Humanity is composed of one entity: humans. Beings who demonstrate empathy, emotions and understand moral codes. Granted all this, the essence of humanity is not defined merely by the actions of one person, it is defined by the actions of society has done as a whole. Patrick Süskind, author of the novel Perfume:The Story Of A Murderer translated by John E.Woods, portrays the element of humanity as being sinister if not ‘satanic’. The novel characterizes the negative aspects of humanity through the use of innocence, the corruption in society and society perceptions of the unknown.
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...
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...ly announces to the reader that he never felt comfortable with his apprentice; he only lasted this long because he wanted to take advantage of Grenouille’s talent. These three characters demonstrate the degree to which humanity in the 18th century perceived the unknown and the darkness of humanity.
Humanity is made up of the people in society; the portrayal of it is determined by key characters and themes. Grenouille acts as the catalyst to the other characters and exposes their true personalities. Süskind uses the topic of innocence as a way to juxtapose it against the other themes, such as corruption of society and how society perceives the unknown which futher enhanced the overall idea that humanity is perceived negatively by Süskind. Through these elements it is easy to observe that humanity is portrayed negatively in the novel Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer.
Through the experience of the young character, Bobby, the short story Catapult by J. A McLeod is a good example in which characters in texts are constructed to represent the best and worst qualities in human nature. In this short story, Bobby is constructed to convey just how easily we are able to destroy our innocence and to represent some of the uglier qualities in human nature, like how we crave power, are greedy and how easily we are able to kill if given the power paired with a lapse in judgement. It shows how we would rather pin the blame on something innocent rather than accept our faults and also suggests that our lack of judgement could be our downfall. At the same
In the human nature, naive ignorance of the world's imperfections eventually yields to the recognition that the world does contain hatred and violence. John Knowles places his novel A Separate Peace in situations which necessitate this emotional transformation. The characters become increasingly aware of the nature of the world. In addition, symbols help show the interrelation of ideas and events as they appear in Gene's subconscious mind. In this novel, setting, character, and symbols develop the theme of loss of innocence.
Oscar Wilde, an acclaimed Irish Poet, novelist, dramatist and critic once aptly commented, “Men become old, but they never become good”. The philosophical aspect of this quote relies on the basis that human beings are inherently malevolent. Through his pessimistic perspective, Wilde clearly captures the ill-disposed mindset of mankind. Moreover, there are various deductive arguments that discredit the optimistic depiction of human nature. One of the prime examples can be found in Kurt Vonnegut’s literature. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat's Cradle, through the illustration of his characters, the author symbolizes the four elements of human fallibility.
Human nature has many elements that reveal the growth and personality of a person. In Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief”, the author successfully portrays various aspects of human nature through Hans’ conflicts that originate from the tough reality that he lives in. Elements of human nature can be seen as a result of Hans’ constant struggles with guilt, kindness, and love.
She presents two contradictory images of society in most of her fiction: one in which the power and prevalence of evil seem so deeply embedded that only destruction may root it out, and another in which the community or even an aggregate of individuals, though radically flawed, may discover within itself the potential for regeneration. (34)
Clearly, these two stories say some very profound things about the human condition. Given the right conditions, there is evil in all of us that is just waiting to surface. And we were all innocent once, but some event made us lose it. Finally, people are all manipulative given the opportunity. These conclusions aren’t just drawn about the characters in the novels. These are things that are true for each and every human who ever lived, and everyone who will live. We are flawed creatures, and through the aid of great writers like these, we begin to realize it. Really, we shouldn’t need them to tell us about ourselves though. Just look at the world around you, and you will know.
is the understanding of this "rich" character. In this study I will try to analyze some of his traits (invisibility-lack of indentity , blindness) and his journey from idealism to a grim realism about the racism that confronts him in the story.
...ferent from their peers has isolated Bernard, Helmholtz, and John, it has also deepened their individuality. This scenario, at a lesser level, often plays out in modern day. People possess a natural desire to fit in and often are willing to forego individuality in order to do so. Though one may gain a facade of happiness as a result of fitting in, being truthful to oneself and expressing one’s free will allows for honest expression of individuality, a concept much greater than such a facade. A society without unique individuals is a society without humanity, and, as demonstrated through these characters’ experience, does not function. Ultimately, people must realize that individuality, knowledge, and raw emotion is more important to society than superficial happiness.
We watch death explore the beauty and ugliness of the human race in Markus Zusak’s book The Book Thief. We watch as Liesel, Hans, and Rosa do everything they can to help out a group of people who were treated with such disrespect during this time period. This group, the Jews, were beaten for taking food that was given to them, and when they died no one would even care. But, these few people gave them food, a place to hide, a sense of belonging, and and a reason to live. They have to work day and night, and do everything they can. Even though people aren’t so beautiful at all times, there is still hope. As we have learned in this book that even when 99 percent of humans aren’t so marvelous there is still that one percent that is to delightful that it would touch anyones heart.
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.
of whether or not mankind is good or evil, illustrating the characters’ understandings of human
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.
The hideous scars of murder and crime are doused in the blood, tears, and cries of hopeless victims. Malicious villains slaughter, lie, and steal with little thoughts of emotion or rationality. According to Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the great evil found in these criminals and murderers lie within the pure faults of society. His opinion highly contrasts the ideas of esteemed author William Golding who believes that malevolence is a distinctive part of human nature. Despite these insightful approaches into the nature of humankind, I truly believe that Rousseau’s theory on humanity creates a more reasonable argument.
The authors' relations to us on the characters' places in society help us to relate to and comprehend their actions. If Meursault hadn't been so detached from society, Noboru so discontented with society, and Medea so vengeful toward society, we wouldn't have half of the justification needed to understand the murders that took place in the works. Given the presented material about conformity, I conclude that the stories' plots indeed grow around the unique attributes of the non-conformers, and as result, spark the reader's imagination to the fullest.
Throughout the last few weeks we’ve been reading and discussing three largely renowned books (Metamorphosis by Kafka, The Stanger by Albert Camus and The Perfume by Patrick Suskind) that share similarity in themes, and in the character profiles of Gregor Samsa, John Baptiste Grenouille and Meursault. These themes and profiles include; isolation and alienation from humanity as well as society, sociopathic tendencies, distorted reality, feelings of apathy towards life and others, among other.