hopefully —Grenouille will die and no longer live in Madame Gaillard’s
orphana ge Süskind, 2006: 23. Grenouille’s state of being alienated is clearly
molded because he is abused by his housemates in the orphanage. Hence, Grenouille feels that he is different from others because his housemates abuse him
then he becomes alienated. In addition, Grenouille is different from other kids in orphanage because
Grenouille’s existence brings creep to his surroundings. This happens because Grenouille does not possess body odor, unlike other children who have odor.
Therefore, as a result, Grenouille always fails to mingle with his housemates Süskind, 2006: 24 and he becomes alienated.
5. The Feeling of Depression
Baldini is a well-known perfumer in Paris. Baldini becomes Grenouille master because of Grenouille’s own will. Grenouille meets Baldini when Grimal
orders him to deliver leather made of goatskin to Baldini’s workshop. There, Grenouille is mesmerized by dozen perfumes and scents inside Baldini’s
workshop. It is because Grenouille knows that inside Baldini’s workshop there are lots of new scents that he wants to acknowledge. Actually, he already knows it
earlier because Grenouille has been stood for nights at the shop windows and “his nose is pressed to the cracks of their doors” Süskind, 2006: 68 so that he can
picture exactly what is insi de Baldini’s workshop.
During Grenouille’s life with Baldini, Grenouille exposes his quality of having one of the alienation symptoms in the way of his responsiveness towards
an event. The symptom is the feeling of depression. According to Murphy in his
book entitled
Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry and English Novel for Overseas Student
, a character in a story can be seen through the character’s response towards an event Murphy, 1972.
In Baldini’s workshop, Grenouille becomes Baldini’s apprentice so that he can learn ways to create perfume. Grenouille learns to formulate various scents in
order to make perfume for the first time and he does it completely well, particularly when Grenouille is succeed in imitating Amor and Psyche perfume.
In Baldini’s workshop, Grenouille is not only formulating various scents to be a brand new scent. Furthermore, Grenouille also learns several techniques in
order to create new scents that haven’t been exist before. One of those ways is distillation. Distillation is the process of purifying a liquid by successive
evaporation and condensation. Thus, this process can only be done on plant, flower, wood and seed which contain essential oils. In contrast, “for substances
lacking these essential oils, the distilling process is, of course, wholly pointless ”
Süskind, 2006: 99. There is a moment when Grenouille is trying to distill all substances
including substances that have no essential oils such glass, porcelain, and brass. For Grenouille has inadequate knowledge about distillation process, he assumes
that distillation process can distill all substances to make their essential oils in concentrated form. Therefore, his trial to distill substances that have no essential
oils leads to a depression. He distilled brass, porcelain, and leather, grain, and gravel. He distilled
plain dirt. Blood and wood and fresh fish. His own hair. By the end he was distilling plain water, water from the Seine, the distinctive odor of which
seemed to him worth preserving. He believed that with the help of an
alembic he could rob these materials of their characteristics odor, just as could be done with thyme, lavender, and caraway seeds. He did not know
that distillation is nothing more than a process for separating complex substances into volatile components and that it is only useful in the art of
perfumery because the volatile essential oils of certain plants can be extracted from the rest, which have little or no scent. For substances
lacking these essential oils, the distilling process is, of course, wholly pointless. For us moderns, educated in the natural science, that is
immediately apparent. For Grenouille, however, this knowledge was won painfully after a long chain of disappointment experiments Süskind, 2006:
99.
Knowing that fact, Grenouille is stressed out and depressed. He falls into a mortally illness. He gets high fever for days and “Grenouille’s body was strewn
with reddish blisters. Many of them popped open, releasing their watery contents, only to fill up again” Süskind, 2006: 100 that makes him looks like some martyr
stoned from the inside out. For worst, Grenouille’s illness may lead into death. From the description above, Grenouille’s reaction towards his failure that
makes him mortally ill points out his quality of alienated person. He cannot deal with his failure for failure is a normal process for everyone. Barclay and
Monicvaiz mention one of the alienation symptoms is the feeling of depression healthline.com, 2013. Grenouille is described as a character who can easily get
depressed while he cannot deal with his failure. While facing a failure, Grenouille feels that he is a fool and no one can
help him upon his failure. Because he believes that no one can help him, he doesn’t ask for help to anyone. Because he is sick of his failure in distilling non-
essential oils’ substances, he falls into mortal illness. Therefore, he experiences the feeling of depression that indicates his state of being alienated.
