Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'

Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'

The Author and His/Her Times Paulo Coelho was born on August 24, 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When he was a boy, he was expected to become an engineer like his father. However, Paulo wanted to be a writer and rebelled against his parents. This made his parents transport him to a mental asylum. When Paulo was released, he was accepted into law school in 1970. Unfortunately, he dropped out of law school to explore South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe. The next years were spent living as a hippie and engaging in drugs. Then, his dream of writing was returned after he visited Spain at the age of 36. Paulo walked more 500 miles along a road known as "The Road to Santiago de Compostela". In addition, the road was a site of Catholic ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...However, the only time the word "Santiago" is mentioned is in the first sentence of the book: "The boy's name was Santiago". Instead, Paulo Coelho refers to Santiago as "the boy". Unfortunately, the author offers no description of appearance of Santiago. But the author does reveal that Santiago is a shepherd. One could know that Santiago enjoys to travel all over the world. This is why he is shepherd. One could know this by reading the following context from the book: " 'The people who come [to this village] have a lot of money to spend, so they can afford to travel,' his father said. 'Amongst us, the only ones who travel are the shepherds.' 'Well, then I'll be a shepherd!' [the boy said]' ". This shows that the boy wanted to be a shepherd because of his dream of wanting to travel. As previously explained, the boy can represent anybody in this novel. He represents somebody who can travel all over to different places, meet new people, encounter obstacles through life, and learn new concepts of life. Another character is the alchemist, whom the author does not give a name at all. He is described as a horseman, on a white horse, who wears a turban and a black kerchief covering his whole face, except for his eyes. In addition, he possesses a rare stone known as the Philosopher's Stone, which is something that can transform any metal into pure gold, and the Elixir of Life, which is a liquid that can cure

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