ULM 2008 Summer Reading Program

Topics for Discussion

1. At the start of his journey, when Santiago asks a gypsy woman to interpret his dream about a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids, she asks for one tenth of the treasure in return. When Santiago asks the old man to show him the path to the treasure, the old man requests one tenth of his flock as "payment." Both payments represent a different price we have to pay to fulfill a dream; however, only one will yield a true result. Which payment represents false hope? Can you think of examples from your own life when you had to give up something to meet a goal and found the price too high?

2. Paulo Coelho once said that alchemy is all about pursuing our spiritual quest in the physical world as it was given to us. It is the art of transmuting the reality into something sacred, of mixing the sacred and the profane. With this in mind, can you define your Personal Legend? At what time in your life were you first able to act on it? What was your "beginner's luck"? Did anything prevent you from following it to conclusion? Having read The Alchemist, do you know what inner resources you need to continue the journey?

3. One of the first major diversions from Santiago's journey was the theft of his money in Tangiers, which forced him into taking a menial job with the crystal merchant. There, Santiago learned many lessons on everything from the art of business to the art of patience. Of all these, which lessons were the most crucial to the pursuit of his Personal Legend?

4. When he talked about the pilgrimage to Mecca, the crystal merchant argued that having a dream is more important than fulfilling it, which is what Santiago was trying to do. Do you agree with Santiago's rationale or crystal merchant's?

5. The Englishman, whom Santiago meets when he joins the caravan to the Egyptian pyramids, is searching for "a universal language, understood by everybody." What is that language? According to the Englishman, what are the parallels between reading and alchemy? How does the Englishman's search for the alchemist compares to Santiago's search for a treasure? How did the Englishman and Santiago feel about each other?

6. The alchemist tells Santiago "you don't have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation." With this in mind, why do you think the alchemist chose to befriend Santiago, though he knew that the Englishman was the one looking for him? What is the meaning of two dead hawks and the falcon in the oasis? At one point the alchemist explains to Santiago the secret of successfully turning metal into gold. How does this process compare to finding a Personal Legend?

7. Why did Santiago have to go through the dangers of tribal wars on the outskirts of the oasis in order to reach the pyramids? At the very end of the journey, why did the alchemist leave Santiago alone to complete it?

8.Earlier in the story, the alchemist told Santiago "when you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed." At the end of the story, how did this simple lesson save Santiago's life? How did it lead him back to the treasure he was looking for?

Questions for Class Discussion

1. What is the significance of Santiago becoming a shepherd rather than a priest, as his parents had hoped? Why has he made this choice? What does being a shepherd allow him to do?

2. The novel begins with the boy deciding to spend the night with his flock in an abandoned church. The church has no roof and an enormous sycamore tree has grown up where the sacristy once stood. Why is it important that Santiago dreams of a child who tells him of his treasure in this particular setting?

3. King Mechizedek tells the boy that when we are children, "everything is clear and everything is possible," but as time passes mysterious forces convince us to abandon our dreams (p. 23). Do you think this is true? What are the "mysterious forces" that threaten to hold us back as we grow older?

4. The King also tells the boy that when you really desire something "all the universe conspires to help you find it" (p. 24). And he explains the principle of "favorability," or beginner's luck. From whom does Santiago receive help on his journey? Have you ever benefited from beginner's luck?

5. What tests and setbacks does the boy experience on his journey? Why is it important that he faces and overcomes these challenges? How would the novel be different if his quest was easier?

6. After he has been robbed of all his money in Tangier, how does Santiago choose to regard his situation? Did this surprise you? What allows him to understand his loss in this way?

7. What chain of events leads the boy to work at the crystal shop? What does he learn there? Why is he able to change and improve the shop, which has remained the same for many years? How is he different from the shop's owner?

8. When Santiago begins his trek across the desert, he meets an Englishman who is a student of alchemy. In many ways they are alike: both are pursuing their "Personal Legends," both have encountered the ideas of alchemy. How is their approach to life and learning different? Why does the alchemist choose the boy as his pupil over the Englishman?

9. The Englishman tells Santiago that he would like to write "a huge encyclopedia just about the words luck and coincidence. It's with those words that the universal language is written" (p. 72). The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung coined the term "synchronicity" to describe such moments of meaningful coincidence. When does Santiago experience this kind of synchronicity? What do these experiences reveal?

10. The alchemist says that "people become fascinated by pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the language of the world" (p. 89). What is this language of the world, or "universal language" as it is called elsewhere in the novel? How is it different than ordinary language? Is it spoken or expressed in some other way? Why would a fascination with words and pictures make people forget it?

11. The boy is repeatedly encouraged to read the signs and omens to learn what he should do. What is an omen? How are omens related to "the universal language" and to finding one's "Personal Legend"? What are some of the omens that appear to the boy in the novel? Have you ever experienced something that seemed like an omen?

12. How does Santiago feel when he meets Fatima? How does he know this is love? What does she teach him about love?

13. Early in the novel, the King tells the boy that his book says what most other books say: "It describes people's inability to choose their own Personal Legends. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world's greatest lie…that at a certain point, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate" (p. 20). And yet throughout The Alchemist, the concept of Maktub-the idea that our destiny is already written-is endorsed by many characters. What is the difference between being controlled by fate and discovering one's "Personal Legend" or destiny?

14. When Santiago meets the alchemist, he wants to give up his journey to find his treasure and remain at the pyramids. He has become a respected counselor at the oasis, he has fallen deeply in love with Fatima, and he wants nothing more than to stay where he is. How does the alchemist convince him to go on?

15. The alchemist says that for the boy to find his treasure he must listen to his heart. Why does the alchemist feel that the heart is more important, or more trustworthy, than the mind? How and why is the heart able to understand things the mind can't grasp?

16. When Santiago and the alchemist are captured by one of the warring tribes, Santiago must turn himself into the wind to save his life. He asks the desert, the wind, and the sun to help him, but none know how to turn a man into the wind. Where does the boy find the answer? What is the larger significance of this answer?

17. How do you interpret the novel's ending? Why is it significant that Santiago's treasure is buried not at the Pyramids but back in Spain at the abandoned church where his journey began? What is the meaning of the fact that Santiago learns this from a man who also had a dream but refused to follow it?

18. What time period do you think The Alchemist takes place in? Are there any clues in the novel? Why do you suppose Coelho hasn't clearly indicated when the events described in the story take place? Why do you think Santiago is simply called "the boy" throughout the novel?

19. The Alchemist is about a shepherd boy who journeys by caravan across the desert, has many magical experiences, and meets many extraordinary characters. How were you able to relate to the story even though the world it describes is so different from life in contemporary America? What aspects of the story seem most relevant to you? Has reading the novel changed the way you view your own life?

20. If you could ask Paulo Coelho one question, what would it be? How do you think he would answer?