Explain how Sskind has used narrative to develop the plot and the characters in part 1 of Perfume

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Explain how Süskind has used narrative to develop the plot and the characters in part 1 of “Perfume”

The first part of the novel “Perfume” explores how Grenouille’s meaningless life takes an interesting turn when he is introduced to the world of scents. Grenouille’s dream of becoming the greatest perfumer ever is realised in the first part of the novel and there are many events that led up to this point.

The first chapter of the book, written in first-person narration explores and captures the author's portrayal of the eighteenth century in the foulest smelling city in France, Paris. The phrasing and literary devices as well as the use of such powerful and revolting imagery to describe each particular unappealing smell in explicit detail emphasises the supremacy of each smell to the reader. The word order of these descriptions make is easy to overwhelm the reader with mixed feelings of shock and disgust but at the same time, there are feelings of awe and fascination.

One thing interesting about the beginning of the book is the ironic bond between the title of the novel and the content this extract. The title of the novel “Perfume” contradicts with the repetition of words such as “stink” and “stench”. This makes the reader feel as though Grenouille’s idea of amazing scents aren’t the same as an average person. Grenouille is attracted to the most extreme scents – the most beautiful and the most disgusting – telling us that he is clearly too abnormal to be considered human.

The use of animals is very important in this novel as it helps the reader understand how the author intended his characters to be portrayed. There are many references to animals throughout the novel which affects the plot.

Grenouille was born in a fish market during the 18th century. This was a place that was filled with the foul smell of fish and it an ironic way, this fits in with Grenouille’s character. Moreover, he was born in a “pile of fish guts” showing that Grenouille was a victim of social decay where society has degraded to the point where babies – a pure, innocent gift from God – mattered just has much as fish guts. “Beneath the swarm of flies and amid the offal and fish heads” is where Grenouille is first found at the fish market, telling us that he was a very insignificant being and that his birth would foreshadow what was to come in his life. He was born in a gruesome and smelly place and he would grow up and have a death more gruesome than his birth.

His death was a vicious one which somehow made everything that he had already done seem tame. “They lunged at him, pounced on him, threw him to the ground. Each of them wanted to touch him, wanted to have a piece of him, a feather, a bit of plumage, a spark from that wonderful fire. They tore away his clothes, his hair, his skin from his body, they plucked him, they drove their claws and teeth into his flesh. They attacked him like hyenas.” This quote near the end of the book makes the ordinary citizens of France seem like carnivorous animals which helps the reader understand how they were feeling when they smelt the scent that was coming from Grenouille when he dumped the perfume over himself. They couldn’t be anything but brutal as they were so overcome with animal instinct that they forgot that they were human.

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The main character – Jean-Baptiste Grenouille – has been given the most interesting and unique name. “Jean-Baptiste” is obviously linked to the religious figure “John the Baptist” who was sentenced to death by being be-headed. The word “Grenouille” in French means “frog” which is a tailless creature. This is one major difference which frogs have from most of the rest of the animal kingdom and this is a major link to Jean-Baptiste Grenouille as he is different from the others. The author suggests that he is not a real human being as he seems to be some sort of ...

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