Mood and Tone of The Alchemist

The mood of The Alchemist can be described as happy. The Alchemist has a happy tone because that's what the book is about, finding one's happiness and it has a journey of one boy finding his true happiness in life. The tone of this book is absolutely a philosophical one. You can tell it is a philosophical writing right from the start because the entire novel is filled with philosophical writing.
One example is when the King of Salem tells a story. He tells of a shoemaker who sends his son to a great king in order to learn the secret to happiness. When the boy arrived at the palace the king told him to explore his beautiful palace, but he had to do it while holding a spoon full of oil, when the boy returned the king asked "Did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?". The boy had not noticed any of these things because he had been so focused on the spoon. The king then had the boy perform the task again. This time the boy admired everything in the palace, but when he returned there was no oil left in the spoon he had been carrying. "The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon" the king said. This story shows how well this book entwines happiness and philosophy to help you learn.