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JEAN-BAPTISTE GRENOUILLE’S VANITY-DRIVEN
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
IN SÜSKIND’S PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Fabiola Nimas Ayu Sukeswari
Student Number: 131214044
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2017
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JEAN-BAPTISTE GRENOUILLE’S VANITY-DRIVEN
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
IN SÜSKIND’S PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Fabiola Nimas Ayu Sukeswari
Student Number: 131214044
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2017
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DEDICATION PAGE
Ibu, Bapak, Mbak Ajeng, Dik Adimas(†)and Dik Atha
and for all of the people
who have helped me in writing this thesis.
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ABSTRACT
Sukeswari, Fabiola Nimas Ayu. 2017. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s Vanity-Driven
Interpersonal Communication in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Yogyakarta:
English Language Study Program. Department of Language and Arts Education,
Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This study discusses Patrick Süskind’s novel entitled Perfume: The Story
of a Murderer. The novel tells about the main character named Jean-Baptiste
Grenouille’s ability to smell scent and odor. This ability leads him to have an
ambition to possess it, since his body is scentless. Grenouille’s interpersonal
communication is influenced by his vanity in relation to his willingness to make
his ambition come true.
There are two problems answered in this study. The two problems are: (1)
how vanity is described in Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the main character in
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and(2) how vanity influences Jean-Baptiste
Grenouille’s interpersonal communication.
This study uses psychological approach in analyzing the psychological
aspect of the main character. The theories applied are theory of character and
characterization, theory of vanity, theory of human motivation, and theory of
interpersonal communication. The method used in this study is library research. In
addition, books, articles, journals and online sources related to the topic are used
in this study.
Based on his behavior and thoughts, Grenouilleis described as a vain
person. The conclusion is gained from the analysis on how Grenouille constantly
thought about himself and how he was unable to adjust himself to life because of
his desire to conquer everything.This vanity character traits unconsciously build
the motivation to prioritize his desire but not his need.In conclusion, Grenouille
put his vanity as a priority in order to do many things.
The implications of the study are related to the value of vanity,
interpersonal communication, and education. The first implication deals with how
students can apply vanity wisely and positively to avoid the bad impacts of it. The
second implication deals with the role of English language teachers in helping the
students. The suggestions in this study are, first, other researchers could analyze
the meaning of love in literature field, and help the teachers and teacher
candidates to build better class atmosphere by understanding vanity character.
Keywords: interpersonal communication, vanity
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ABSTRAK
Sukeswari, Fabiola Nimas Ayu. 2017. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s Vanity-Driven
Interpersonal Communication in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan
Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata
Dharma.
Skripsi ini membahas novel karya Patrick Süskind yang berjudul Perfume:
The Story of a Murderer. Novel ini bercerita tentang kemampuan tokoh utamanya,
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, yang bisa mencium segala bau dan wewangian.
Kemampuan ini membuatnya berambisi untuk memiliki wewangian, terlebih
karena ia tidak memiliki bau sama sekali. Gaya komunikasi interpersonal
Grenouille pun dipengaruhi oleh ambisinya yang berkaitan dengan keinginannya
untuk mewujudkan ambisinya.
Ada dua permasalahan yang diangkat di skripsi ini, yaitu (1) bagaimana
ambisi Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, tokoh utama Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
dideskripsikan dan (2) bagaimana ambisi ini mempengaruhi kemampuan
komunikasi interpersonal Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.
Skripsi ini menggunakan pendekatan psikologi dalam menganalisis aspek
psikologis dari tokoh utama. Teori-teori yang diterapkan dalam skripsi ini adalah
teori karakter dan karakterisasi, teori ambisi, teori motivasi manusia, dan teori
komunikasi interpersonal. Metode yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini adalah studi
pustaka. Sebagai tambahan, penulis juga menggunakan buku-buku, artikel-artikel,
jurnal-jurnal dan sumber online yang berkaitan dengan skripsi ini.
Berdasarkan perilaku dan pola pikirnya, Grenouille dapat dideskripsikan
sebagai sosok yang ambisius. Kesimpulan ini didapat dengan mengumpulkan
analisis mengenai bagaimana Grenouille selalu berpikir mengenai dirinya sendiri
dan bagaimana dia tidak bisa menyesuaikan dirinya dengan kehidupan karena
keinginannya untuk memiliki segalanya. Karakter ambisius ini secara tidak sadar
membangun motivasi untuk memprioritaskan keinginnannya, tetapi bukan
kebutuhannya. Kesimpulannya, Grenouille menjadikan ambisinya sebagai
prioritas untuk melakukan banyak hal.
