The Alchemist Prologue - Part 1 (Section 1)
Prologue - Part 1 (Section 1)
The Alchemist reads a book with the story of Narcissus. He knows of the tale but the version in the book differs from what he remembers. In the book, Narcissus drowns in a lake due to his intense fascination with his reflection. After his death, the lake becomes a saltwater lake. The goddess of the surrounding visits the weeping lake and inquires from it the cause of its sadness. The lake had never known of Narcissus's loveliness, and yet it wept his loss because in him it had found a means to appreciate its own beauty
Santiago, a shepherd, stops to spend a night at an abandoned church with his flock of sheep. The church has a sycamore tree growing where the sacristy had once stood. The Shepherd pillows his head with a book he had just completed reading. He wakes up the next day before the sun has risen and notices his flock of sheep begin to rouse with him. He had named all his sheep and talked to them often. He wonders whether the sheep have somehow synced with him as they can wake just when he does. Or perhaps he has subconsciously synced with their rhythm so that he can wake just as they do. Santiago sometimes reads to his sheep and talks to them about his thoughts. For the past few days, he has been telling them about the merchant's daughter since he is four days away from her town.
He had met her last year when he had gone to sell his sheep's wool to her father, and while he had waited for the merchant to deal with his customers, Santiago had sat and read a book. The girl had approached him, expressing her surprise at a shepherd who could read. The beautiful girl had typical Andalusian features. They had talked for two hours, and she had told him how all her days seemed the same, while he had talked of his travels across Andalusia. He had been traveling two years as a shepherd, before that he had been preparing to become a priest. That had been his parents' wish, since having a priest in their family was an aspiration common among their class. The girl had made him experience an emotion he had never before felt, she had made him want to stay in the same place.
Santiago is uneasy as he approaches the town for he wonders whether she would recall him. Santiago has a purpose in life, very much like the jacket he carries through the summer day as it would be essential every dawn. His purpose is to travel the world, and he recalls the day he had told his father that he didn't want to become a priest but wanted to travel. His father told him that people from all over the world came to their region, and they all described it as having the most beautiful countryside and women. Santiago wanted to see other's land, and so his father gave him three gold coins that he had planned to give the boy in his inheritance, but now he wanted him to buy his flock to become a shepherd. Shepherds were the only people who could travel without having a lot of money.
The boy is happy that he had left, for now, he can live his dream every day. If he were ever to tire from the land, he could sell his sheep and head to sea. He plans on exchanging his book for a thicker one, and groom himself before meeting the merchant's daughter. He hurries his footsteps as he recalls a woman in Tarifa who interprets dreams. Santiago has twice experienced the same dream, in it, he sits in a field with his sheep. A child comes along to play with the sheep, and after a while comes to the boy and transports him to the Egyptian pyramids. The child tells him that he would find a hidden treasure if he came to the pyramids. The old woman, who reminds Santiago of the gypsies he had been afraid of since childhood, tells him that he should follow the dream. Before telling him so, she forces him to promise that he would share a tenth of the treasure when he found it. The boy is disappointed and angry, but the woman doesn't charge him any money. As Santiago is sitting in a plaza of Tarifa, an old man sits down near him, asks for a drink of his wine, and tries to engage him in conversation. The boy is surprised to learn the man can read, and the Old man introduces himself as the King of Salem, Melchizedek. The man criticizes Santiago's new book because it tells the reader to believe in the world's greatest lie that a man's life is determined by fate. He asks Santiago for a tenth of his flock in exchange for telling him where the hidden treasure can be found. The boy mistakes him for a crook involved with the Old gypsy woman, but then a sudden light shines from the man's chest. When Santiago can see again, he sees the man has written the names of his family, the name of the merchant girl, a name he hadn't known along with several other things that he had never told anyone.
The king tells Santiago that he has appeared to him to help him achieve his Personal Legend, which is the dream everyone has in their childhood and wishes to fulfill. A mysterious force keeps people from pursuing that goal and instead makes them believe that it is impossible. He tells him that the dreams we have arise from the soul of the universe, and an individual's only real responsibility is the pursuit of their Personal Legend. He points out a baker working across the plaza from them, that man had wanted to travel in his youth but had instead chosen to be a baker because it was an easier and more respectable life than that of a shepherd. The king informs the shepherd that he has chosen to appear to him now because the boy is about to give up on following his Personal Legend. He had appeared to different people in different forms for the same purpose. Last week, he had appeared as a stone to a miner who had given up everything else to look for emeralds, and just as he was about to give up after five years of unfruitful labor, the king had helped him discover his first emerald. The king is willing to tell Santiago where the hidden treasure lies but requires a tenth of his flock in payment. He leaves with a promise to meet him at the same place tomorrow.
Analysis
The Alchemist is an allegorical tale of a shepherd that sets out on an incredible journey to discover and fulfill his Personal legend. An Allegory is any story that has a hidden or deeper meaning and is used to impart moral or religious principles. Characters in an allegory can generally be categorized into distinct archetypal roles, Santiago serves as the hero of the Alchemist. The author, Paulo Coelho, was inspired to use the name Santiago for his main character due to a similarly named character from Ernest Hemingway's novel The old man and the sea.
Santiago's progress through the book can be seen to adhere to the structure of a hero's journey, which was given form by the late Joseph Campbell in his book The man with the thousand faces. Santiago's call to action lies in the redundant dream, as it leads him to begin his journey by seeking out the dream interpreter in Tarifa. In this initial section of the book, Santiago's thoughts about his sheep are important to note. Santiago has a certain dislike for his sheep, although he is grateful to them for their company, and doesn't ever mistreat them. Yet, their singular occupation of finding food and water makes him feel angry. This anger may be caused by Santiago's dissatisfaction with a life that only aims to cater to the basic needs of food, shelter, water, and clothing.
Free will versus fate is one of the major themes that develop in the Alchemist, Santiago exercises free will when he chooses to pursue the meaning of his dream by seeking out the dream interpreter, and later when he decides to sell his sheep. The dream interpreter fulfills the archetypal role of the herald in Santiago's tale.
