Death Kills Grenouille

801 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Symbolic interactionist perspective on death

Death’s ability to traumatize people results in the person surrounded by death making unethical decisions. More specifically, having negative emotional experiences alters how people will perceive humanity in the future. The more negative experiences a person has with people, the more that person will refrain from associating her/himself with humanity. In the novel Perfume by Patrick Sϋskind, the main character, Grenouille suffers from lack of support from others. Anyone associated with Grenouille does not feel any positive emotions towards him and eventually dies. The constant theme of death allows Grenouille to fully evolve until he can no longer relate to humanity.
People not caring whether or not Grenouille dies teaches him to live without emotional support. Grenouille does not receive the average affection most children do during childhood. In Grenouille’s early life, both Madame Gaillard and Baldini have fantasies about killing Grenouille but do not, and instead show him no affection which affects his …show more content…

After Baldini shares the information about extracting scent with Grenouille, he feels “a pang in his heart” and begins to feel “very depressed,” a symptom of the potential absence of Grenouille (105). Baldini experiences emotional pain when he believes Grenouille will die and mentally crumbles once he realizes his source of fortune will disappear. Grenouille’s use of his olfactory senses allow him to manipulate “the greatest preserve for odors in all the world,” the city of Paris, then take all Paris has to offer and leave the city scrambling to put itself back together (33). By committing murders, the people of Paris and Grasse live in constant fear of not knowing when the next kill will occur, The murders affect their mental stability and leave them figuratively dead. Grenouille manipulates all of the people in Paris into giving him what he needs to conduct a series of

Show More
Related

  • What Are The Similarities Between The Alchemist And Lord Of The Flies

    1251 Words  | 3 Pages

    his

    Read More

  • Comparing Grenouille To God In Perfume Suskind

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    The narrator rarely mentions Grenouille viewing the world with his eyes, his nose determines where he tends to go next. Thus emphasizing Grenouille has more animal like qualities than human. Suskind's diction indicates Grenouille lacks confidence and awareness of his surroundings. The context reveals that Grenouille never intentionally meant to kill the young red haired girl, but “he in turn, did not look at her, did not see her delicate freckled face, her red lips, her large sparkling green eyes, keeping his eyes closed tight as he strangled her, for he had only one concern-not to lose the least trace of her scent”(42). The narrator makes the readers well aware that Grenouille only intends on mastering scent, and once Grenouille realizes how powerful he can become when he embodies the ultimate scent, he becomes more determined with keeping every drop of the unique girl. Grenouille needs more than one drop of the redhead girl, so when he finds a scent that brings back memories of the night when he murdered her he becomes infatuated with their scents and does everything in his power to distill the scent of similar

    Read More

  • The Existential Crisis In Grendel

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel Grendel the title character works throughout his whole life to understand his purpose and place in a world that constantly makes him feel like an outcast, yet gives him a role to fulfill through being the outcast, the Cain to man’s Abel, the antagonist to humanity. It is no surprise, then, that throughout Grendel’s journey he encounters serious questions about his and humanity 's existence, the meaning or lackthereof in life, and what will come of his perceived misery and tribulation experienced in life. Grendel has multiple existential crises over the duration of the novel due to this questioning of life and meaning, leading him to his eventual end. These existential crises are turning points in Grendel 's life that make him reevaluate

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    For each of us, death is a subject that not only fascinates, but creates fear in our hearts as well. Death is something we avoid in our minds with the hope that it will not touch us. As a society we all fear death; especially in violent cases, which occur naturally and arise through the unusual forces in our society. When such an event takes place we want revenge. In Dead Man Walking, the parents of the murdered girl are left with so much anger that they verbally attack Sister Helen Prejean, when they find out she is still on Matthew Poncelet’s side.

    Read More

  • Rushmore Movie

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    his

    Read More

  • Jean Baptiste Grenouille Identity

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Characters and the narrator belittle Grenouille through descriptions, without knowing his full intentions. Grenouille abandoned Baldini to create his own identity through perfume, “Baldini watched him go, shuffling across the bridge to the island, small, bent, bearing his rucksack like a hunchback, looking from the rear like an oldman.”(108). Grenouille disguises himself with human like actions to deter the other characters from asking questions. This method improves Grenouille’s effectiveness of gaining total control of humankind’s senses. Grenouille continues to allow scent to direct his every action, “He carried on like a madman into the night.

    Read More

  • Perfume Novel Grenouille by Patrick Süskind, Questions and Answers

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    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?

    Read More

  • Oppression Of Women In Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

    2004 Words  | 5 Pages

    his

    Read More

  • Patrick Süskind's Portrayal of Grenouille as a Monster in Perfume

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Grenouille was the prime cause of death in the novel due to his upbringing at the hands of his caretakers. He murders 24 women and uses them in order to create the perfect perfume. "He loved this waiting [...] [and] loved it with the twenty-four other girls"( 218). Grenouille, while in extracting the scent of the girl' Laure, says he was used to the waiting time of the extraction. He claims that murdering these women was a pleasant experience and feels no guilt. Since the day Grenouille was born he had been murdering people directly and indirectly but Süskind adds a death in the beginning of the novel that foreshadows all that followed. "Unexpectedly, the infant under the gutting table begins to squall[...]since she confesses openly admitting that she would definitely have let the thing perish,[...]she had[...]later[been]decapitated " (1). Grenouille, less than an hour old, murders hi...

