CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho, first published in

Portuguese with a title O Alquimista in 1988. This novel has been translated

into English by Alan R. Clarke in 1993, and published by HarperCollins

Publishers. It has been translated into 56 languages as of September 2012. The

Alchemist is an allegorical novel. This novel contains 192 pages. The main

character in this novel is Santiago, the shepherd boy from Andalusia. Overall,

this novel tells the story about Santiago who travels from Andalusia to Egypt

to find treasure.

Paulo Coelho was born on the 24th August, 1974 in Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil. He is a famous author. He began the first career as an author in 1982.

Some of his famous novels are The Pilgrimage (1988), The Alchemist (1988),

The Valkyries (1992), By the River Peidra I sat down and Wept (1994), The

Fifth mountain (1996), Manual of Warrior of Light (1997), Veronica Decides

to Die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), Eleven Minutes (2003), The

Zahir (2005), Like the Flowing River (2006), The Winner Stands Alone

(2008), Aleph (2010), Manuscript found in Accra (2012)

(http://www.gradesaver.com/author/paulo-coelho/).

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The Alchemist tells about the Andalusian boy (Santiago) who takes a

journey to Egypt. He is a shepherd boy that wants to change his life. He

dreams that he finds treasures around in Pyramids at Egypt.

From that dream, he decides to go to Egypt to get his treasures.

Because he is from a poor family, the only way to go there is to be a shepherd.

A journey is never as easy as imagined, he finds a lot of obstacles. He meets a

lot of people that teaches about life and anything.

A journey that is taken seriously will give good results. He manages to

find his treasure, and it's not in Egypt but in Andalusia where he begins his

journey. But he got something more important than just a treasure trove that is

a spiritual journey, the journey that teaches about the deeper meaning of life.

Some people who give positive responses are Bob Corbett. He likes

the novel because the book is written beautifully, gently but profound. This

novel tells the importance of seeking the meaning of life itself

(http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/coelho-alchemist.html).

Other person who likes this book is Lamski Kikita, she liked this book

because it crossed boundaries of books, creates his own world. In addition,

this book also reminded him of his dream and inspired her to continue his

dream (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/30571376). And the third

person is Becky. She liked this book because it is very entertaining and

inspiring. She revealed that this book has a story with magical elements but

contains more wisdom (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31926581).

Not everyone responded positively to a work, there are also some

negative responses. The following are some people who give a negative

response. Marte Patel is one person who does not like this book, he does not

like this book because the story is written in the form of nonsense. In addition,

ideas or issues in the lift in this book are not clearly mixed

(http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31926581). Another person who

does not like this book is Clint. He does not like this book for the reason this

book is written in the style of a fairy tale that sucks for him

(http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4797927). And the last person is

Christopher, he does not like the idea of this book because the reasons

presented in this novel are not rational.

The paragraphs above have shown some responses of the reader about

the novel, both positive and negative responses. It does not seem fair if

researcher do not write down the reasons why researcher chose this novel as

my research material. There are some reasons why the researcher is interested

in analyzing this novel. First reason is because the researcher is interested in

the story of philosophy, adventure and spirituality. And all of that has been

reflected in the story in this novel. All of these lessons are reflected in every

trip Santiago from Andalusia to Egypt, either stated or implied. Second reason

is because the major character is a simple shepherd boy who is able to achieve

his dream for most people is probably impossible. That is a great concept in

this novel that everyone can dream but not everyone do their utmost to realize
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his dream. Another reason the researcher is interested in analyzing this novel

is the novel can bring researcher to the past is when the Andalusian era still

prevail. This is very interesting, because the researcher can know the history

of that place.

This book is an international bestseller. It has been sold at least 30

million copies in 56 different languages. This book has become one of the

best-selling books in history and setting the Guinness World Record for most

translated book by a living author.

Based on the illustration above about spiritual journey experienced by

Santiago, researcher is interested in analyzing the novel with the tittle :

SPIRITUAL JOURNEY IN PAULO COELHO’S NOVEL THE

ALCHEMIST (1993) : AN INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH.

B. Previous Study

In this study of this novel, the researcher is not the first to examine this

novel. There are some who have examined this novel previously; here are

some of these people.

Oktavida Wijayanti analyzed The Influence of Setting towards

Santiago’s Characteristics as seen in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. That

study was conducted in 2007. Her study focused on the intrinsic element of

main character in this novel, that is Santiago.