Implikasi dari skripsi ini berhubungan dengan makna dari ambisi,
komunikasi interpersonal, dan edukasi. Implikasi yang pertama berkaitan dengan
bagaimana murid-murid dapat menerapkan ambisi mereka secara bijak dan positif
untuk menghindari dampak negative dari penerapan ambisi tersebut.Implikasi
yang kedua berkaitan dengan peran guru Bahasa Inggris dalam membantu murid-
muridnya. Saran yang terdapat dalam skripsi ini adalah, pertama, para peneliti
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dapat menggunakan novel ini untuk menganalisa arti cinta di bidang sastra, dan
kedua untuk membantu para guru dan calon guru untuk membangun suasana
belajar yang lebih baik denga nmemahami karakter ambisius.
Kata kunci: interpersonal communication, vanity
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to God and all those who
gave me the strength to finish this undergraduate thesis. I would like to thank the
people in charge of the English Language Education Study Program also Faculty
of Teacher’s Training and Education Sanata Dharma University who gave me the
chance to have some wonderful moments during my study. I am deeply indebted
to Christina Lhaksmita Anandari, S.Pd., Ed.M., my advisor. I am also indebted
to Laurentius Krisna Septa Bernanda, S.Pd., who are willing to be my reader.
I would like to give my big thanks to my family, Pius Rakyan Mahakala
Mintaraga, Sylvester Natalia Lilik Saptawati Widyarini, Filumena Ajeng
Nastiti, Ferdinandus Adimas Panuntun (†), and Felicitas Athalia Sekar
Daniswara who always support me even though I could not spend much time
with them during my study. I am also grateful to my friends: Widya Ayu
Anindita, Helena Vita Devina, Inge Bertha Anwiyant, Irene Melati, and to
those of whom I cannot mention one by one for giving me their time, support,
help, interest during all those months. My personal gratitude is given to Father
Krismanto for his attention and prayer. I also appreciate Junaedi Ghazali’s
support when I was tired and stressed as well as giving me reminder to finish my
the undergraduate thesis.
I thank The Peacock members for the ups and downs during the SPD
until now. I also thank all members of Class B for always being funny and
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helpful. Also for the members of Miss Mita’s class, I thank them for being there
and fighting together.
Last but not least, I thank those whose names cannot be mentioned one by
one on this acknowledgements paper. Their help and support mean so much to
me.
Fabiola Nimas Ayu Sukeswari
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................ ii
DEDICATION PAGE............................................................................................ iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ........................................................v
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... vi
ABSTRAK .............................................................................................................. vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................x
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... xii
FIGURE ............................................................................................................... xiv
APPENDIX ............................................................................................................xv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................1
A. Background of the Study .......................................................................... 1
B. Research Questions .................................................................................. 4
C. Significance of the Study ......................................................................... 4
D. Definition of Terms .................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .......................................7
A. Review of Related Studies........................................................................ 7
B. Review of Related Theories ..................................................................... 9
1. Psychological Approach ....................................................................... 9
2. Theory of Vanity ................................................................................. 10
3. Theory of Character and Characterization .......................................... 11
4. Theory of Human Motivation ............................................................. 13
5. Theory of Interpersonal Communication ............................................ 15
C. Review of Historical-Biographical Background .................................... 18
D. Theoretical Framework .......................................................................... 19
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CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................20
A. Object of the Study ................................................................................. 20
B. Approach of the Study ........................................................................... 21
CHAPTER IV.ANALYSIS ...................................................................................24
A. The Identification of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille ...................................... 24
B. The Influence of Vanity to Jean-Baptist Grenouille’s Interpersonal
Communication ...................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS .......36
A. Conclusions ............................................................................................ 36
B. Implications ............................................................................................ 39
C. Suggestions ............................................................................................. 41
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................43
APPENDIX............................................................................................................45
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FIGURE
Figure Page
2.1Johari Window……….……………............................................................15
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APPENDIX
Page
Summary of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer ….......................................... 45
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of background of the study, research questions,
significance of the study, and definition of terms. In the background of the study, the
writer explains the reason why Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the main character in
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer becomes the objective of the study. Then, there are
two research questions which becomes the focus of the study. The significance of the
study explains the contribution of the conducted study for several perspectives and
the development of knowledge. The last is definition of terms where the writer
discusses about the meaning of the terms used
A. Background of the Study
Literature is a product created by people in order to express their feelings or
thoughts. Literature’s base itself is made of people’s feelings and experiences. Sartre
(1998) stated that literature was about analyzing language’s symbol carefully to
create a new world for readers.
