In Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer the motif of scent and smell plays a huge role in the plot development of the novel; perhaps, it is the primary driving force behind it. Throughout the book, this motif is woven through the text as its own separate entity that pertains to the essential theme of the novel: olfaction. Süskind’s placement of the enhancement of smell brings Grenouille closer to the readers for the very fact that he is dehumanized by it. The technique of the author in using this motif is graceful in a manner that its presence does not display redundancy; rather it causes the reader to yearn each time it is shown for how the motif ties into the story holistically.
Süskind’s first display of “knitting” this motif into the text is through the dehumanization of the protagonist Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. Within the first few pages of the book, this dehumanization is shown through the figure that brought Grenouille into the world: his mother. Due to her current circumstances, she does not even claim Grenouille and his siblings to be “real children” (p.5). For the very fact that they are illegitimate, no father is present in the home, and her inability to support them provokes her decision to deem them as fake. Although this scene does not pertain to the motif directly, Süskind utilizes this quote as the inception of the perpetual inhumane treatment of Grenouille his heightened olfaction capabilities.
The first use of this motif is when Grenouille’s childhood caregivers realize that he has no personal scent. The scene in which Father Terrier denigrates Jean Bussie for claiming that Grenouille is possessed by some demon portray since he has no personal scent shows how infants were treated as incomplete hum...
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...ncurrently reversing it on his victims. Giving Laure the attribute of having sap dehumanizes her to the fullest extent. This foreshadows Grenouille’s future murder victims as simply inhumane prey, nothing more. In this same passage, Süskind reveals just how finely tuned Grenouille’s hyperosmia really is. A year before when he was in Grasse, her scent was “sprinkled and dappled about” (p.190) but now, it is “a faint, smooth stream of scent that shimmered” (190). However, Grenouille then goes on to envisage the pinnacle of her scent to being “just twelve more months” and then he would be able to “imprison the wild flow of its scent” (p. 190). Süskind reveals in this passage – as well as the other murders- that Grenouille’s fondness of the scent of red-haired prepubescent girls not only portrays his disdain for humanity, but his lack of veneration for women as well.
The mood established by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," plays a crucial role in conveying to the reader his underlying theme. For example, when Montresor, the narrator, st...
In response to living a desensitized Parisian lifestyle and a monotonous upbringing, Des Esseintes creates ideal settings that stimulate his “overfatigued senses”2. Des Esseintes is born into a family which had been inbred. This ...
A multitude of literary works possess much more information than an initial review reveals which is no accident on the author’s part. One author who epitomizes this method of writing is Nathaniel Hawthorne and his book The Scarlet Letter. Following a thorough review of the book, the underpinnings of literary elements reveal the way in which he incorporates his dynamic tone throughout the story, and, with extensive research, conclusions can be made as to why he wrote the novel. Exploring the latter topic allows analysts of all kind gain further insight on his character and its relation to the books content.
In both ‘Eve Green’ and ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’, the protagonists experience fear in many guises. Although traumatic events in both Eve and Antoinette’s lives do lead to moments of sudden, striking fear, fear is also presented as having the potential to be subtle and muted, and therefore, “haunting”. Fletcher and Rhys seem to suggest that this form of fear is more damaging to the psyche than fear in its more conspicuous manifestations, as it is more deeply intertwined with the characterisations of the protagonists, therefore allowing for the fear to “pervade” the novels. As a result, it could be argued that fear has an almost constant presence in each novel, particularly because fear is seemingly linked to other prominent themes in each novel.
In the Harlequin romance Time of the Temptress, by Violet Winspear, the author seems to be trying to write an intelligent story of romance, bettered by its literary self-awareness. She fails on both counts. Winspear appears to recognize that more valued literature tends to involve symbolism and allusions to other works. It seems she is trying to use archetypes and allusions in her own novel, but her references to alternate literature and culture are embarrassingly obvious and awkward. Another inter-literary connection, though, is more difficult to notice unless the book is pondered -- something the typical romance reader is not likely to do. Although Winspear attempts to give her book literary value by tying it to Gone With the Wind, because of the limitations of her chosen genre, and her own apparent inabilities as a writer, she cannot grasp the depth that makes Gone With the Wind a highly regarded romance work.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Fall of the House of Usher, the character Roderick Usher exhibits severe mental illness. Most of Poe’s writings are psychological in nature. The Fall of the House of Usher is a great example of this. Poe’s life was filled with many tragic events. The unpleasant outcome of his early years resulted in a great Gothic Romantic writer. He is a master of writing psychological thrillers, adding suspense and mystery in his stories. The topics of his writings are a concoction of unpleasant, austere, and grotesque things, thus the reader can be left feeling squeamish and susceptible. We are drawn into Poe’s stories by our intrinsic human nature of curiosity and intrigue. This paper gives examples of Poe’s literary style as we examine Roderick’s metal state through his words and appearance.
This world has been exposed to the concepts of many monsters, such as mythical creatures and mythic humanoids. These monsters' goal is to either protect or kill with purpose,and there exists the concept of one monster that murders innocents , with the purpose of creating scents. In the novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind, the author portrays this monster as Grenouille. Süskind has this character that intentionally murders many people for their scent, regardless of their age, or maturity. Grenouille is a monster as he misuses the power of scent to escape worldly problems and attract love. He bears a grudge against of humanity that not only affects characters from young girls to his own mother. Grenouille is portrayed as a monster because he is the cause of death for most characters in the novel, misuses the power of scent, and hates humanity.
