Perfume Discussion Questions
1. What motivates Grenouille to commit his first murder? What does he discover about himself and his destiny after he has killed the red haired girl?
The Motivation behind Grenouille's first murder is his obsession with the perfume his victim is wearing he feels that “without the scent his life would have no meaning” , and that he should do anything to obtain it without any remorse for his actions, what he discovers about himself and his own destiny after he kills the red haired girl for the scent is that he is destined to “revolutionize the odoriferous world” by becoming the “greatest perfumer of all time”
2. Throughout the novel, Grenouille is likened to a tick. Why do you think Suskind chose this analogy? In what ways does Grenouille behave like a tick? What does this analogy reveal about his character that a more straightforward description would not?
The reason I think suskind chose this analogy of a tick is because , Grenouille character lives and breathes off the satisfaction of stealing other women scent to quench his mental thirst to have any specific scent he likes through any means necessary, just like a tick which literally lives and breathes off stealing other animals and humans blood to survive. This analogy reveals how deep Grenouille passion is for the scent and perfume he smells.
3. Do the descriptions of life in eighteen-century France the crowded quarters, the unsanitary conditions, the treatment of orphans, the punishment of criminals, etc.- surprise you? How are these conditions related to the ideals of enlightenment, reason, and progress that figure so prominently in eighteenth-century thinking?
The descriptions of life in the eighteen-century France surprised me a...
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...words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it“ [p.82]. Do you think it is true? Why would any odor have such power? In what ways does Grenouille use this power to his advantage?
I think every odor instantaneously takes over ones emotions and curiosity , but odors cannot shape a persons character or demeanor permanently because odors fade and are truly never forever so I disagree that any odor can have a persuasive power so powerful to change a persons views on life ,Grenouille uses the power of odors twice the first time to smell like a normal person which makes him basically unable to be seen and the second time he creates a scent from all his victims scents he has stolen which makes everybody do what he wants.
In the first chapter of the novel, Grendel uses mechanical imagery, perhaps the most noteworthy instance of the many mechanical images and character traits that appear throughout this narration. This starts the beginning of a theme with a major use of imagery that travels throughout the story. In Chapter 1 on page 9, Grendel begins to recount the cycle of the seasons as “cold mechanics of the stars”, a cold and unfeeling progression that puts him into a routine, infinite loop. Grendel even describes himself as a mechanical beast at the same time. “When my soul can no longer resist, I go up, as mechanical as anything else, fists clenched against my lack of will...”. All of his senses are seen as calculated, all except for three specific instances
This ‘beast’, the protagonist of the story, fights an internal struggle, of which is a part of the Hero’s Journey. Grendel is unable to decide what to make of himself and of the world surrounding him. He has only ever known the world as wild and mechanical, yet he is charmed by the artistic brilliance of the Shaper’s words. Grendel ultimately meets a brutal yet peaceful demise. Standing on the face of the same cliff he found himself in the beginning of the novel, surrounded by mindless eyes, he states, “Poor Grendel’s had an accident. So may you all.” (Grendel, John Gardner, pg.174) Previous to this, he questions if what he is feeling is joy. The reader is lead to believe that Grendel must feel nothing but peace. This, is the concluding moment of his
Gardner plays Grendel as like a child when he first discovers the the new world. For example, Grendel announces, “ I played my way farther out into this world” (Gardner 16). This shows Grendel’s first look in the real world. He first thinks that this world is going to be a fine place to live. Unfortunately, Grendel explore more into the world and sees the “Burning eyes of the strangers” (Gardner 17). To explain, Grendel has never seen such people in his life, so he starts to rethink life. In other words, his exploration of the world of humans changes the way he perceives the creatures in the underground world. This mentally changes his self
Nature against society is also discussed in Grendel. The fact that citizens surrounded with religion and social status could be so easily overtaken by nature (Grendel) gives a sense of irony to the reader.
Most authors, occasionally uses their characters to guide their personal views they want to emphasize to their audience. In the novel, Grendel written by John Gardner, Gardner uses Grendel as an agent to portray his perspective of the evil and corrupt world of humans and their place in the universe. Gardner not only uses Grendel as a vehicle, but also uses the Dragon as another source to express his opinions of people in the world. Gardner can be considered as an isolated human being, who is kept away from the affection of others; Grendel and Gardner can be closely related due to the fact that Gardner is embodied as Grendel in a more dimensional aspect. They both seem to contain repugnant thoughts towards the world they are “forced” to live in. The Dragon supports Gardner’s statement by going against the Shaper’s stories, by telling Grendel that life seems to possess no meaning and every story the Shaper tells is to alter the people’s attitudes. While Grendel is conversing with the Dragon, the Dragon mocks the Shaper, “[He] provides an illusion of reality- puts together all their facts with gluey whine of connectedness. [...] But he spins it all together with harp runs and hoots, and they think what they think is alive, think Heaven loves them” (Pg. 65). This proves that humans are weak-minded and are easily persuaded into faulty stories; this puts humans into a low ranking scale of morality. Through Grendel’s observation of Hrothgar’s kingdom, is also considered a source of perspective. Grendel witnesses Wealtheow being used as a balance of harmony between the two rivaling families, the Danes and the Helmings. As Grendel spies on them he thinks to himself, “But she was beautiful and she surrendered herself with the dignity of a s...