Literature was about the world, readers were in the world; the question was
not whether to be but how to be, and this was best answered by carefully
analyzing language’s symbolic enactments of the various existential
possibilities available to human beings (p.164).
Literature was about creating a new world for the readers based on their
imagination. The author created the world by using symbols of language in the novel
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and the readers imagined the world through reading literary work. To understand the
novel, the readers can analyze the symbols of language to help them understand the
expressions reflected by the author. Therefore, the writer uses literature as the field of
her undergraduate thesis because it is a reflection of humans’ feelings and
expressions. The writer expects to analyze the language’s symbol to see the feelings
or experiences described in the novel.
The writer uses novel as the media for this study. Laar and Schoonderwoerd
(1963) stated that a novel is an art which introduces human into a living world.
A novel is a work of art in so far as it introduces us into a living world; in
some respects resembling the world we live in, but with an individuality of
its own. To make a novel, we need to draw up the elements of it. They are
the plot, characters, dialogue, style, and time and place. The novelist’s
philosophy of life either stated in plain words or implied (p. 163).
In order to write a good novel, we need to draw up the elements of it, which
are plot, characters, dialogue, style, and setting of time and place. Warner (1998)
stated that novel has its role as a medium for entertainment (p. 19). In the writer’s
perspective, there are people who read novels to spend their leisure time for
entertainment or for getting new perspective from the authors’ reflection. People can
get new understanding through the character, the story or even from the way the
authors tell the stories. Therefore, the writer chooses a novel as the object of study
and the title is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a story about a man who does not have
any scents. Not only he has a scentless body, but also a unique ability which is
smelling every scent, for example, the smell of water, air, fruits, and oil. This ability
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becomes his motivation to keep living and learn how to keep the scent. He wants to
keep the scent because he wants to possess the scent as his. As described in the novel,
his life is not easy to live. Not only being sold twice by the people who took care of
him, but he also dumped by his mother. He has to work for a tanner, a person whose
job is to tan animal skins to make leather, named Grimal, and also for a perfumer,
named Giuseppe Baldini. Grenouille comes to Baldini to learn how to keep scent not
how to mix perfumes or compose scent correctly; he thinks that the more he masters
the tricks and tools of the trade, the better he will be at expressing himself in the form
of perfume. Unfortunately, Grenouille gets more and more possesive to the scent
around him and it brings him into an unexpected incident in his life. The incident is
people who smell the scent of perfume, of which he had made, become attracted and
obsessed to him.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind is an interesting novel
even though people say that this novel is full of psychopathic themes. The main focus
of this study are the main character named Jean-Baptiste Grenouille and his vanity.
People may understand that any rules serve to secure human existence must be
arranged by the concept of the community and be appropriate to it. Sometimes,
people call justice and righteousness, and consider most valuable in the human
character, as essential to fulfill the conditions which arise in social needs. These
condition could affect human’s love of truth, responsibility and loyalty. People can
judge a character as bad or good only from the standpoint of the society.
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In this study, the writer analyzed the vanity from Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.
Most people are familiar with ambition but not vanity. Adler (1928) stated that
ambition was a better-sounding word for vanity (p. 156). From the writer’s
perpective, people are living with vanity in order to reach their goals or purposes of
life. Vanity gives people willingness to fight for what they deserve. Adler (1928)
stated that vanity is a condition achieved when someone loses his sense of reality (p.
165). The freedom of his action is inhibited through his lost of sense of reality. From
the reasons above, the writer wants to analyze Jean-Baptiste Grenouille since his
behavior is obviously different from the behavior of the people in common. His
possessiveness to scents leads him to lost of sense of reality.
B. Research Questions
There are two research questions which become the focus of this research:
1. How vanity is described in Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the main character in
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer?
2. How vanity influences Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s interpersonal
communication?
C. Significance of the Study
By doing this research, the writer expects that this study will be beneficial for
some perspectives. As the writer had previously stated, people are living with vanity
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in order to reach their goals or purposes of life. Therefore, people are supposed to
understand about vanity and the criteria of vain people.
First, the writer hopes that it can help readers to understand well about vanity
and help them to know how to deal with their communication. Communication is
needed by human being. People are not only delivering the thoughts but also
expressing themselves through communication. Second, it can help teachers and
teacher candidates to understand their students’ condition. By understanding the
students’ condition better, teachers and teacher candidates can grab more attention in
the learning process. The writer hopes that this study can help the readers, teachers,
and teacher candidates to manage their emotion and help them to understand others’
emotion better. When teachers and teacher candidates understand about their
students’ vanity, it will be easier for them to manage their class. Third, this study
hopefully can help other writers who conduct further study interested in vanity and
interpersonal communication.
