AN EXISTENTIALIST STUDY ON PAULO COELHO'S THE ALCHEMIST

This research aims to discover how Santiago, the main character in The Alchemist, defends his existence and the relation between Santiago’s freedom of choice and Existentialism. Accordingly, this research applies Existentialism theory that is proposed by Jean Paul Sartre. This research is a qualitative research. The data of this research were primarily taken from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. The form of data is all narrations and dialogues in the novel. To analyze the data, the researcher used content analysis. This is a technique of gathering and analyzing the content of the text. The data was analyzed by using Sartre’s Existentialism theory which comprised freedom of choice, responsibility, anguish, and estrangement. To ensure the data trustworthiness, the researcher also conducted proof-reading method to check the data relevance and consulted his findings with supervisors. The findings of the study bespeak that Santiago, the main character in The Alchemist has to acquire freedom of choice, overcome anguish, show responsibility, and estrange himself from others to defend his existence. As an existentialist individual, Santiago tries to find his existence by his freedom of choice. By the passion of existentialism, Santiago’s freedom of choice leads him to create meaning in his life