WORD LITERATURE 1

HOW DOES THE MOTIF OF JOURNEY HELP THE CHARACTERS SEEK KNOWLEDGE?
Comparative essay on Perfume by Patrick Sskind and Homo Faber by Max Frisch
Word Count: 1493 Atupele Chakwera 10/5/2011

Atupele Chakwera

English HL

May 16, 2012

HOW DOES THE MOTIF OF JOURNEYS HELP CHARACTERS SEEK KNOWLEDGE?

The novels Perfume by Patrick Sskind and Homo Faber by Max Frisch are both essentially journey novels. In both novels we see the characters gradually develop as they travel through their worlds. The motifs of travel and journey are used to show development and this development comes about though their interactions as they travel around. The meeting of new people helps them learn new things and discover themselves. They also encounter new challenges on their journey that lead to new solutions and better understanding of their personal limits. This ultimately leads to them finding new approaches to knowledge and forces the reader to reevaluate the characters by the end of the novels. In the novel Perfume Grenouille is always seen as actively seeking the knowledge that he is looking for. We can see this with the way that he always seemed to enjoy going out to Paris so that he could improve upon his vast catalogue of odors ( Suskind 42) and then develop a system in his mind to order them. The narrator says he was seized with an urge to hunt. The greatest preserve for odors in all the world stood open before him, the city of Paris (38). Here we see Grenouille venturing into the city to collect scents. Another occasion we see the extent of his personal drive is when he goes to Baldinis to deliver some goat skins but ends up asking for a job, saying "I want to work for you, Maitre Baldini. Work for you, here in your business" (83). Though his original goal was not to ask for a job, when he saw this as a way to improve his understanding of scents and learning perfuming, he took it upon himself to convince Baldini to hire him. Lastly, another instance when he is actively seeking knowledge is when he becomes extremely ill after failing to distill a scent from a live animal. In an attempt to overcome this failure, he asks Baldini Tell me, maitre, are there other ways to extract the scent from things besides pressing or distilling (121). to which Baldini replies that his best option is in the city of Grasse. After hearing this Grenouille makes a quick recovery even though he was said to surely die. This shows that he is so driven that he can go from being very sick to feeling well again when he knows he can continue his quest for knowledge. In contrast to Grenouille, Walter in Homo Faber seems to stumble across his knowledge rather than actively seeking it, mostly through coincidence and unintentional circumstances. This leads to his travels being the result of fate, rather than his own personal actions as it is with Grenouille. This can be seen in the beginning when he thinks to himself, The captain had obviously decided to make a forced landing (Frisch 22). The crash landing of the plane clearly shows Walter being driven by forces beyond his control. The crash leads to him landing in the Mexican desert and therefore being forced to socialize with the Dusseldorfer, which would not have been likely to happen had the journey continued on its normal route. Moreover, it is in one of the conversations between them that Walter learns about what has happened to his wife as the Dusseldorfer says, Hanna Landsberg, from Munich, half Jewish. Walter says nothing (32) and is so shocked by what he has heard that he eventually loses a game of chess which he was surely going to win. Another instance which showcases his interactions with people being driven by fate is

Atupele Chakwera

English HL

May 16, 2012

when Ivy suggests So why not travel by sea for a change?( 66 )Walter takes this suggestion to heart and decides to travel by sea instead of plane as he usually did when returning to Europe. This leads to Walterss chance meeting a woman he doesnt know is his daughter, saying In front of my stood a young girl in black jeans English or Scandinavian I guessed, I couldnt see her face, only her blonde or reddish ponytail (75 )upon first seeing her. Showing him once again being in a situation by coincidence, and not as one of his actions. In addition if not for this fateful encounter, Walter would probably have The novel Perfume primarily deals with Grenouilles education in the olfactory world. Throughout the novel, we see Grenouille on a quest to improve his knowledge of scents that eventually leads to him wanting to create the perfect smell. When he was younger, he learnt to communicate and we note his challenges as the narrator says And so he learned to speak. With words designating non-smelling objects, with abstract ideas and the like, especially those of an ethical or moral nature, he had the greatest difficulty (Suskind 28). This shows that outside of the olfactory world, he had a hard time learning. In addition, when he was younger he spent his time exploring his surroundings, discovering new smells, as we are told In the course of the next week, this system grew ever more refined, the catalogue of odors ever more comprehensive and differentiated (51). This shows Grenouille engaging in his own education, and expanding his knowledge of smells quickly. Another location significant to Grenouilles education is when he is leaving and working with Baldini as even when he murdered Laure, He recalled the nights he had spent distilling in Baldinis workshop (252).Though he learned many things from Baldini, it was the process of distilling the scent from living things that eventually drove him on a quest of knowledge and to educate himself to the city of Grasse. At Grasse not only does he learn from Madame Aulifs workshop things such as cold enfleurage (208), allowing him to collect the most delicate of scents but also returns to his old ways of self-education, with him learning to finally capture smells from living things after several experiments. Since he learns everything he desired to, we see he no longer has the need continue his travels in order to educate himself. While Perfume focuses on Grenouilles education, Homo Faber focuses on Walters experiences from location to location. In the beginning, while in an airport, Walter thinks to himself, Im a technologist and accustomed to seeing things as they are (Frisch 27). This clearly shows Walters way of thinking at the time with him taking a logical approach towards looking at the world. However, after the events of the plane crash and during his travels in Guatemala, we see Walter having a different view on things. While in the rainforest during heavy rain, Walter thinks to himself, I was glad not to be alone, although there was really no danger, looking at the situation objectively( ). This shows a complete change of thinking compared to the beginning, where he commented on his way of looking at things objectively. However, here we see him showing relief for the human company with him while in the rainforest. This probably came about due to the traumatic events of the suicide of Joachim. Another example of his changing view of the world is when he is traveling around Europe with Sabeth. In the beginning of the journey Walter had

Atupele Chakwera

English HL

May 16, 2012

expressed his dislike for art and comments he cant see beauty in things. However, after being forced to go into many museums, his views seem to somewhat change. While climbing a mountain with Sabeth, Walter thinks to himself about a light that to be paid with death, but very beautiful (211) . Though not art, this shows Walter finding beauty in the natural world, whilst before he would take a logical approach to looking at the natural world, never using words such as beautiful to describe it. The last and probably the most profound change in his attitude comes about when Walter is thinking to himself while in the hospital, saying I cling to this life as never before (213), showing that unlike before, he now has a real, thriving will to live which is in contrast to his passive approach to the plane crash. Both Walter and Grenouille travel on extraordinary journeys in a search for personal and intellectual knowledge. In Perfume, Grenouille is actively seeking to educate himself, while in Homo Faber Walter stumbles upon his knowledge through experiences. By the end of both novels we can see that the characters are not the same as they were in the beginning of the book. Walter a man who calls himself a technologist and says he sees everything as they are, becomes a more emotional being, able to see the beauty in things and fear his own mortality. Grenouilles change is less drastic, but marked all the same as we see that the true purpose of his need to educate himself was to create the perfect scent for himself as a way to give himself an identity and eventually learn that he was unsatisfied that people loved him for his smell and not him, which leads to his suicide. This shows us the transformative power of journeys on characters in novels.

Atupele Chakwera

English HL

May 16, 2012

Works Cited Sskind, Patrick, Patrick Sskind, and Patrick Sskind. Perfume: the Story of a Murderer. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. Frisch, Max. Homo Faber: a Report. London: Penguin, 2006. Print.