D. Definition of Terms
1. Vanity
Adler (1928) stated that vanity is a condition achieved when someone loses
his sense of reality (p. 165). From the writer’s perspective, vanity or ambition has
good and bad effects to human life. We can see vanity through people’s attitude, in
the way they speak, in their way they dress, and in their contacts with other people.
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2. Character and characterization
The writer stated that a character is a person in literature whom is created by
the author’s imagination based on their real life. Jackson (1979) stated in his journal
that main character is the first requirement for a well written piece of fiction.
Kennedy (1999) stated that a character is presumably an imagined person who
inhabits a story (p.60). Kennedy also said that there are two types of characters, flat
and round characters. Flat characters (static characterss) tend to stay the same
throughout a story, but round characters (dynamic characters) often change.
3. Interpersonal Communication
For the writer, interpersonal communication is interaction between two or
more people. It is based on Giffin and Patton (1976) who stated that interpersonal
communication refers to face-to-face interactions between two or more people who
are consistently aware of each other (p.11). They also stated that communication is
the moment when people adjust themselves to their environment and adjust the
environment for them (pp. 11-12).
4. Perfume
According to the writer’s understanding, perfume is a fragrance which is
made using any animate being’s scent. Perfumes are used for enhancing the users’
charisma. Süskind (2006, p. 36) stated that “the purpose of perfumes was to create an
intoxicating and alluring effect”. He also said that perfume brought the value of the
individual’s essence.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In the review of related literature, there are four discussed sections. The first
section consists of the related studies which give other perception on Perfume: The
Story of a Murderer. Then, the review of related theories which supports the process
of data analyzing. The review on the historical-biographical background consists of
the description of the situation of the 17th Century in Paris. The theoretical framework
consists of related theories which functions as support to answering problem
formulations of this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is awarded as the most read German novel
and breaks an international best seller (Adams, 2000). The main character of this
novel is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. There were several writers who conducted a study
using this novel as a media. One of the studies conducted by Napitupulu (2012) from
Sanata Dharma University, undertakes an undergraduate thesis entitled Anti-social
Personality Disorder of the Main Character in Patrick Süskind’s Perfume, the Story
of a Murderer. She found that Jean-Baptiste Grenouille experiences a psychological
disorder known as anti-social personality disorder. Her findings were due to her
research in identifying the characteristics of Grenouille and finding Grenouille’s
symptoms that made him suffers the anti-social personality disorder. Therefore,
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Napitupulu conducted a psychological study in order to relate Grenouille’s
characteristics with the criteria of anti-social personality disorder.
Another study was conducted by Karina (2014) from Sanata Dhama
University. She writes an undergraduate thesis entitled The Impact of Perfectionism
on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s Psychological Condition as Seen in Patrick Süskind’s
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. The objectives of her study were to portray the
characteristics of a perfectionist as seen in Jean-Baptiste Grenouille and to search the
impacts of perfectionism on Grenouille’s psychological condition. From the study,
she could conclude that Grenouille was a perfectionist. It could be seen from his
characteristics which were neat, orderly, meticulous, persistent, critical, hard
working, reliable, single-minded, anxious, and anti-social.
The writer, thus, uses Napitupulu’s and Karina’s studies as comparing
materials. In this study, the writer aims to identify Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s vanity
and how vanity influences Grenouille’s interpersonal communication. Contrary to the
writer’s focus, Napitupulu puts focus on Grenouille’s past experience in examining
his anti-social personality disorder while Karina puts focus on the impacts of
perfectionism on Grenouille’s psychological condition. However, the findings of
Grenouille’s characteristics from Napitupulu and Karina are useful as the supporting
source for the writer in identifying Grenouille’s vanity.
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B. Review of Related Theories
1. Psychological Approach
There are several approaches used in analyzing a literary work, according to
Kennedy and Gioia (1999) the approaches are called critical approach. They divided
critical approach into five other approaches; those were formalist approach,
biographical approach, sociocultural-historical approach, mythopoeic approach, and
psychological approach (pp. 3-15). The focus of the formalist approach is to
comprehend the totality of the literary object. Formalist critic is focusing on the
analysis on words of the text rather than facts about the author’s life in which it was
written. Formalist critics believed that what gave a literary text its feeling as art in
how all of its elements worked together to create the reader’s experience.
