The Symbolism Used in The Alchemist
Explained in a unique perspective
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Other than thousands around the globe, The Alchemist has also inspired me a lot. The story of this novel revolves around a shepherd boy who embarks upon a journey to realize his dream. He recurrently had a dream in which he had seen treasure buried at a specific place near the pyramids in Egypt. The rest of novel consists his story of How God made the way of that boy to realize his dream. The book is filled with thought-provoking quotes full of wisdom. And the book is also a masterpiece in terms of use of symbolism. You can believe of this book as inspirational, motivational, spiritual and also religious. One might wonder, can this book be religious? Yes it contains many such themes and points. But Paulo Coelho in his phenomenal style has kept it conflict-free and also at the same time given a strong religious message that is same for all believers of God, whether Jews, Christians, Muslims or others.
This book is one of those few books I’ve read, that contain a deeper meaning. And in this article, I will represent which is totally my own interpretation of this book and I believe that
Knowledge about a particular book doubles when you read a different interpretation of the same book.
I intentionally used the word interpretation because interpretation has nothing to do with the actual thoughts of the writer. It is something that is completely the reader’s belonging.
Now, I’ll mention below a few places where symbolism is used and how I interpret them.
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The most basic example of symbolism used is of sheep. Santiago (the main character) often shares his thoughts about his sheep that they are content as far as you give them food and water. The food and water symbolizes, the worldly comforts, or simply money which can buy you the worldly comforts. And the sheep means those have forgotten their dream and are content as far as their materialistic comforts are being fulfilled. Their aim in this world is nothing but to get a better job to get paid better or do something big only to earn good money.
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“Treasure is uncovered by the force of flowing water, and it is buried by the same currents,” said the old man. “If you want to learn about your own treasure, you will have to give me one-tenth of your flock.”
“What about one-tenth of my treasure?”
The old man looked disappointed. “If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it.”
If one wants to find his own treasure, one must burn all the ships before. You cannot keep the desire of worldly comforts along with the desire to achieve a higher goal. You must sacrifice your all belongings and desires in order to strive for a higher goal.
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Then another main point of this book is believing in omens of God. God always guides his man when he sets on the journey to realize his dream and we should be ready to accept his guidance.
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After the boy sets on the journey, he keeps comparing himself with his past or with other shepherds he knows. First, after earning good amount of money from the crystal shop and visiting those far areas. Then, earning wealth and reputation in the oasis after reporting about the planning of attack on the oasis. And at last, after meeting Fatima. But at all those points, he realizes that even if he has earned more than any other shepherd, even if he has visited more places than any other shepherd, even if he has met with the woman he loved, he hasn’t yet achieved his dream. The alchemist also tells the boy that he achieved all of this by listening to omens of God and these omens of Gods are calling him to find his treasure and if he doesn’t listen to these omens anymore, he will eventually lose everything he has earned. Whenever a person sets on this path, different things try to convince the traveller that he has already achieved enough. This is also a test by God.
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Did you know? 🤨
Paulo Coelho wrote this complete novel in just two weeks. In an interview to The Guardian, he verified it and said that he was able to write this fast because: “The book was already written in my soul”
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Then comes the most interesting and also the most difficult part. The knowledge of Alchemy.
“Why are you called the alchemist?”
“Because that’s what I am.”
“And what went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so?”
“They were looking only for gold,” his companion answered. “They were seeking the treasure of their Personal Legend, without wanting actually to live out the Personal Legend.”
Alchemy is the knowledge through which lead transforms into Gold. Gold is referred to as the element that evolved the most in this novel. Every person must go through the journey of his spiritual evolution and go through a complete transformation in order to become Gold. And you know the method, the process of heating at a high temperature for a long time. And you can understand what heating at high temperature means.
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When the pan had cooled, the monk and the boy looked at it, dazzled. The lead had dried into the shape of the pan, but it was no longer lead. It was gold.
“Will I learn to do that someday?” the boy asked.
“This was my Personal Legend, not yours,” the alchemist answered. “But I wanted to show you that it was possible.”
This is a big mistake that most people don’t recognize that every person has a different personal legend. Many people get impressed by famous scientists, leaders, businessmen, etc. They indeed did an amazing job. But we forget that it was their personal legend to become famous or to become rich, but it is not everyone’s.
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Is it true? 🤔
The title of this book is “The Alchemist”. And the title does not refer to the alchemist, with whom the boy met in the desert, but it refers to the boy himself.
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Hello Random Reader! These are my thoughts and you also have some of your own and I know they are different. I shared mine with you. Won’t you be sharing yours? You can share them by writing a response to this story. I’ll be waiting for them.
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Coming to the end, it’s the last point I will mention. In the end, the boy finds out that the treasure was buried at the same abandoned church where he had first saw his dream. It’s the journey or path or the struggle which gives the dream, its worth. Without following that path, that dream is deprived of its essence. As this novel would be deprived of its essence, if this last point wasn’t there.
(Note: The upcoming text is written from an Islamic point of view)
There is an additional thought regarding this point and its purely my interpretation and it has nothing to do with the actual book. I have often noticed that the author Paulo Coelho expresses the religious ideas without adding a bit of controversy. And those religious ideas are the common ideas of Jews, Christians and Muslims who believe that there is one powerful force that makes everything work (this powerful force is also mentioned with name soul of the world in this novel). And the author has mentioned some ideas which are inspired by sayings of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) in his some other books.
So, revise the story of Hadhrat Ismail a.s and Hadhrat Hajra (his mother). The water was present just below the feet of Hadhrat Ismail. But Allah Almighty sprouted the spring after the seven rounds of the mother around two distant hills (and these seven rounds are mandatory during Hajj and drinking water from the spring that sprouted isn’t mandatory). Imagine, the condition of a mother at such an occasion. Couldn’t Allah Almighty sprout the spring before those seven struggle-full rounds? But that is the love of Allah Almighty. He tests his persons through the struggle to make them realize the true meaning of the struggle and to make them understand His love. Wasn’t the treasure buried below the same place the boy saw his dream?