It is said that this book is considered as one of the most famous horror novels, if not the most famous one. The Gothic descriptions in the novel are very prominent at the beginning. The portrayal of the countryside of Transylvania, of the ruined Dracula Castle, etc, all provide the effect of horror in the sense of spooky and gloomy atmosphere, which you can obtain close at hand. Everything is so obvious. The originally beautiful scenes are changed by the writer¡¯s magnification of some specific details which provide certain effect on the readers. All of the above reminds how one¡¯s personal feelings can alter their attitudes towards what they see or what they experience. Sometimes when you are sad, everything look so depressing. It is like the whole world is against you. The sunset could be a fantastic scene when you are filled with joy but an extra source of sorrow when you are not in the mood. Harker is separated from her lovely fianc¨¦e to meet some foreign count in the exotic and unknown eastern world.
The prominent theme that was exhibited throughout the novel was inhumanity. The quote "Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky." This quotation shows how a powerful authority had all the control to carry out disturbing actions and no common ma...
In The Stranger, Camus portrays women as unnecessary beings created purely to serve materialistically and satisfy males through the lack of a deep, meaningful, relationship between Meursault and females. Throughout the text, the main character, Meursault, creates closer, more meaningful relationships with other minor characters in the story. However, in his interactions with females in this book, Meursault’s thoughts and actions center on himself and his physical desires, observations, and feelings, rather than devoting his attention to the actual female. Living in Algiers in the 1960s, Meursault originates from a post-modernist time of the decline in emotion. Meursault simply defies the social expectations and societal ‘rules’, as post-modernists viewed the world. Rather than living as one gear in the ‘machine’ of society, Meursault defies this unwritten law in the lackluster relationships between he and other females, as well as his seemingly blissful eye to society itself. In The Stranger, males, not females, truly bring out the side of Meursault that has the capacity for compassion and a general, mutual feeling relationship. For example, Marie and Meursault’s relationship only demonstrate Meursault’s lack of an emotional appetite for her. Also, with the death of Maman, Meursault remains virtually unchanged in his thoughts and desires.
People thought Grenouille was innocent because of his low key but psychotic actions. But Grenouille was raised in a fish house in which he was left to die. Grenouille grew up in an era of Paris where physical hygiene was an understatement and not taken into consideration. In the 18th century Paris was known for its royalty and upper class lifestyle. However, during this time filth was considered beneficial thus causing people to wash even less. People believed that the air was contaminated with germs and water opened up the pores to the skin allowing the germs to enter the body making them more vulnerable to disease. Also, Grenouille himself is haunted by smells. He recognizes the odors of separate stones and of the varieties of water; he can locate even the most tremulous perfume from miles away; he can separate the simplest stench into its various elements - that of a human being, for example, being composed of cat feces, cheese and vinegar. As a child and young man, he survives as an outsider only through some stubborn instinct - deciding ''in favor of life out of sheer spite and sheer malice'' -but this means that in 18th-century France, in an age of ''reason'' and a time of ''progress,'' he is a barbaric intruder. For him, this is a world stripped bare of its more elegant trappings and organized around the one fundamental principle of
Effectively using these elements in a piece of literature enhances the reader’s curiosity. One prime example of such usage of these elements is seen in Kate Chopin's writing. Her use of foreshadowing and use of emotional conflicts put into few words in the short piece "The Storm" adds an element that is alluring, holding the reader's interest. In this short piece of literature, a father and son, Bobinot and Bibi, are forced to remain in a store where they were shopping before the storm, waiting for the storm to pass over them. In the meantime, the wife and mother, Calixta, whom is still at home, receives an unexpected visit from a former lover named Alicee. The two have an affair and the story starts to come together. The story shows us how we tend to want what we beli...
Süskind sets his novel, Perfume; The Story of a Murderer, in the self-empowering period of the Enlightenment. However, his use of animalistic symbolism -especially referring his main character as a tick- as well as motifs of greed and darkness reflect the more maleficent side of humanity through the horridities human perform, and how humans seem to focus on their own desires.
The narrator in Suskind’s Perfume has many different personas, similar to a kaleidoscopic view. The narrator transforms from a friend, to gossiper, to reader’s friend, to historian, journalist, an accomplice and eventually the reader learns that the narrator fundamentally is Grenouille. These changes are made progressively throughout the novel, which causes the reader to be too distracted with the storyline to realize that the narrator in Perfume is very untrustworthy.
John Donne, an English poet and clergyman, was one of the greatest metaphysical poets. His poetry was marked by conceits and lush imagery. The Flea is an excellent example of how he was able to establish a parallel between two very different things. In this poem, the speaker tries to seduce a young woman by comparing the consequences of their lovemaking with those of an insignificant fleabite. He uses the flea as an argument to illustrate that the physical relationship he desires is not in itself a significant event, because a similar union has already taken place within the flea. However, if we look beneath the surface level of the poem, Donne uses the presence of the flea as a comparison to the presence of a baby, thus making the sub textual plot about aborting the baby.