Book review on Paul Coelho's bestseller, "The Alchemist". Analysis on the main theme, characters, plot, setting and symbols. Includes summary on the plot. This analysis is more appropriate for high school students who are looking for extra information for their own book review or are in need of som...
Brief outline of the setting (environment, state of life and social surroundings)
and milieu (time era).
The Alchemist shows the journey of the young boy and moves from one country to another as
the boy gets one step closer to his treasure. The book starts off in a self-sufficient countryside
filled with hills, farmland and rivers, Andalusia in Spain. The countryside and shepherd lifestyle
of the boy show that the boy is not wealthy. He comes from a poor background, simple farm
family from the pastures who work very hard to obtain food and water, but they still gathered
enough money to let the boy go to a seminary until he was sixteen and learn Spanish, Latin and
theology. In Tarifa (a Spanish town within Andalusia) everyone was very friendly towards the
boy and knew him well because the countryside people had a tight relationship based on
respect where the boy was comfortable. The setting then moves on along with the boy to
Tangier, North Africa by crossing the Mediterranean Sea by ship. This setting was totally new to
the boy because of the language, culture and religion barrier. Tangier’s people are very religious
and reserved towards foreigners. The port where the boy arrives is unsafe because of the
thieves. The main religion is Islam, and the language is Arabic. The rest of the story in Tangier
remains in a shop of a crystal merchant. The book then moves to the Sahara Desert where the
desert caravans find refuge in the oasis where there is more than 100 tents, approximately fifty
thousand palm trees and many residents. The oasis and desert have a specific Tradition which is
not to be broken and have intense heat in the day and coldness in the night. From the safety of
the oasis, he moves into the dangerous desert and to the Coptic Monastery and finally towards
his treasure in the Pyramids within Egypt. There is no specific year given in which this book is
set but it is set in the past and is in the pre-modern era before technology was introduced.
4. Summary of the plot
The story starts in the fields of Andalusia where a shepherd boy named Santiago has only one
goal: to travel as a shepherd, look after his sheep and marry the wool merchant’s daughter
whom he met a year ago and fell in love with. After a conversation with his parents, he sets out
on foot with his sheep to seek the girl and see the world. During his journey, he realized that he
had a dream about a child who directed him to the Pyramids and said that he will find treasure
there. Thinking of his dream he went to a Gypsy who interpreted his dream and told him about
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