finding his treasure.
Eventually, Santiago decides to leave the oasis with the alchemist in pursuit of his treasure. While traveling through the desert, the boy learns from the alchemist. He learns that each person who fulfills his personal legend enhances the Soul of the World, and that the world is just here to show God's glory. The alchemist also tells the boy to listen to his heart and understand it so it will not betray him and tell him in fear that it is not wise to find his treasure. Santiago and his heart become one, and Santiago's heart tells him that he has learned the unspoken Language of the World.
Santiago and the alchemist are captured along the way by one of the warring tribes. The alchemist tells the chief that they have brought money to give to him. the money is accepted without question as it can buy many arms; the alchemist then declares that Santiago is a powerful alchemist and can turn himself into the wind and destroy the military encampment if he wants to. The leader demands to see this and tells the boy he has three days to demonstrate his power or the two will die. This is the ultimate test of Santiago's knowledge of alchemy. On the third day, Santiago leads the group to the top of a cliff and tells them that the action will take a while.
Using his knowledge of the Language of the World that he learned from his heart on his journey, Santiago talks to the desert, and teaches it about love, and eventually the desert allows Santiago to use his sands, saying that he would also need the wind to blow them. Santiago turns to the wind, and tells it that it hasn't met its full limits. The wind, curious about what it could do, strikes up a conversation about love with the boy. The wind is unsatisfied, and suggests the boy talk to the heavens (the sun). The boy tells the wind that it must blow the sands so he will not be blinded when looking at the sun. The boy proceeds to talk to the sun, and after the sun tells him that although he is wise, he doesn't know how to turn Santiago into the wind. The wind, overjoyed that he knows that the sun has its limits, blows even harder.
The "Sinum," the sandstorm that results, almost destroys the camp. Two commanders with the chief are fearful and tell him that they should stop this. The chief replies that he wishes to see the greatness of Allah, the Arabic word for God, and makes a mental note to remove the two from command as true desert men are not afraid. Santiago is told to talk to the hand that wrote all, that is, the Son of God. The boy and the Son of God have a silent conversation, and the soul of the boy becomes one with the Soul of the World, which is the Soul of God. The Soul of God can perform miracles, and Santiago turns himself into the wind and moves off the cliff to the far side of the camp next to a sand-covered sentinel.
After turning himself to wind, Santiago and the alchemist travel on to the pyramids with an escort party provided by the general-chief. They stop at a monastery, and the alchemist tells the escort party to return to their camp. There he meets a monk and they talk in the Coptic tongue. The monk invites them in. In the kitchen, the alchemist shows Santiago a demonstration of turning a pot of lead into gold. The alchemist divides the gold into four quarters and gives the monk one of the pieces for his generosity and hospitality. He gives a piece to Santiago, and one for him to return to the oasis. He gives the final piece to the monk for Santiago in case he ever needs it. Santiago and the alchemist separate not far from the pyramids. Santiago's heart tells him that he should dig for his treasure where he weeps after getting to the pyramids of joy.
Robbed once again near the pyramids, Santiago gives up hope, but the robber tells him that he is stupid to have traveled so far. He then tells the boy of a recurring dream in which he had seen a treasure in a church where shepherds and their sheep slept, hidden under a sycamore tree growing where the sacristy once was. The boy, who slept in this church as a shepherd himself at the beginning of his adventures, goes back to the monk to get money for the return trip and finds the treasure, a chest of Spanish gold coins.
The idea for this story is taken from a short prose-poem by Oscar Wilde called 'The Disciple'. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 123.193.8.57 (talk) 07:48, August 20, 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Time Period
I would say the time period is about the late 1800s, past 1860, because they do mention a lot of technology, like rifles and chrome-plated pistols.
Actually, it would be past 1839. Considering that the first revolver was made in that year, and that the English Man carries one on him, it had to be past that point.
I think that it was probably in the early 1900s, when cars were still rare enough not to be used widely.
Let me correct myself, it's NOT 1893 when the first revolver was made, but 1839.
- The Englishman is also said to have studied Esperanto, which had only begun development in the 1870s and didn't have a world conference until 1905. It seems to me more likely that the story is meant to be anachronistic. --Rae (Talk | Contribs) 04:01, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
Methinks someone/s should go over the themes/ideas explored within the novel. For example, fate. If someone does you get a high 5.
Yeah, We need some examples of Symbols, I got kinda lazy, and can someone else do it??? I wanna upgrade this article from a start. Desert storm101 02:28, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Picture
Sumone add a picture of the book... Desert storm101 16:48, 22 June 2007 (UTC)Desert Storm101
- I added a picture of the cover of the book....hope you like it! ~Bella 19:43, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
yup!!!!!!!! Desert storm101 04:36, 27 June 2007 (UTC)DS1135
[edit] References
MORE REFERENCES NEEDED>>> Sumone do it... Add somthing from a review site... Desert storm101 23:44, 27 June 2007 (UTC)Desert Storm101
[edit] Notable Quotes
LOl.... I tried to upgrade to B class, but they said Notable Quotes 2 long. FInd the most important.... Trim Desert storm101 23:43, 27 June 2007 (UTC)Desert Storm101
- I will suggest that we dump the quotes altogether and move them to Wikiquote. Marlith T/C 04:39, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Collage of Pictures and Words
Hey! I have to make a collage of pictures and words.. so if anyone has any interesting pictures related to the story.. like..the picture of a crystal shop on the hill in Tangier or the oasis..or something of that sort.. it would be very helpful ^^
~Saums —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.53.247.146 (talk) 13:32, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
I reckon this book could be anything up to the 1930s. Also where does the name Santiagi come from????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.11.141.165 (talk) 13:27, 25 January 2008 (UTC)
