There is a purpose and reason behind every book. The allegory"Perfume" by Suskind has very much reflected on the French society and the capitalism reformation during the time.
The book criticises a division between high class aristocrats and ordinary citizens. Page 4 brings in the subject, it states the whole aristocracy stank, even the King himself stank, Queen like an old goat... This point is further elaborated in the plot of the novel, how the working class (people like Madame Gaillard) were nothing but group of illiterate citizens, cared about nothing but the amount of money they earned (even if they had to exploit the child labour). Money & ego is a focused topic which highlights the chaos stirred in Paris. An example is Baldini's truthful thought on Grenouille on page 107, when Grenouille turned ill. Baldini wished for his wealth by relying on Grenouille's perfume formulae, sadly, that was the only reason why he took care of the young boy.
Suskind reveals disgust towards the society by his repeated symbolism of stenches and odours. In my opinion, each smell represents an aspect of the society. For instance, the stench of the fish refers to the poor people, their lives. On the contrary, sweet odours like caremel is aimed at the aristocrats, their desire and lust. Grenouille possesses an extraordinary ability to smell and remember every odours and stenches in the world, thus, this makes him the leader of both classes. In my opinion, Grenouille represents the construction of cruelty in France (more specifically, Paris), and the destruction of love (Page 195 when he mentioned his victims are the rare humans who are inspired by love).
Final reflection/theme in this book is that all the callous factors and selfish individuals have resulted in a society with no justice. The ending event of Druot was sentenced to death instead of Grenouille is an evidence.
2 comments:
Dung, your comments show how you have been able to generalise Suskind's comment on society as a whole quite effectively. I like your idea about the different scents representing different things - what do the young women smell like? Or the Nurse maid Jeanne Bussie and what does this suggest about how we are to regard them?
Also, you mention "repeated symbolism" ( or imagery) - this is called a "motif".
Women from different classes are stereotyped, thus each possesses different odour or stench. Those like Jeanne Bussie are classified as coarse, illiterate lower-class. Jeanne Bussie as introduced, appeared with a market basket in hand and got herself absorbed with the smell of vinegar, enhances a sour feeling, stirs a discomfort, involves all the characteristics which drag Jean-Bussie to a pool of mediocrity. A natural disdain is highlighted towards these characters.
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