Biographical approach puts focus on the ideas and personality of the author to
an understanding of literary object. A biographical critic does not concern in
recreating the record of the author’s life. Sociocultural-historical approach insists that
the only way to locate a literary work was in reference to the surroundings that
produced it. In applying this approach, people should be careful because of the
approach’s complexity. The application of this approach is on a narrow ethical system
and it might lead people to judge literature only as good as what they believed to be
true. Mythopoeic approach is an interdisciplinary approach that combined the ideas of
anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion. It explores the
character’s common humanity by tracing how an individual imagination uses myths.
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The research questions in this study are focusing on vanity shown by Jean-
Baptiste Grenouille which influences his interpersonal intelligence. According to
Rohrberger & Woods (1971), psychological approach is involving the effort of the
character to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns. Using psychological
approach can help the readers understand about the character’s thought and behavior
(p.13). Therefore, psychological approach is used to help the writer analyze
Grenouille’s motivation through psychological point of view.
2. Theory of Vanity
Based on Adler (1928, p. 133), character trait is the appearance of some
specific expressions of human who is adjusting himself to the world he lived in.
Character trait is not expressions of inherited powers but they are acquired for the
purpose of maintaining a particular habit in life. Adler (1928) also stated that the
beginning of character development is usually marked by such active, aggressive
traits.
According to Adler (1928), there are five characters of aggressive character
traits. Those are vanity or ambition, jealousy, envy, avarice, and hate (pp. 155-184).
Vanity is evident in every attitude, in the way of speaking or in the way of contacting
with others. It means that wherever one looks, one sees the pictures of vain. Vanity or
ambition can be good or bad depending on the doer’s aim.
Human beings may also be divided into assailants and defendants (pp. 143-
147). Based on the writer’s perspective, being assailants or defendants are affected by
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their experience of living. The assailant attitude is characterized by violent
movements. Usually those who belong to assailants are those who have such great
pain and repress all feelings of tenderness and softness, the reason is because such
feelings often appear as the representative of their weakness. Those who become
brutal and cruel actually have no ability to sympathize or cooperate. They tend to
show their vanities not caring that they cause disharmony in relating with the world
and also betray their whole character.
Adler (1928) stated several criteria of vain people (p. 155-176). First, vain
people think constantly of themselves or only what other people think about them.
How someone set their purpose of life could also help us to identify whether he/she
was a vain person. Vain person is usually unable to adjust him/herself to live because
his/her life purpose is to become more than they already are. Last, vain people have
the desire to conquer everything and everyone, which reflects in their every attitude.
3. Theory of Character and Characterization
From the writer’s perspective, main character is a crucial aspect in a novel
because it usually brings the plot line of the story forward. Jackson (1979) stated in
his journal that the main character is the first requirement for a well written piece of
fiction. To develop a story, it will be better if the authors choose a main character that
others want to know more about and give slight descriptions about the characteristics.
In conclusion, the more extraordinary the better it will be.
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Kennedy and Gioia (1999, pp. 60-61) said that there are two types of
characters, flat and round characters. Flat characters or static characters tend to stay
the same throughout a story, but round characters or dynamic characters often
change. Minor characters tend to be flat because if they are round they will distract
the readers from the main characters. In conclusion, the distraction is not only
confusing the readers from the main characters but also from the story line.
According to Murphy (1972, pp. 161-173), there are nine ways to describe
characterization of characters in the novel. First, the authors describe the characters
from their appearance and clothes. Then, the authors describe the characters through
other characters’ opinion. It can be in form of how other characters think about the
character. Third, the authors describe the characters through what they say. Fourth,
the authors let the readers know the characters’ past life. The aim is to show some
events that shaped the personality of the characters. Then, the authors give clues to
the readers through the conversation of other people and what they say to the
characters. Sixth, the authors also give description on how the characters react to
various situations and events. The authors can describe the comment directly on the
character. The author gives the readers direct knowledge of what the character is
thinking about. It is different from the real life because in real life we cannot know
what others’ are thinking about. The last one is from the character’s mannerisms,
habits or uniqueness. In conclusion, there are several ways that can be used by
authors in describing characters in a novel.
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4. Theory of Human Motivation
Maslow theories of personality were made based on basic assumptions about
motivation (as cited in Feist & Feist, 2010, pp. 325-331). The first assumption is
adopting the holistic approach to motivation. This theory stated that humans are
continually motivated by one or more aspects which will lead to achieve the self-
actualization. Second, motivation is usually complex; meaning it is possible for
human to act in a certain way because of many unrelated motivation. Third, people
are continually motivated by one or other category of needs. Usually, when human
can fulfill one category of needs, then other needs category which have less fulfilled
needs will appear. Fourth, people everywhere are motivated by the same basic needs.
The last is because the needs can be categorized on their hierarchy.
