How does the author enable the
How does the author enable theHow does the author enable the reader to share the experience of the main character?
Patrick Suskind’s use of visual imagery captures the audiences’ sense of smell by dragging the reader into this world of hideous stench. Perfume is unique as it creates a reality by ‘painting a picture’ in the mind of the reader through the olfactory senses. Suskind does, on many occasions, manipulate the readers’ basic instincts through the novel’s protagonist, Jean Baptiste Grenouille.
Suskind is successful in the way that he takes the reader into his story through the use of very vivid detail in his description of the odours in this book in the way that other authors describe surroundings.
Suskind’s writing technique is also distinctive in the way that he uses phrases and imagery to make what initially seem to be violent and grotesque descriptions an erotic and sexual encounter. This is a prominent theme when the main character is murdering his young virgins and dissecting various ‘smells.’
Through these various techniques of Suskind’s, we are drawn into the world of Jean Baptiste Grenouille. It is to be analysed in this essay how we are able to experience what Grenouille feels. The reader is confronted with the issues of acceptance and finding love both of which are relevant to human nature thus the audience is able to sympathise with him. He cannot achieve acceptance in society by being who he really is. He therefore strives to achieve this by killing in order to obtain the ultimate scent. It is with this scent that he will no longer be odourless and feared
Another theme which is brought into play is exploitation. In Perfume anyone who exploits Grenouille either dies or suffers. We are present at the birth of Grenouille, his admittance into the orphanage and consequent abuse, Baldini’s discovery of Grenouille’s gift, his self-imposed hibernation and his manipulation of the masses at his near execution. We are present It could be argued that this is made possible by the sympathy we feel for this man who is described as a beast whom everyone fears. Yet ,at the same time we are faced with the conflicting emotions that we feel for Grenouille. We admire his intelligence and his amazing sense of smell which leads to his success in achieving acceptance from society. The reaccuring issue that is repeated in the readers mind is that we understand why Grenouille has to kill but we do not excuse this behaviour. This is the on going debate that the reader has while we are sharing the experience of Grenouille through his journey and his quest for acceptance and not to be feared of.
With issues raised previously, Suskind is able to bring the reader into the world of Grenouille. He first introduces the reader in to an elaborate description of horrible, hideous stench of smells that the reader is instantly bombarded with at the beginning of...
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