The Alchemist Essay Research Paper Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist Essay, Research Paper

Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janiero in 1947 and before his career as a

best-selling author, he was a playwright, theater director, hippie, and popular

songwriter for some of Brazil’s leading pop artists. In 1986 he took a

pilgrimage along that Road of Santiago and this would be the center of the

plot of the book, The Pilgrimage, which was published in 1987. His second

book was named The Alchemist and was published in 1988. This book has

gone to number one in 29 countries and Coelho has been regarded as the most

widely read contemporary writers. The Alchemist was one of the top ten

international best sellers of 1998. His work has been published in more than

100 countries and is translated into 42 different languages. He has been

awarded a variety of prestigious awards from many different countries. He

today lives in South America with his family.

The story begins when the shepherd boy stopped for the night in a

church with a sycamore tree growing out of the middle. He told of the easy

going life of the shepherd and how his parents had wanted him to become a

priest. He went to all the schooling, but at the last minute he changed his

mind. He wanted to see the world and he felt that the best way to do this was

to become a shepherd. He said that the life of a shepherd is easy and carefree

and he felt like this was the way he wanted to live. He was anticipating seeing

the daughter of a man who would buy the wool from his sheep when he

arrived in the town that he would come to in another couple of days. He

thought that he might actually settle down and get married to this girl if she

would like to. He had been having a recurring dream about him at the

pyramids in Egypt. There he would be able to find all of the treasure in the

world and to realize what would come to be called his personal legend.

When he reached the next town he went to the fortuneteller and asked

her if she could help him out with is problem. She was unclear about what to

do, but she made him promise to give him a percentage of his treasure if he

ever found it. When he left the fortuneteller, he went and sat in the park to

read his new book. He was not in the mood for talking with others when the

old king approached him and tried to strike up a conversation with him. He

told the boy that everyone has a personal legend that he has to fulfill at some

time in his life. He tells him that his could be found at the pyramids because

of the dreams that he has been having lately. He tells him that he will help

him if he will give him ten percent of his herd, because you should never

promise anything that you don’t have yet. He sold all of his sheep and he was

given ummim and thummim, the two rocks that would help him make any

decisions that he was unable to make.

Then off he went down the road and traveled to the northern tip of

Africa. From there he left with all of his money in his pocket and set to a bar

where he didn’t speak the same language as any of the people there. He was

taken for a fool and all of his money was taken in the first few hours. He

stayed in the town for a while and he went into a shop that sold crystal. He

helped the man to clean all of the crystal and while he was there, two people

came in and bought crystal. The owner thought that this was a good omen and