As cited in Feist and Feist (2010, pp. 331-337), there are five category of
needs that construct Maslows’s (1970) hierarchy of needs. Those categories are
psychological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs, and
self-actualization needs. The most basic category of needs is physiological needs. It
includes the need for water, food, oxygen, etc. Physiological needs is different from
another needs categories because it is the one and only category which can be
fulfilled and overly fulfilled; physiological needs also can appear or usually called as
recurring nature.
Physical safety, stability, protection, dependency, and freedom from
threatening things such as diseases or war are included in the safety needs. Safety
needs is different from physiological needs because there is a possibility for safety
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needs to not be fulfilled. When they cannot fulfill the safety needs, they will feel
basic anxiety.
The needs to have a friend; the needs to have a partner of life; the needs to be
a part of a family, an environment or a nation are included into the needs of love and
belongings. People who need love and a place to belong are divided into three groups.
The first are those whom love and sense of belonging are fulfilled since they were a
kid. Usually, they have no such self-esteem to be rejected. Second, those who never
feel love and have sense of belonging; they tend to unable in sharing love and sense
of belongingness for others. The last group consists of people who only receive a
small amount of love and sense of belonging. Those who only receive small amount
of love and sense of belonging need more love and sense of belonging than those who
never receive love and sense of belonging.
Esteem needs includes self-appreciation, self-confidence, ability and
knowledge. Maslow (1970) identified two levels of esteem needs. They are reputation
and pride (as cited in Feist & Feist, 2010, pp. 335). Reputation is seeing a perception
of prestige, acknowledgment, and popularity of someone from others perspective.
While pride is someone’s feeling about him/herself that he/she is important and
needed by others. Usually, pride is influenced by others opinion.
Self-actualization, aware of self potentials and abilities, and needs to be as
creative as possible are including to the needs of self-actualization. People who can
actualize their selves will become independent people.
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5. Theory of Interpersonal Communication
For the writer, interpersonal communication is interaction between two or
more people. While according to Giffin and Patton (1976), interpersonal
communication focuses on face-to-face interactions between two or more people who
are consistently aware of each other (p.11). They also state that communication is the
moment when people adjust themselves to their environment and adjust the
environment for them (pp. 11-12). The Johari Window (as cited in Giffin and Patton,
in 1976, p. 13) which represents four different areas which categorizes people’s
reason in having mutual interaction with other people.
Figure 2.1 Johari Window
Area 1 shows the categorization of means of which behavior and motivation
are known to self and known to others. It shows the extent of the people can interact
and share their experience together. The larger this area means the greater is the
people’s contact with the real world and more available to adjust to self and others.
Area 2 shows the categorization of means of which behavior and motivation not
known to self but known by others. It can be illustrated when people talk to others,
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they may demonstrate a need to dominate others and not be as aware of this need as
others. It shows when people tend to say, “Do you know that? You know?”. Area 3
categorizes behavior and motivation which are open to self but keep “hidden” from
others. Some people tend to do this because they do not feel safe in revealing their
true selves and feelings. Area 4 represents categorization for the inner sphere of
behavior and motivation which are not known either to self or others. This area is
assumed that people may surprise him/herself for doing something that they do not
even think that they are able to do it.
Giffin and Patton (1976) stated that in terms of specific objectives for
students, interpersonal communication should contribute to personal development in
three significant areas: functional intelligence, social decision making, and self
expression (p.15). Functional intelligence enables students in converting personal
experience, knowledge, and insight into value and utility for others. Social decision
making enables students to process data and work with people through discussion and
open exchange of ideas. Last, self expression which enables students in strengthening
personal identity and social involvement through interpersonal communication.
There are several characteristics of interpersonal communication according to
Giffin and Patton (1976, pp. 16-18). First, in interpersonal communication, both the
sender and the receiver of meaning must be present and aware of both parties
involved. In one-way communication, we may write, read, record, and hear the
message alone while interpersonal communication cannot be done without those
aspects. Second, interpersonal communication requires constant adaptation and
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spontaneous adjustment to the other person in the form of verbal and non-verbal
messages. Those requirements are needed to help the sender of the message select
and use the symbols in order to send the message and get feed-back from the receiver.
Third, in interpersonal communication, the behavior of the sender and
receiver in the process of communication are intertwined, therefore they cannot be
separated. When two people interact, they try to predict how the other will respond.
This communication involves role-taking in order to merge self and others, therefore
they are able to predict, anticipate, and behave with the joint needs of self and other.
