REFLECTION OF THE LITERARY WORK "THE PERFUME"
Obsession is a state in which people cannot control need psychological help and in some psychiatric cases. Being obsessed implies losing control and even reason, executing actions that harm others and even likewise, with the sole purpose of obtaining the desired.
In the literary work there are several interesting topics, among the most important is the theme of obsession, when the protagonist unfolds with perfumes and regardless of the consequences of his actions, the idea of creating a perfume. The problem of obsession has several background from hereditary origins, to hostile circumstances of the environment, considering the aforementioned aspects, Grenouille could have acquired, the disease for the aggressive environment that faced so much in the stage of childhood and adolescence. The perfume is a literary work that makes us known the consequences of child abuse, Grenouille, is a proof of the aforementioned, the child was abhorred by all, for being different, evidencing an individualistic and selfless society by the common good, as a triggerof social exploitation, in which the people was the most battered class.
The theme of the protagonist’s obsession is decisive to make his perfume, because it was from the smells that his site in the world recognizes, nor did he know the reason for his existence, even more when he realizes that he does not perceive smell,why perhaps he was not human;This event disturbs and becomes obsessed with the creation of a human aroma and that later should be supernatural, so the following question was born. To what extent is the issue of obsession with the protagonist of the literary work in the "Fragrance"?
Jean Baptiste Grenouille in the course of his life has unusual behaviors as when he is isolated from society. For seven years Jean Baptiste, resigned to be surrounded by people, coming to live in a cave, with the sole purpose of perceiving pure smells and not the stench of the human being, I believe the kingdom of smells, survived as a hermit, for sevenyears;Meanwhile at that time, Europe freed the seven -year war, facing the great powers of the aforementioned continent, with this episode you can see the irony of the author in front of the war, the loss of lives dueAn more desolation event. Grenouille during that time when idealizing his kingdom has amazing orgies, produced by his mental state, drunk with the essence of the first woman who murdered. His kingdom was composed of the wind, the stones and the mountains;In this episode you can see the first flashes of the protagonist’s imbalance.
Jean Baptiste is cynical, no law is governed, he agrees to live because he has no choice, he lives on what he reaches his hands, life lives as his nose provides, that is, according to the smell he responds and acts. “Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was about to lie down twenty meters above. He had been assigned a cot at the bottom of the Baldini workshop, of which he took possession at the precise moment in which his former master fell apart from the cold Sena with the four rigid extremities. He snuggled, full of well -being, shrinking like the tick. While reconciling the dream he deepened more and more in himself until he triumphantly entered his inner strength, where he dreamed with a victorious olfactory banquet, a gigantic orgy with smoke of incense and myrrh vapor, in honor of himself ”.
The reality for Grenouille is empty, so it is subsequently immersed in a new obsession, finding exquisite and pure fragrances, which are found in the virgin bodies that do not know their value, but that for Grenouille the existence of virginity was invaluable. Each young girl killed is the representation of love, purity, peace, happiness and perfection;Reason why, it was necessary to provide the world with what I had lost. It is known that when a person becomes obsessed with something, he does anything to obtain it, Jean Baptiste is the clearest example of the debauchery of a mental illness.
Social prejudices is another important aspect that should be considered in the achievement of Grenouille’s disease, society and particularly the people who were close did not understand that the child was born with a gift, rather it was related as a symbolDemoniac, because the child perceived not only his body smell, also his spirit and that was the real reason to despise the child. The fear of revealing the inner world to unmask them and presented them as they really were.
Jean Baptiste’s obsession to be evidencemisery and hunger from which they were subject. France is one of the most important countries not only for the French Revolution, which was an icon for the change of the political system throughout Europe, it was also an icon in the art of perfumery, the creator of literary work places its work inThis country, because it is aware of the techniques and strategies for the distillation of aromas, which have the cities of Paris and Grasse, considered the latter the capital of the perfume;Hence the work is titled the perfume. It is important to highlight that, despite the war conflicts between Prussians and French, its author of German nationality, admits the supremacy of France in the creation of perfumes.
In the literary work there are other characters that also suffer from obsession such as Giuseppe Baldini and the Marqués de Tailade -Espinasse, characters that look at certain themes, Baldini seeks fame and fortune and does not measure consequences to obtain their wishes, buy essences of Genoa,Making them go through created perfumes, use Grenouille to obtain formulas and how he is accustomed to lying. With respect to the Marquis de Tailade -Espinasse, he believes he has discovered the lethal fluid theory, seeks to renew the mentality of the time, the marquis was able to give his life to demonstrate his theory, he stated that the earth produces a toxic gas, which harmedto the human being;reason why it should be lived away from the center of the earth, in order to breathe outdoor and not polluted. The two characters seek to be referents, distinguish between others, cling to their ideas and succumb, as Jean Baptiste Grenouille also did at the time.
To end the protagonist’s life, he depended totally on his creation, once he concluded his perfume, his forces ceased, his life had lost purpose, even more when all those who at the time hated him for having taken the lives of his daughters, alsoThey loved him, since he fired the smell of his beloved offspring and without hesitation for a second, he reaches the dirty and lonely streets of Paris meeting the marginalized, he recognizes them, because he is one of them, a poor orphan who returns exactly toPlace that witnessed his birth, just to surrender to the hands of the vagrants, who go unnoticed, as he passed to the perfume.
Jean Baptiste’s obsession could be appreciated from the beginning to the end of his days, he was part of his own life, without her his existence ceased to make sense. Giuseppe Baldini, Grimal, Madame Arnulfi, helped perfect their art, in which their nose, was indispensable to overcome the aforementioned characters, which, like the protagonist they lived from his art. Like every good artist, he had taken advantage of the moment of glory, of returning immune to common men, because he was a superior being and for this reason, he does not let himself win for death, he dies because he wants so.
Being obsessed is portraying the secrets of the mind, which are revealed in retracted, antisocial, egocentric behaviors, characteristics that were present in the personality of Jean Baptiste and at the same time determines the degree of social decomposition and ignorance of psychological and mental diseases, the eternal rest also allowed eternalize the name of this character that clung to life and then discouraged from it.
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