Cognitive processing of event sequences in The Alchemist: A psycholinguistic study

Abstract

Narratives, weather fiction or non-fiction, films or folk tales, work as a means to share the experiences and transfer knowledge. The narratives are crucial in developing and interpreting events. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the core features of events in The Alchemist and to explore how these features unfold the events and inform the readers about the cognitive processing of any narrative. The textual analysis of the novel, through the lens of the Event Indexing Model (Zwaan et al., 1995), reveals that the use of EIM features – time, space, protagonists, causation, and motivation – are intricately embedded in the narrative and enhance the comprehension and engagement of the readers. Hence, the effective use of these features assists in the effective construction and cohesion of the text at cognitive levels.