Fourth, since interpersonal communication relies on behaviors, people must
be satisfied with degrees of mutual understanding. In this point, people should
distinguish between the actions that they can see and hear, and intrapersonal
experience that are invisible. Like an iceberg, the behavior of someone may be the
manifestation of a unique intrapersonal experience. Sometimes, people use the
interpersonal perception, orientation, and relationship to shape their behavior. So,
interpersonal communication can be the bridge of interaction between people.
Other people cannot see the experience or inner life of someone, and their
perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about him/her are simply a projection of their own
experience. Thus, the impact which they have on someone consists of personal
meanings they attach to themselves. Because of the reasons above, people are often
defining meaning of the message on the behavior of the interpersonal communication
partners. Last, interpersonal communication involves mutual needs to communicate,
so people are forced to respond to a variety of signals.
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C. Review of Historical-Biographical Background
This section explains the environment of the novel. As mentioned before, in
order to analyze the novel, people have to understand its elements as a whole.
Therefore, this section is needed for giving the novel’s background knowledge to
understand the novel further.
This novel was written by Patrick Süskind in 1985 and translated by John E.
Woods in 1986. Süskind was born in Germany. He moved to Paris on 1974, and he
wrote Perfume: The Story of a Murderer there. The place setting in Perfume, the
Story of a Murderer was in France. While the time setting was in right before the
transformation from absolute monarchy to revolution which was happening on the
17th century. The exact time setting in the story was in 1738 (p. 4) until 1766 (p. 253).
There were 2 wars happened in France during 1738-1766: Austrian Succession and
Seven Years’ War. Austrian Succession happened between 1745-1748 and Seven
Years’ War happened between 1756-1763. During most of that time, the royal
finance had been in dangerous state. They were drained by the major wars of the
century.
The process of transformation affected people’s way of thinking at that time.
The governments were changing from dictator into a more democratic government.
They allowed the citizen to learn about science and develop their knowledge. People
developed their interests and wrote books on history, science, and philosophy. It was
proved by the fact that the Philosophes were publishing Spirit of Laws (1748) and
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Discourse on the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences (1750). On the other hand,
men were still considered to have higher status than women except those who were
from nobility. Those who had higher status could colonize the lower status people.
The readers could see in the novel that Grenouille was sold by a tanner and a
perfumer. Prestige was an important thing to protect; therefore Grenouille was used to
help the perfumer, Baldini, to produce many formulas of great perfumes.
D. Theoretical Framework
The writer used several theories for supporting the answer to the research
questions. Even though the problems had strong main theories which answered them,
other theories which related to the topic were mentioned to help the writer made the
basic concept of the problems. The theories were theory of psychological approach,
theory of vanity, theory of character and characterization, theory of human
motivation, and theory of interpersonal intelligence.
In answering the first research question the writer used theory of vanity and
theory of character and characterization and for the second, the writer used theory of
human motivation and theory of interpersonal intelligence. The influences could be
revealed by analyzing the changes from the beginning point to the ending point. The
writer chose the moment when Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was obsessed with the plum
girl’s scent as the beginning point and the moment when he was died being eaten be
the poor people as the ending point. These points were made in order to help the
writer analyzed the novel.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the writer elaborates the novel itself to the way the writer
solves the research questions. This chapter has two parts. The first part is object of the
study. In this part, the writer explains the summary of the novel. The next part is
approach of the study where the writer elaborates the approach she uses to analyze
the problem formulation.
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study was a novel with entitled Perfume: The Story of a
Murderer. It is a French novel written by a German writer named Patrick Süskind. It
was originally written in German as Das Parfum and published by Diogenes Verlag,
Zurich in 1985. The novel was translated into English by John E. Woods and
published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York in 1986. This novel consists of 4 parts, 51
chapters, and 255 pages. This novel was adapted as film in 2006.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a novel with historical, mystery, and
magical realism genre. The story focuses on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who had an
extraordinary ability and his ambition to make a perfect perfume that would make
everyone love and respect him. In order to create the perfume he murdered around 25
women who were later turned to be scent essences. He got a punishment, being
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21
decapitated, because of his action. In the end of the novel, Patrick Süskind pointed
out the message of his novel by mentioning the reason an action based on love.
B. Approach of the Study
In conducting this study, the writer used the psychological approach. This
approach functioned as supporting media for the writer in analyzing a person through
his or her psychology side; his or her character. By using this approach, the writer
was expected to understand the motives of his vanity.
In 1972, Ary, Jacobs, and Ashgar asserted that research can be divided into
two main types of research, those are library research and empirical research. Library
research relies on finding documentation in a library or other archive, including
online sources, then make summarize, analysis, synthesize, and evaluation of it.
