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.
It bears mentioning that Grendel was strongly influenced by the idea of nihilism, which means that he believed that nothing has meaning and everything in life was an accident. “Nevertheless, it was
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.
At the beginning of the novel, Montag, like everyone else, strays from the unknown and what he does not understand, and by burning books he pleases the ignorant. He has a position of authority and never questioned his job. Until Montag meets a peculiar girl who is not afraid of him named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse irritates Montag at first because she asks deep questions to the way the world is and makes statements about his life. Clarisse’s love of nature, people, and the way the world used to be is strange. Forced to go to a psychiatrist for strange behaviors she does, such as
Innocence? In Grendel? Grendel is a monster, right? Wrong, in the eyes of John Gardner. Taking the role of the Shaper, Gardner makes us see Grendel as an ostracized person, one so lonely he "relishes the thought of acceptance," even though the idiocy of their society repulses him at times (Milosh 221). He is just a naïve teenager, searching for his role in life.
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
Louise Gluck’s, “Gretel in darkness” is a haunting poem about the horrors the speaker, Gretel, faces and tries so hard to forget. The poem takes place after the witch’s death and Gretel has saved her brother and herself from her torment. Everything should be fine, Gretel says, “This is the world we wanted. All who would have seen us dead are dead.” This is suggestive of a dream that is achieved and portraying a character that is full of urgency, bitterness and violence. This contradicts with the title, “in darkness”, giving it an ironic tone. Although she feels regret for this unimaginable act, she originally did it for her brother. On the other hand it also seems Gretel is unsatisfied since she feels all this guilt and is haunted by the death of the witch, the witch Gretel killed. “I hear the witch’s cry,” Gretel states.
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
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...
Grendel feels like an outcast in the society he lives in causing him to have a hard time finding himself in the chaotic world. He struggles because the lack of communication between he and his mother. The lack of communication puts Grendel in a state of depression. However, Grendel comes in contact with several characters with different philosophical beliefs, which allows his to see his significance in life. Their views on life influence Grendel to see the world in a meaningful way.
In the beginning Grendel’s perspective of himself leads to various encounters that help him discover the meaninglessness to his very own existence. From the beginning through many centuries of pondering Grendel has come to the idea that the world consists entirely of Grendel and not-Grendel. Thus Grendel begins his search for meaning of his very own life with an existential philosophy, the belief that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. While Grendel’s overall perspective of nature is that of mindless and mechanical machine, he believes that he is a separate entity from this machine. Furthermore he holds the philosophy that he himself is a god like creature that “blink by blink” creates the world. This philosophy undermined when Grendel notices that events occur before he can think them into existence. Grendel witnesses the death of a deer by the hands of humans: “Suddenly time is a rush for the hart: head flicks, he jerks, his front legs buckling, and he’s dead. He lies as still as the snow hurtling outward around him to the hushed world’s rim. The image clings to my mind like a
When Grendel says "then I am not that which observes! I am lack. Alack. "(Gardner 29) he plays on the French verb manquer(to lack) that Sartre uses in his description of the lacking quality of consciousness. This ability to observe his observing is a clue to the philosophical underpinnings of the early chapters. Gardner's irony should be crystal clear--Grendel is amusing himself with Sartre's phenomenology.
Throughout the film, viewers witness Gru’s self-concept drastically changing. This is very important to recognize because self-concept influences the “roles we play, social identities we form, the comparisons we make with others, and our successes and failures” (Meyers, 40). In the beginning, Gru collectively characterizes himself as a villain, and as a result, forms a social identity as an evil individual. He does not compare himself to a layperson, such as his next-door neighbor, but rather to other villains and their criminal accomplishments. His self-concept influences the role he plays in society, and hence his behavior and actions. Gru’s behavior can be described as selfish, as he is solely concerned of his own gains and benefits, and very aggressive. He shapes his behavior to emphasize his social role of a villain. For example, in the beginning of the film, when Gru sees a young boy crying because he dropped his ice cream, he makes a balloon animal for him. When the boy begins to smile, Gru then proceeds to pull out a pin and pop the balloon. When he encounters a long time...
While the monsters of the poem are the antagonists of the poem, the author still manages to make the reader feel traces of sympathy for them. Grendel’s human depiction, exile and misery tugs at the heart of readers and indeed shows a genuine side to the figure, while Grendel’s mother and the dragon are sympathetic mainly because they were provoked into being attacked over things they both had a deep affection for. Their actions make us question whether they are as evil as they seem.
In Perfume, viewing Jean-Baptiste Grenouille as a parasite and the rest of the characters as his hosts help express the novel and its purpose. “When the House of Giuseppe Baldini collapsed, Grenouille was already on the road to Orleans.” (Suskind, 115) This defines Grenouille’s role. Because Grenouille is depicted as a tick, everyone that Grenouille leaves dies. During the seminar, one could find that Patrick Suskind’s Grenouille is expressed as an outsider to society, a tick, and a murderer. To help delineate the environment in Perfume and many valuable traits of France’s culture, “In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women.” (Suskind, 3) Patrick Suskind knows a lot about France in the slums of the 18th century.
After reading the story I feel the meaning is only to express the authors dislike for French society. The story attempts to dissect and embarrass the upper class of the society. Rabelais seems to cover all the bases by including his thoughts on the church, education, and French fashion. He goes about insulting these categories with such care and passion it gets his point across with dark humor. I feel that the author definitely accomplished everything he wanted with Gargantua and Pantagruel.