One thing that influences perception of reality that is initially explored in Grendel are words. This is demonstrated when Grendel secretly listens to the poem sung by the shaper, who is a blind court bard who sings poems with the harp, and sees how the people are
The presence of a bull prompts a shift in Grendel’s purpose in life from remaining obedient to his mother as a young child to being the creator of the world as he transitions into adulthood. As a young monster, Grendel motive’s coincide with his mother since she is the only person who Grendel is able to communicate with. He feels “Of all the creatures I knew, only my mother really looked at me...We were one thing, like the wall and the rock growing out from it… ‘Please, Mama!’ I sobbed as if heartbroken” (Gardner 17-19). His emotions demonstrate that as a child, he doesn’t consider himself as an individual but rather as embodying the same identity as his mother, which is further emphasized by the use of the simile. Additionally, Grendel’s use
This shows a shift in Grendel’s feelings towards himself as well. After hearing the Shaper’s song, Grendel “...fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry - crawling, whimpering, streaming tears, across the world like a two-headed beast, like mixed-up lamb and kid at the tail of a baffled, indifferent ewe - and I gnashed my teeth and clutched the sides of my head as if to heal the split, but I couldn’t (Gardner, 44).” This clearly shows how the Shaper influenced, quite heavily, Grendel’s shift in viewpoint on life itself. On the surface, Grendel hides his positive outlook on his life, pretending that the Shaper is wrong, and going completely against everything the Shaper attempts to reveal. This only solidifies the Shaper’s optimistic influence on
Throughout the novels Perfume and Chronicles of a Death Foretold the authors tends to use many literary devices in order to really bring life to the work and keep the reader intrigued. Exaggeration is very apparent in both novels and almost seems excessive, but vivid at the same time. In Perfume Suskind refers to “stench” many times and based on the imagery used in the novel the context gives the word “stench” almost a positive meaning at times. For Example, when Grenouille murders the girl, the way he describes her “sweaty armpits, oily hair, and fishy genitals”, makes the sensation seem like an actual perfume to his nose. The author also uses scent to characterize in the novel. Grenouille who had to apparent sent seemed equal to one with
Her hard work at her job through her determination to learn stenography and French in order to obtain a higher position shows that she has developed the mature and focused mindset of a young adult (62). She does not seem like the carefree child that was described in part one, nor is she easily frightened like she was in part two. Instead, Grete has come to a consummation of a developed young adult. The resolution of her transformation is evident in two other instances towards the end of the book. The first is when she decides that it is time to let go of her brother in order to move on with the well-being of her family (79-81). This contrasts her younger spirit because her tone towards Gregor was that he deserved her care and subtle coercing in order to possibly reverse his transformation. However, she recognizes that this is in fact impossible, and decides to focus on other aspects of the family's life. The second is at the end of the book when her family notices how much she has grown physically and describes her as a voluptuous young woman that deserves a good husband (90). Kafka reinforces this through his narration of Grete by saying, "the daughter first lifted herself up and stretched her young body" (90). His narration symbolically shows that through her action of being the first to stand and stretch, she is now the first of the household and is ready to emerge in the world and put her young, strong, developed mind and body
Grice uses many different modes throughout the essay to explain his underlying message about evil in the world to readers clearly. In the essay Grice uses description to better explain the black widow spider’s web. Leaves are dispersed in a black widow's web, beneath the leaves there are “husks of consumed insects, their antennae stiff as gargoyle horns” (para. 2). Around them are “splashes of the spider’s white urine, which looks like bird guano and smells of ammonia even at the distance of several feet” (para. 2). Grice's description on the black widow's web uses words that today are considered disgusting like urine and gargoyles which portrays a sense of what the web looks like along
The counterclaim that Gardener is trying to make Grendel seem more monstrous, I don’t think was formed, keeping in mind that his whole life treated him like a monster, before he became one. He once says to his mother, “The world resists me and I resist the world.” The majority of the second chapter in Grendel is Grendel in pure agony. He deals with severe physical pain as well as emotional pain, such as rejection from his mother and from society. Grendel cries out from anguish of his terrible childhood, “Ah, monstrous stupidity of childhood, unreasonable hope!”
In the beginning of the novel, Montag thinks he cares about everyone and their feelings. Once Clarisse steps into his life, this changes right away. She shows him that the world he lives in ignores people's feelings .They make games out of kill...
the novel. He could care less about their looks, intelligence, or personality although he is obsessed with smell. Because of this obsession, he captures others’ scents by killing them. Grenouille would rather be alone and refrain from interacting with people. The only real reason that Grenouille interacts with others is so that he could chase his desire of odors. Grenouille is hated and dreaded subconsciously because he doesn’t have a scent. He is artificially accepted as a part of society when he creates his human scent, “But now, in the streets of Montpellier, Grenouille sensed and saw with his own eyes---and each time he saw it anew, a powerful sense of pride washed over him--- that he exerted an effect on people.” (Suskind, 152) Grenouille notices after producing the fla...
inforefuge.com. (n.d.). Recuperado el 5 de oct de 2011, de The Science of Smell: http://www.inforefuge.com/science-of-smell-conclusion