The Alchemist

My first experience reading the Alchemist was 11 years ago.  My family had just moved to Park City, Utah and I was the new kid.  I walked into my first class (which happened to be English), not knowing anyone, so I just sat down in the back corner of the room. When the teacher began speaking, she asked if everyone in the room would introduce themselves, say their favorite subject and then pick their all time favorite book. After hearing her ask us to mention our favorite book, I got a little nervous. I did not have one! I mean sure, I had read books before, I just really really hated reading.  So when it was finally my turn to introduce myself, I just said my name, that I had just moved to Utah, and that my favorite subject was P.E. I obviously did not say my favorite book, so the teacher asked me and I was forced to tell her that I did not have one. After being a little embarrassed about this, I felt a nudge on my side. It was the blonde girl sitting next to me. She introduced herself and told me that if I didn't have a favorite book, I should try reading the Alchemist. She pulled a book out of her bag and handed it to me.

I took the bus home from school that day, and since I was too shy to talk to anyone I pulled out the book and read the first page. Before I knew it I was already home, wishing I had ten more minutes to finish the first chapter. So I got off the bus, ate a snack, locked myself in my room for the rest of the day and finished the book. I brought the book back to Ashley the next day and told her she was right, I loved it! I bought my own copy a few days later.

Since it is such a fast read, I read the Alchemist a few times a year all throughout high school, and have picked it up 3 times since I graduated 7 years ago. When I saw that it was on the reading list for our emergent lit class, I found myself really excited because I thought it would be interesting to see how my opinion and understanding of the book would differ from when I was younger. I picked up the book last weekend, finished it pretty quickly, then a weird feeling came over me. Even though I am older, have been studying English for a while now, and now my reading comprehension is much different than it used to be, I can honestly say that I did not learn anything new from the book! Because of this, I understand why it is a low brow book, for anyone from 15-85 will probably get the same things out of it. (I am not saying I liked it less this time around, I still love it.)

However, I do understand why it is a part of this class, and can see now how much it relates to the theme of "home sweet home", not only in this class but also my life.  Some lines that pop into my head include, "in order to remember you must first be dismembered", "seek detachment" (which was said in the movie we watched in capstone on Friday), and of course "home sweet home".

I have spent a lot of time on the idea of remembering by dismembering, and have written a couple papers on it over the past few years. The Alchemist is the perfect book to support this idea, for every time I pick it up, it seems to take me back to the first time I read it... I understand why people have not all enjoyed reading it, for it is a really quick and easy book. However, for me it brings back a certain nostalgia that most books can not. Yes, its low brow, but I think that is what I like about it. Over the years the meaning has never changed, which is probably the main reason I keep going back to it.  Santiago went on his amazing journey, but in the end what he was searching for was not found in an epiphanic moment at the pyramids, but instead, his treasures were home all along.