Another study is from Nuri Aprillia Ramadhona, she is a student from

University of Indonesia. Her title of the study is Analysis of persuasion

strategies ad identity of Santiago’s character in The Alchemist novel : an

approach of critical discourse analysis. Her research focused on three points;

strategies of persuasion practiced by persuaders in the narrative; power

relations among characters; and Santiago’s identity in the whole persuasive

discourse. The research used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) method

proposed by Norman Fairclough and persuasion theory from Ehninger,

Monroe, and Gronbeck.

The last research is by Umi Akhiriyah, a student from Ahmad Dahlan

University : Yogyakarta. Her title of the study is THE STRUGGLE OF

SANTIAGO TO FIND THE TREASURE IN PAULO COELHO’S THE

ALCHEMIST. Her research intended to describe the intrinsic element of the

novel and to describe the moral values revealed from the novel.

The difference of this present research from the previous research is

the focus of the study that is, spiritual journey in the story of The Alchemist

novel. The researcher uses individual psychology approach to analyze.

Individual psychology is the most suitable approach to analyzing about the

issue of spiritual journey. Researcher’s title is SPIRITUAL JOURNEY IN

PAULO COELHO’S NOVEL THE ALCHEMIST (1993) : AN INDIVIDUAL

PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH.
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C. Problem Statement

The problem statement is the spiritual journey experienced by the

major character in The Alchemist novel. The researcher will analyze the novel

based on structural elements of the novel and spiritual journey experienced by

the main character in this novel using Individual Psychological Approach.

D. Limitation of the Study

The researcher analyzes spiritual journey focused onSantiago as the

main character of The Alchemist novel published in 1993 using Individual

Psychological Approach

E. Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are:

1. To analyze spiritual journey in Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist

(1993) based on its structural elements.

2. To analyze analyze ppiritual journey in Paulo Coelho’s novel The

Alchemist (1993) based on individual psychology approach.

F. Benefits of the Study

The benefits of the study are as follows:

1. Theoretical Benefit

The study is projected to give novel contribution and

information to the larger body of knowledge, particularly in the

literary studies.
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2. Practical Benefit

The study is expected to enrich the knowledge and experience

of the writer and other students at Muhammadiyah University of

Surakarta or other universities interested in literary studies.

G. Research Method

1. Type of the Study

In this research, the researcher applied qualitative research. The

data sources are library and literary data. Its purpose is to analyze using

individual psychology. The steps to conduct the research are as the

following: 1) determining the type of the study, 2) determining data and

data source, 4) determining technique of data collection, and finally, 5)

determining technique of data analysis.

2. Object of the Study

The object of the research is Spiritual Journey in Paulo Coelho’s

Novel The Alchemist (1993).

3. Types of the Data and the Data Source

Object of the research is:

a. Primary Data

The primary data source is Paulo Coelho’s Novel The

Alchemist.
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b. Secondary Data

The secondary data are taken from literary books or any

information related to spiritual journey that support the individual

psychology approach.

4. Technique of the Data Collection

The writer used documentation as the method of collecting data in

this research. The steps are as follows:

a. Reading the novel repeatedly.

b. Reading translation novel to get more understanding.

c. Reading some related reference to observe the theory, data and

information.

d. Accesing the internet to get several information and articles related to

the object of the study.

e. Making a summary about that novel.

f. Drawing conclusion based on the data analysis.

5. Technique of the Data Analysis

The technique that is use for analyzing the data is descriptive

qualitative method. It means that the researcher describes the text and

content analysis to get the characteristic of the data to individual

psychology approach analysis of the novel The Alchemist. Then the

researcher interprets those data through the study.

H. Paper Organization

The researcher organizes this research paper in order to make it easier

to understand. The first chapter is introduction, background of the study,

previous study, problem statement, limitation of the study, objective of the

study, benefit of the study, research method paper organization. The second

chapter is the underlying theory that consists of the notion of individual

psychology theory, structural element of the novel and theoretical application.

The third chapter deals with the structural analysis of the novel, which

includes some elements such as, character and characterization, setting, plot,

point of view, theme, and style. The fourth chapter discusses individual

psychology and its application in analyzing The Alchemist novel. The last

chapter is conclusion and suggestion.