The Alchemist

Point Of View

The point of view of the novel The alchemist by Paulo Coelho is written in Third person omniscient, which means it is written in third person but also shows and expresses the characters' thoughts, actions and words.This makes readers get a better understanding of what the main character Santiago was thinking, but also what the other characters are thinking as well. By writing in third person omniscient the audience(the readers) are able to get a better sense of what is going on in the novel rather than what the main character Santiago feels is taking place in the novel ; are also able to get a deeper sense of all the other characters and how they contribute and affect the main character journey.Although If this novel was

The novel is written in present day and the time period is not stated in the novel .In the first few pages of the novel we are introduced to Andalusia , this is where the protoganist is from.It is located in an area in southern spain This is where the main Protoganist Santiago travels with his sheeps as a shepard . This is where the abandoned church is located ; santiago stays overnight ,where he sleeps under a sycamore tree and has a dream which is later on is his personal legend (page 3).The protagonist stays here for a night before we are introduced to another town Tarifa ,which plays a huge significance in the novel and the journey of santiago in pursuing his personal legend.Tarifa is a merchant town where Santiago sells his wool. He has taken an interest in the daughter of the merchants he sells his wool too.This city has a major influence on the novel because this is where santiago interprets his dream and readers are introduce to another character who has a major influence on santiagos decision to follow his personal legend and changes santiagos perspective of life; Melchizedek who claims he is the King of Salem.Santiago then travels to north africa , Tangier, Morocco to be exact. This is where santiago begins to pursue his personal legend, the main character loses his money, which resulted in him

Santiago is a boy from the andalusia region of spain, his parents wished for him to be a priest. Santiago is a strong minded, driven, brave and inquisitive person. He is curious about the world ,so he goes against his parents wishes for him to be a priest and decided he’ll be a shepherd because they have the freedom he wants. He can be a bit naive especially when he travelled to tangier he was to quick in trusting the stranger he met at the tea shop who he called his new “friend”, said friend stole santiagos money.This is where santiagos strong will and guts are shown ; santiago gets a job at the crystal shop,where he gets the money needed to aid him in his journey in pursuing his dream (personal legend). Although the crystal merchant is not comfortable with his newfound success he allows santiago the freedom in running the store ,which helps santiago realises a lot of things such as witnessing the regrets of not following one's personal legend when he asked the crystal merchant why he did not go to Mecca , the merchant replied “ I’m afraid if my dream is realized, i’ll have no reason to go on living”.Throughout the novel the protagonist santiagos character develops and he meets people who influence in a great and help him pursue his personal legend