Jean-Baptiste Grenouille

You would be hard pressed to find an endearing quality in Jean Baptiste Grenouille, the protagonist of the novel Perfume. While reading Perfume I was repulsed by the character of Grenouille - I could not relate to him in any way. However, Grenouille's thought processes and his actions were so interesting that I couldn't bring myself to stop reading. Of course, Suskind's skill with words contributed to my enjoyment of the novel.

At the beginning of the novel I neither liked nor disliked Grenouille. In fact, on some level, I felt pity towards him. He was born on a heap of of fish guts and garbage, completely abandoned by his birth mother. From the beginning, Grenouille really had no control over his life and was shuttled from one carer to another, and none of them had any particular liking for him. As if this wasn't enough, he was born without a scent - completely singling him out from the rest of humankind.

However, at the point where Grenouille acquires his journeyman's papers from Baldini and journeys into the mountains I began to dislike him. Once he had found his little cave and bunkered down for seven years, his true character came out. (Well, I already disliked him after he murdered the first girl, but disliked him even more later) His "orgies" of self-worship that he held within "his heart" were repulsive. His imitation of the biblical Creation was such a flagrant power trip that I began to truly despise him.