NOVEL SUMMARY

Title of the novel:

The Alchemist

Author's name:

Paulo Coelho

Period to which the author belongs:

1960

Name of the publisher that published it:

Grijalbo

Year in which the publisher released the book:

May, 2002
SUMMARY OF THE NOVEL

CHAPTER 1: Santiago is a young shepherd who had just arrived at an old

church. He stayed there to spend the night, the next day he went to a town to
selling wool, he stayed there all day talking with the merchant's daughter already
that he had made him wait until he finished selling wool; Santiago
He sheared the sheep and the merchant paid him what they had agreed.

Now a year had passed and there were four days left to reach that
town, After spending the night in the same church, Santiago woke up with the
the same dream he had last year in that same church. Santiago
they had reported that there was a camp of gypsies around there, the young shepherd
he went to visit a fortune teller who lived there, she told him that he had to travel to
Egypt to discover the treasure that was in his dream.

Upon arriving at the village, he met an old man who spoke to him about all his secrets.
deeper, he told him that he was the king of Salem and his name was Melchizedek, this
he told him that he had to travel to Egypt to discover a great treasure, the boy said to him

he believed wrongly that with the fortune teller and in exchange he gave her one tenth of his

sheep and the rest she sold to a friend of hers.

With the money he had now, he bought a one-way ticket to Africa once he arrived.
there a man who spoke his language stole everything he had, Santiago not
he had money and spent the night in the market where he was. The next day
next went walking through the square and started working with a merchant of
crystals.
CHAPTER 2: Santiago had been working with the merchant for a month and asked him
permission to build a shelf, more than two months had passed since
who built the shelf and this attracted many customers.

Eleven months and nine days had passed since he arrived in Africa, today he was going to

return to Spain, but he regretted it and decided to travel to Egypt and live his
personal legend just as the old man had told him, with the money he had.
he bought a ticket to Egypt; in the caravan, he met an English boy
He wanted to go to an oasis where an alchemist lived. One night they met.
with another caravan and this one told them that there was a war between two clans.

They had arrived at the oasis where they could rest and gather supplies. Santiago
he had fallen in love with a young woman named Fátima, the head of the caravan told them

he announced that they could not continue the journey until the war was over. A
one night Santiago had a vision of an army approaching the oasis, it was
to speak with the chief of the oasis and he told him about the vision he had, the chief proposed to him

next deal: for every ten men killed, I would receive a gold coin,
but if he didn't kill anyone, he would kill him. At night he found himself in a
man on a horse and told him that if he was still alive the next day, he should look for him.

After sunset, Santiago asked him where he lived and he pointed towards the
Yes; the boy had found the alchemist.

The next day they killed five hundred men after sunset in Santiago.
he went to the alchemist's shop, he convinced him not to give up his
personal legend and promised to accompany him to Egypt.
The next day he departed with the alchemist; they crossed the entire desert and
found on various occasions with army camps. They arrived at
a monastery, the alchemist told him that they would part ways here, the alchemist
He asked for permission from a monk who was there to use his kitchen, in a pot.
he put lead and after a while he turned it into gold, he broke it into four pieces and
he gave one to the boy, another to the monk, he had one left and the one he had left he
He gave it again to the monk so that he would give it to the boy as soon as he returned.

The boy walked until he reached the pyramids of Egypt, there he started to
digging to find his treasure, a man asked him what he was doing, but he
the boy did not answer, they grabbed him and discovered that he had gold, they thought

that there was more hidden and he was forced to dig when nothing was found he
they got beaten up to tell them where they had hidden the gold in the end
Santiago told them that he was looking for a treasure that appeared in one of his dreams,

the boss told him that what he was doing was a waste of time since he had a
dream in which I had to dig into the roots of a sycamore tree that was in a
abandoned church in Spain.

Santiago returned to Spain and when he arrived at the church he dug in the sycamore until

find the treasure.

CHARACTER SCHEME AND THEIR RELATIONS

Main:

Santiago: he is the main character of the story and makes a living as

pastor.

The Alchemist: This character helps Santiago complete his legend.

personal.

Secondary:

Melchizedek helps Santiago to embark on his personal legend.

oFátima: this girl falls in love with Santiago when he is in Africa.

The gypsy: this woman tries to read her dreams.

COMPONENTS OF THE NOVEL

Type of narrator: It is narrative. Most of Paulo Coelho's works are

in narrative.

Main conflict: The central theme of this work is the narrative of the life of
a young man whose father wants him to become a priest.

Descripción física y psicológica de los personajes:Santiago, muchacho

pastor student of LATIN, SPANISH and THEOLOGY. Dreamer, respectful,
of peaceful and honest character. He is the protagonist of the story who always
has given in to their instincts.

The Merchant's Daughter: A girl with black hair from the city of
Andalusia, which inspired Santiago to feel hopeful and to take an interest in the
love.

The King of Salem Melchizedek: An old man who initiates Santiago into his legend
personal and makes him believe in dreams. Intelligent and wise.

The Thief: character who betrays Santiago.

Fátima: Young Muslim woman. She is a woman of the desert who falls in love with

Santiago. She says she will wait for him until he returns from the desert later
to create your personal legend.
Alchemist: He is the master of the boy and knows the science of it perfectly.
alchemy. He is the one who guides him through all the paths and helps him reach his
personal legend. He is very wise and extremely intelligent.

Description of the environment: Throughout the novel, Santiago visits many.

places. Mainly resided in Andalusia in hostels, churches or another place
where to seek refuge with your flock as you travel from field to field
I never stayed too long in one place. Upon deciding to leave for the
treasure and his personal history visits Tarifa, small Arab towns like the one in
Fátima finally manages to arrive in Egypt.
COMMENT

Finally, the conclusion of this novel has arrived, authored by Paulo Coelho.
has risen, and continues to generate many discussions regarding quality
of the story. First of all, the second part of the book takes as its setting the
desert, where most of the actions that take place in the
novel. Just like in the first part of the book, Coelho resorts to
protagonist of the story, Santiago, as the subject who experiences a series
of tests, going through the misfortune of being deceived and robbed of his few
belongings, and many other tests that make him worthy of understanding the
language of the world, which makes everything follow its course, which "evolves" in the

the same words used by the Alchemist. In this way, the young shepherd
and the adventurer sets out in search of his 'Personal Legend', the treasure that

he would materialize the dreams that led him to start his long journey.