    Read More

  • The Meaning Of Death

    1763 Words  | 4 Pages

    Herman published The Meaning of Death in 1959 a piece of writing that would galvanize the interest for psychologists to study death. Prior to publication, Feifel joined the Air Force in 1942 as a psychologist for pilots during WWII and became very intrigued that the best pilots didn’t think about death (Herman, 1990). In addition, during the screening of pilots they were never asked about how they felt about death, what would happen to their family if they die, and what they would consider a dignified death (Herman, 1990). During the Holocaust Feifel witnessed the manslaughter of the Jewish population, he was surrounded by death. Throughout Feifels experiences and the death of his mother in 1952, he wanted to investigate the thought process of death at the conscious level and the unconscious level (Herman, 1990). Until Feifel began investing the psychology of death and how people felt about death itself, there was very little research on death. His research and commitment revealed the importance of studying death attitudes, and those actually facing life-threatening

    Read More

  • Death In Elie Wiesel's Life Is Beautiful

    445 Words  | 1 Pages

    Typically, death is not seen as normal, expected, or desired. When a young boy was hanged in the concentration camp, other Jews looked on and couldn’t fathom the death before their eyes. As a result of the trauma they experienced, “That night, the soup tasted of corpses” (Wiesel 65). Similarly, in Life Is Beautiful, Guido makes a game of their experiences in order to shield Joshua from death because it is unexpected and painful for them as they arrive at the camp. When Guido and Joshua are

    Read More

  • How Patrick Süskind portrays Humanity, either Positively or Negatively?

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    Süskind uses the element of innocence as a means to juxtapose the positive elements of humanity to the negative elements. Innocence is showcased throughout the novel, most notably the plum girl. The author portrays the innocence of the young girl through her physical characteristics, such as “her delicate, freckled face, her red lips, her large sparkling green eyes”(Süskind 42). When Süskind describes the young girl, he creates a foil between her and Grenouille. Süskind emphasizes her youthful beauty when Grenouille describes it as “inconceivable, indescribable”(Süskind 40). Frog is the direct translation of grenouille stressing his grotesque nature and shape, because of the essential difference that Grenouille has no smell. Furthermore this innocence is repeatedly seen with Grenouille, the first when he was searching for the scent of the plum girl, “he had to understand its smallest detail, to follow it to its last delicate tendril; the mere memory however complex, was not enough”(Süskind 42).Grenouille’s complete fascination with this smell can be compared to the fascination seen within a child in respect to its surrounding. The second time Grenouille e...

    Read More

  • Comparing Frankenstein And Grenouille In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being rejected from his mom, at that point his wet attendants, at that point Father Terrier, at that point Madame Galliard, and afterward sent to Grimal where he is dealt with like a creature has affected his thought that he doesn't have a place and that he isn't acknowledged. This example of dismissal from the earliest starting point is like the beast's dismissal. Grenouille likewise understands that he is not the same as society by getting to be mindful of his absence of smell. He, as well, builds up a scorn for humankind. Be that as it may he doesn't slaughter out of vengeance like the beast, yet rather murders to catch aroma since he himself does not have a fragrance.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Motives For Killing

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    Started much the same way as Frankenstein of course without being created from a dead person. His earlier years are the same in that he is rejected and unwanted by the person that brought him into this world and also, he is misunderstood as a person. He is left to figure out life on his own much like Frankenstein. However, he was born with a gift, the gift of sent and that would add to his motive of killing. Grenouille motive lies with his obsession to create the prefect perfume sent and he seeks out teenage girls for their sent and murders them. He soaks in their sent and that sent makes him calm and seem normal for just a minute. So, it could be said that his motive was based on rejection from being an abused, friendless orphan with a supernatural ability for the perfect sent. Like the motive of Frankenstein, Grenouille too feels reject by those that are supposed to care for him, this has made is motive more than just hating, his killer ways stem from the pain of being

    Read More

  • Alienation In Perfume

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...had identified him as evil and emotionless can no longer accept the fact that someone as plain and seemingly ordinary as Grenouille could have committed these violent crimes. On the execution field though, Grenouille shows that he is an alien being capable of more than humans. His intoxicating perfume made from the scent of adolescent girls is enough to overpower the minds of the people present. His alienation from birth onward into his self imposed alienation from the world lead him to become Grenouille the Great, swindling the public into thinking he was akin to other humans, in order to ultimately captivate the people of Grasse with his sublime concoction of scent. Grenouille however, discovers that captivation of human sentiment and love through his perfume is not what he wants, and decides that he has no other purpose for living in the world and ends his life.

    Read More

More about Death Kills Grenouille

Open Document