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StoryShots Summary and Analysis of The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream by Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho’s Perspective.

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian writer who specializes in spiritually inspired novels. Coelho had a troubled childhood and rebelled against his Catholic parents’ religion. Subsequently, they committed him to a psychiatric hospital on three occasions. Paulo used this hardship and his spiritual awakening, while on his 500-mile journey on Santiago de Compostela, as inspiration for his books. Before becoming a writer, Coelho engaged with multiple professions. For example, he has worked as a lawyer, songwriter, actor, journalist, and theater director. The Alchemist was initially a slow seller but has since become the most translated book by a living author. Coelho lets the world guide his writing. His ritual is to begin writing a novel when he sees a white feather in January of an odd year.

Part One, Section One - Dreaming is What Makes Life Interesting.

The main character in The Alchemist is a shepherd, Santiago. The story starts with Santiago pondering the nature of his work. Santiago is close to his animals. He calls each of them by name, his schedule revolves around them, and he has conversations with them. Recently, Santiago’s conversations have been about a girl that he met a year ago. He met her at the town that is the next destination on his journey. Santiago hasn’t stopped thinking about this girl all year. She is a merchant’s daughter he met while delivering wool to a shop she was browsing. This shop owner bought it from Santiago and encouraged him to return one year later. Hence, Santiago was on the way back to the town where he first met this girl.

Santiago views his shepherding life as providing him with considerable freedom. He allows his sheep to lead the way, and eventually, he finds a new path. However, Santiago realizes this is not a real discovery. He had once dreamed of traveling the world. Santiago accepts that dreaming about what you don’t have is what makes life interesting. This is why he has been dreaming for the last year about seeing this girl again.

Part One Section Two - Achieve Your Personal Legend

Santiago visits an old gypsy woman who interprets his recurring dream about a treasure. She tells him that dreams are a language used by the Soul of the World to communicate with people and that Personal Legends come from the same source. The king of Salem, Melchizedek, tells Santiago that he can achieve his Personal Legend if he follows the omens and gives him one-tenth of his sheep. Santiago sells his flock, buys a ticket to Africa, and sets sail to find the treasure. In Tangiers, he is robbed of all his money but continues on his journey. Santiago finds a job at a struggling crystal shop and saves up for a new flock of sheep and a passage back home.

Personal Legends Explained

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