Omens And Dreams in The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

Have you ever had a recurring dream? Ever seen the same omens over and over again? In the book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the main character is named Santiago, he is a shepherd and travels the fields of Andalusia. Santiago has a recurring dream that he will find treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. There are many omens among Santiago’s path to finding his treasure. “‘Well, it’s a long list. But the path was written in the omens, and there was no way I could go wrong.’”(169) In The Alchemist, dreams and omens help reveal Santiago’s Personal Legend. Dreams and omens develop the theme that everything in the universe is interconnected because everything is written by the same hand, and that every person should follow their dream/Personal Legend.

There is a woman who interprets dreams that he stops and talks to about his dream while he is in Tarifa, and he meets an old king. The old king tells Santiago that his dream is his Personal Legend. The king tells him he must go to the Egyptian pyramids to find his treasure, or he will regret not going for the rest of his life. The author reveals the theme when Santiago meets the old king. “‘To realize one’s Personal Legend is a person’s only real obligation. All things are one,’” the old king says on page 24. After meeting the old king and figuring out where his treasure lies, Santiago sees many omens “Before the boy could reply, a butterfly appeared and fluttered between him and the old man.”(32) In fact most of the things he sees are omens, like the hawks, Urim and Thummim, the things he had learned from his sheep (certain bush means water, certain bird means snake), etc.

When Santiago is “talking” to his heart, his heart says “‘Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him. We, peoples hearts, seldom say much about those treasures because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them- the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place. So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope our words won’t be heard: we don’t want people to suffer because they don’t follow their hearts.’”(135 &136) People are supposed to follow their Personal Legends because it is what they are meant to do, that is how it is written. The heart makes it seem as though if a person was not going to follow their Personal Legend, they would never find happiness because they would regret not following it. In another quote the heart is saying that people are afraid to follow their dreams because they are afraid and that when people are afraid, their hearts suffer terribly. (134)

In the story they speak a lot about the “hand that wrote it all”, which implies that everything in the universe is interconnected. “The boy turned to the hand that wrote it all. As he did so, he sensed that the universe had fallen silent, and he decided not to speak.”(156) The hand that wrote it all is a higher power, or God. The hand wrote out everything that has ever happened and wrote out everyones Personal Legend. There are also many times where the characters talk about everything in the universe being interconnected. “‘All things are one.’”(24) “‘And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.’”(24) 

In The Alchemist, Santiago is searching for his Personal Legend. When Santiago reaches the pyramids discovers that the treasure was the old abandoned church the whole time. Santiago achieves his own Personal Legend because he listened to the omens, he followed his heart, and he never gave up. Everything in the universe is interconnected because everything was written by the same hand. Everyone should follow their Personal Legend.