Essays on The Relationship between Camus’ Outsider’s Central Character Meursault and Suskind’s Perfume’s Grenouille

It is very important to discuss Meursault’s relation to women because it shows his true feelings. Maria Cardona, a young woman becomes the first love of Meursault. She worked with him in the same office. Meursault’s relations with Maria prove the fact that he does not worry about his woman who loves him and wants to be with him. When Maria asked him if he loved her, he answered that he “did not mean anything but he did not think so”. (p.34)

The author of the novel wants to tell that although Meursault is in close relations with Marie and spends a lot of free time with her, he does not love her and he does nothing to show his love to her. He does not give her presents or flowers, he does not have any romance in his love relations with this young woman. When Maria talks about their marriage, he says that “it does not make any difference to him”. It is known that marriage is one of the most significant events in the life of any person. It is a union between two loving people. However, Meursault does not think seriously about marriage. The main problem in their relations is absence of verbal interaction. The young people do not speak with each other and sometimes they try to avoid conversations. The major reason is that Meursault is a rather dull person who doesn’t like to speak much. (p.36)

ASPECT 4

Meursault’s relation to death is also abnormal. Death is shown several times in the novel. Firstly, it is the death of Meursault’s mother. Secondly, it is the death of Arab. Meursault told the court that he killed that Arab because the sun which was shining in the sky at that moment confused him. He always tells the truth but his truth cannot be appreciated in the society. People do not understand him. They are sure that he is an outsider to society because he doesn’t want to live according to the principles of human society where human emotions and feeling play an important role. “Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness”. (p.59)

ASPECT 5

Grenouille is the main character of the novel Perfume written by Patrick Suskind. This young man is also represented as an outsider to his society. However, he cannot be compared with the previous character, Meursault, because he has some individual characteristics – he can differentiate different smells: “Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions and wills”. (p.82)

The author of the story wants to tell that Grenoille is a victim in his society. He had no mother and his psychological state was damaged. Of course, this influenced his personal development. Although “there was nothing at all about him to instill terror”, he managed to frighten the society by his terrible acts of violence. (p.15)

ASPECT 6

As the Grenouille realizes that he has a unique gift – he has a great power to discern different odors, he begins to collect scents. He kills young pretty girls in order to get their smells after death. It means that he does not have any feelings to his victims. He is a murderer whose main purpose of life is “to collect smells”. (p.175) Moreover, he is a cruel murderer whose terrible actions frighten the readers. It is clear that his behavior is abnormal and he is an outsider to his society.

Although he manages to escape punishment by means of his scents when everybody believes that he is innocent, Grenouille chooses death when he puts the scent on and allows the mob to kill him. It means that he does not afraid of death. The mob is shown as a group of animals: “though the meal lay rather heavy on their stomachs, their hearts were definitely light”. (p.255)

ASPECT 7

Grenouille’s victims are the young girls who are very beautiful. Their beauty gives him wonderful scents. He has no any feelings to women. He doesn’t know what human love means because he loves only scents. He kills twenty six young girls in order to get their scents. For example, Laura, the daughter of M.Richis, is only a so-called product of Grenouille’s desires: “Her scent has grown stronger, just as he had expected”. (p.189)

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it is necessary to say that although there are a lot of differences between two characters, Meursault and Grenouille it is clear that both of them are outsiders to the society they live in. Both of them ignore the established rules and moral norms. Both of them are cruel murderers who do not deplore their crimes.

One more important thing is that both literary works are philosophical as they make the readers ponder over the major point of life and death, human relations and human feelings. The main characters of the above mentioned literary works are cruel men who think only about their desires and whose behavior is abnormal. Of course, such people should be punished as they have no any moral principles and true human feelings. They don’t know what the feeling of love is. Although Grenouille lies and Meursault tells the truth, both young men violate the rules of the society. They are outsiders to our society and have no future.