The Language we don’t realise we speak; The Alchemist Book Review
“Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.”
I went into reading the alchemist with a good enough perception of what it would be like because of two things that had happened.
- I had heard too much praise about the book.
2. It definitely had to do something with manifestation and destiny and readers claimed that reading it had changed their lives.
This was new for me since I generally keep an open mind about what I am about to read, without expectations and fewer notions about how it would turn out.
Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is about a boy named Santiago who is a shepherd in Andalusia. He has a dream about a treasure and the book follows him travelling through Africa, meeting new people and his journey in search of the treasure. There is an actual Alchemist in the book, which somehow was the most surprising part of the book for me even though the title is a giveaway. Goes on to show the effect of preconceptions has on you ha-ha.
Despite the fact he is named Santiago, the protagonist is referred to as ‘the boy’ by the author, which I think was a creative decision to help drive the message of the book home. The readers could easily place themselves in ‘the boy’s shoes as he remains unnamed throughout the course of the book. Though the author wants the readers to make their own interpretations and take messages from the boy’s story regardless of their gender, as a woman, it didn’t feel welcoming to read how Fatima’s character is made so one-dimensional and an instrument to drive the boy’s resolve. Referred to as ‘the woman’, all Fatima wants is for the boy to achieve his treasure and her being a ‘woman’ is also used as an umbrella term for her emotions. Given that the book was published in 1988 and has biblical references, I decided to excuse this lapse in character portrayal as I grimaced.
The book is primarily about following your dreams with such a desire that the universe would work with you to achieve them. More than the story I felt the introduction of the book disclosed its contents as the four obstacles a person faces while on the path to realising their goals. The story amplifies it and visualises what these obstacles look like and the crucial decisions you must make at each step.
The Alchemist is a simple book to read. There are quite a few memorable lines in it that seem simple yet are impactful. But I had a hard time reading it because the book talked a lot about how everything is written by the Hand (Maktub) and the unhelpful helpful advice the boy receives from those who guide him, the omniety of it especially from the Alchemist himself. I don’t subscribe to the idea of the power of manifestation hence I accepted that I could be disappointed by the book as the story progressed.
And yet, I couldn’t help but relate to ‘the omens’, not in a literal sense but the fact that intuition exists, and you can get a sense of what is going to happen, even if you are not able to comprehend the feeling. My mind travelled back to all those times I had a pit in my stomach about the future, a simple thought that seemed out of place. These are the moments when you feel something is too good to be a coincidence but as Mycroft says to Sherlock, the universe is rarely so lazy, it’s everything we see but don’t observe. And that brings me to one of the main plot points of The Alchemist, the language of the world.
Now, it was this concept that knocked away my preconceptions of the book, and it was something that I really believe in. While the concept of destiny and having the courage to follow your dreams, seems a freeing concept, it really isn’t that far from determinism. The book literally says, “everything is written” and determinism states that everything is predetermined and it’s the subtle difference between the two that made it pretentious for me to read the book.
But then entered ‘the language of the world’, away from destiny, fate, dreams, and courage. The book hypothesised that there exists a universal language in the world. It’s the same thing that tells you when a person is an ally or foe, a subliminal communication that we do. The weather pattern, erratic behaviour of a dog, the flow of water in a stream, the direction of the wind, all of it is part of this language. Coelho highlights the importance of understanding this language throughout the story, whether the boy is travelling through the Sahara, the oasis, or the green pastures with his sheep. And the beauty of establishing this theme really emerges when you as a reader realise that the boy knew the sheep, their behaviour and we too in a way know this language. Our connection with all the species on this Earth and with each other.
Instincts, intuition, and observations are the takeaways that I would take from The Alchemist for myself. And even though a divinity surrounded the text, it managed to form a connection between this language and destiny. Instead of it being written as destiny and the universe/God conspiring with you to achieve it, maybe it is not a test or a journey. We co-exist with nature and anything that may seem like luck or a sign, could just be a conversation in this universal language that went in our favour, and we happened to notice it. Those who feel gratitude probably notice a lot of it.
After finishing the book, I realised that I had very strong feelings about it. The book invites you to interpret it in any way possible. On the surface of it, yes, having strong desires about your goals help you to achieve them. You do put in more effort, you become more resilient towards hurdles and streamlined in order to reach the endpoint. But the exchanges between the characters about looking at life are amazing to compare. The author gives you concrete perspectives laterally and if you take a step back you realise how many themes are covered.
My favourite part from this was when the boy comes to the camel driver informing him that they are going to be attacked (as he saw in a vision), the camel driver thinks about a discussion with a seer about seeing the future by reading the omens of the present. And as they talk about death, the seer says, “Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity”. It would be an understatement to say that it resonated with me. This is one of the most incredible lines that I have ever read. Sleeping is the closest we come to experiencing death and considering our waking hours as an eternity puts emphasis on living in the present yet not putting too much pressure on making it count.
The book doesn’t end on a metaphorical note but on an actual conclusion which also surprised me and in a good way.
Paulo Coelho’s handling of these themes with such ease is remarkable. You have no difficulty in immersing yourself into the story. As you read, you travel to Spain, to Africa and meet people, living vicariously through Santiago. You’d also pick a pen to note down the lines that resonate with you from the book because there’s something for everyone in it.
When asked in an interview what he would want his epitaph to be, Paulo Coelho answered, “Paulo Coelho died while he was alive” and I think that best sums up the spirit of The Alchemist, to live.
