An examination of the techniques used in the morgue scene in Therese Raquin and the fish market in Perfume will be carried out to see the purpose and effect these settings have on the readers.

International Baccalaureate World Literature

Fabio Faltoni

Both in Therese Raquin, written by Emile Zola, and Perfume, by Patrcik Suskind, the morgue and the fish market are presented as grotesque and really unpleasant environments. In both settings, the authors help reinforce this atmosphere by emphasizing and focusing their descriptions by using sensorial imagery. Smell and sight are the two main senses that make these narrations more realistic. In this essay, I will analyze how the use of sensorial imagery and the choice of words help to portray the grotesqueness of both scenes.

The novel Perfume by Patrick Suskind, heavily relies on the use of sensorial imagery, especially smell, to make Paris, but more specifically the fish market a grotesque place. “The stench was barely conceivable… the streets stank of manure and the courtyards of urine.” (pg 3). Suskind goes on describing how practically every corner of the city smelled of putrid things, including moldering wood, rat droppings, stale dust, congealed blood. Not only the stench came from animals or rotten food, it also came from the inhabitants of the city. “People stank of unwashed clothes, rancid cheese, sour milk and from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth.” (Pg 5). Even the royal family smelled badly, “the king stank like a rank lion… while the queen like an old goat.” In this quote, Suskind uses two literary features, k alliteration and a simile. The K-sound is guttural and cavernous. As it is not a melodic and comforting sound, it is perfect for describing the unbearable smell. As mentioned, Suskind also uses a simile. It compares the royal family to smelly animals. It is quite ironical that the author chose these two animals to describe the king and queen. Lions are known to be leaders, majestic and clean animals. Basing ourselves on the quote, we may deduce that the king lacks every single quality a lion has, thus making it ironic. The same thing happens with the queen. Sheep are followers, dumb and naïve, suggesting that the queen is stupid and has no personality. Another interesting aspect to look at is that Suskind continuously repeats the word “stank” over and over again. The word “stench” has a much stronger connotation from the rest of the words used to describe something smelly. The choice of this word is perfect to reinforce the grotesque setting. Another reason of why Paris stank so much was because for eight hundred years, thousands of corpses had been dumped inside the long ditches and tombs of the Cimitiere des Innocents. The smell produced by the putrefied dead corpses, like it happens in the morgue in There Raquin, contribute to the creation of a grotesque environment. Cemeteries are important and common places which are often used to create this sort of atmosphere. They are spooky and mysterious, as well as they emit a bad odor. The hot climate is another factor which contributes to reinforce the grotesque scene. It was one of the hottest days of the year. “The heat lay leaden upon the graveyard, squeezing its putrefying vapor, a blend of rotting melon and the fetid odor of burnt animal horn.” (pg4). The word “leaden” suggests that the climate is really heavy and hard to live in. Not only it is one of the reasons of why the citizens stink so much themselves, but it also intensifies the bad smell coming from the graveyard and the animals. Words like putrefying, rotting and fetid indicate that the environment is really unpleasant. In addition, these words are more than unpleasant, they are related to death. This possibly foreshadows that someone is going to die at the end of the novel. As it is possible to observe, the fish market scene is very detailed and descriptive. This is because Perfume is a quite recent novel, first published in the year 1985. Unlike in Therese Raquin, a much older novel, the author had to describe in greater detail the setting making it possibly for the reader to visualize and feel the unbearable smell. This is because our generation is not used to such putrid smell as the people in Paris were a long time ago Therefore, Suskind’s highly detailed description helps the reader to nearly place himself in the fish market and feel the same unpleasant sensations as the characters did.

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As in Perfume, the opening lines in the morgue scene in Therese Raquin begin with the author writing that the smell was unbearable. “As soon as Laurent went in, he was sickened by a stale smell, a smell of washed flesh.” (pg70). Not only it smelled, “the humidity was so intense that it caused Laurent’s clothes to hang against its shoulders, as though it weighed him down.” (pg 70) The sticky and humid climate is the same as the one in the fish market, causing it to be abhorrent. What Laurent saw, wasn’t much better either. “Some bodies were still intact and rigid; however others were heaps of bloody, rotten meat. In others, the flesh was peeling of their faces in shreds, it looked as if the face had been boiled and the bones were sticking out of their now decaying bodies.” (pg72). The corpses can be compared to the fishes and to Grenouille’s body at birth in the fish market. The fishes were gutted, cut, and piled up upon the table, while when Grenouille was born, he was left on the floor all covered in blood next to his umbilical cord, nearly resembling the decaying dead bodies in the morgue. “The corpses were shocking, Laurent stayed shivering and staring at them, as if their frightful grimaces mocked him. They were so unpleasant that they filled him with nightmares and shudders that left him panting.” (pg 72). These unrealistic sensations that Laurent was experiencing make the place even more grotesque. The corpses are such in bad conditions that they scare Laurent so much making him have nightmares. This is similar to the cemetery nearby the fish market. The idea of being surrounded by dead bodies is really unpleasant making the setting even more sinister. Apart from the sensorial imagery, there are also some words that help create the grotesque setting. They are not focused on the smell as they are in Perfume, they are primary related to the dead bodies. Examples are shred, rotten meet, flesh. The morgue nearly resembles a slaughter house where all the animals are cut into pieces. Another thing that makes the morgue grotesque as well as morbid is the fact that it is seen more as a show/entertainment rather than a place where families can recognize their relative’s dead bodies. It is a show that anyone can afford. People come out of it satisfied when the slabs are filled and when there is a fine display of human flesh. However, when the slabs are empty, people go out disappointed, robbed. This concept can be compared to the fish market. Buyers go there to buy good fish. They will be disappointed when there is none left or if it is rotten and happy when there is. Unlike in Perfume, the descriptions in Therese Raquin are not as detailed. This is attributed to the fact that it was first published in the year 1867 nearly 120 years before Perfume. Therefore, Zola hadn’t the necessity of elaborating his descriptions as much as Suskind had to; This was because the readers of those times lived those experiences and thus, Zola could merely report something briefly, and the readers would know what he was writing about.

In conclusion, I see that not only the sensorial imagery and the choice of words help to create a grotesque setting in both novels, the environment that surrounds the settings as well as the features in it play a major role as well. For example, the cemetery nearby the fish market is important because it gives off a terrible smell, as well as it creates an ominous atmosphere, contributing to the grotesque of the place. Another thing is that in both places, the people are surrounded by a numerous amount of putrid flesh. In the fish market, the citizens are surrounded by the gut fish, while in the morgue, Laurent is surrounded by dozens of decaying dead bodies. These features help to makes both places grotesque.

An examination of the techniques used in the morgue scene in Therese Raquin and the fish market in Perfume will be carried out to see the purpose and effect these settings have on the readers.

This is a preview of the whole essay

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