Empirical research focuses on collecting data in some forms before summarizing,
analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating it. Kothari (1990) also stated that there are
several basic types of research, such as conceptual and empirical research.
Conceptual research is related to make some abstract ideas or reinterpret the existing
ideas. While empirical research relies on experience or observation which is
conducted by the researcher (p. 4).
In conducting this study, the writer used library research. The writer used
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer novel to be analyzed because the condition and
situation which happened to be captured and put as the evidence. The writer also used
several books, studies and journals to help her find some theories related to the
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22
research questions to support the findings. After reading the novel and several
theories, the writer made a speculation of Grenouille’s vanity could influence his
interpersonal communication. Then, she analyzed the novel through the steps
described below:
The writer conducted this study through some steps. First, the writer read the
book five times. By this condition, the writer would be able to understand the plot
line from the novel. After understanding the plotline, the writer found some important
events and strong points to be analyzed. Then, the writer arranged important events
chronologically. After that, the writer worked on the research questions. The findings
helped the writer to make deeper understanding upon the studied topic and draw
conclusions.
In the data analysis, the writer used the Adler’s theory on vanity character as
guidance. It had some criteria to be analyzed but the writer only used the most
dominant criteria. The writer stated several opinions about the findings of the
problem formulation and also supported by the quotation from the novel in the data
analysis. The most dominant criteria were (1) vain people thought constantly of
themselves or only what other people thought about them, (2) vain people unable to
adjust themselves to life because their whole purpose was to appear to be more than
they are, and (3) vain people had the desire to conquer everything and everyone
which reflected in every attitude.
After identifying the vanity character, the writer analyzed the influence of it to
the interpersonal communication. The writer used Johari Window to help her analyze
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23
the motivations built in Grenouille’s interpersonal communication. Then after relating
the theories, the writer opinions, and the situations happened in the novel, the writer
drew a conclusion based on the analysis discussed in the study. The last one, the
writer provided implications and suggestions for future researchers and readers.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter elaborates the research questions in the previous chapter. It is
systematically divided into two main parts. The first covers the character
identification based on the vanity by Adler. By identifying and analyzing the
character, the writer is able to analyze the influence of vanity to Jean-Baptiste
Grenouille’s interpersonal communication.
A. The Identification of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
Jackson (1979) stated in his journal that main character was the first
requirement for a well written piece of fiction. Therefore, the identification of the
main character was the primary step to reach the aim of this study. The writer would
discuss the most dominant criteria from vanity of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille since the
goal of this study was to reveal the vanity of the main character. This identification
which highlights the main character was meant that the readers would focus on the
main character only. The theory of vanity that was defined by Alfred Adler was used
in analyzing the criteria of the main character. Patrick Süskind had described Jean-
Baptiste Grenouille as follows.
Vanity could be described through every attitude, in the way of speaking or in
the way of contacting with others. It could also appear on the way of thinking. Adler
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(1928) stated that vain people thought constantly of themselves or only what other
people thought about them. In the novel, Grenouille was often described as someone
who constantly thought about himself.
She was so frozen with terror at the sight of him that he had plenty of time to
put his hands to her throat. She did not attempt to cry out, did not budge, did
not make the least motion to defend herself. He, in turn, did not look at her,
did not see her delicate, freckled face, her red lips, her large sparkling green
eyes, keeping his eyes closed tight as he strangled her, for he had only one
concern-not to lose the least trace of her scent. When she was dead he laid her
on the ground among the plum pits, tore off her dress, and the stream of scent
became a flood that inundated him with its fragrance. (pp. 42-43)
The evidence above indicated how Grenouille only thought about himself.
The evidence was taken from the moment when Grenouille killed his victim. He did
not think about the victim’s reaction. Grenouille was only concerned with his needs
rather than the girl’s life. His attention was on the thought of not to lose the girl’s
scent. In sum, he did not care about the girl’s life. He did not care whether the girl
was alive or not. He put his needs as his priorities and he would do anything as long
as he could get what he wanted, including killing the girl.
Another evidence was taken from the moment when there was a wedding
party and Grenouille attended the party. He felt superior there. He thought that he was
not afraid of invitees. He thought that they were dumb and could be deceive by him.
He thought that he was better than those people and they were nothing. This evidence
showed how Grenouille admired himself and constantly thought about himself. He
did not consider other people equal with him. He did not care about what other people
thought about him. The elaboration was proven by the evidence below:
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Grenouille stood there like that in the bosom of the crowd for a good quarter
of an hour, a strange child pressed sanctimoniously to his chest. And while the
wedding party passed by-to the accompaniment of the booming bells and the
cheers of the masses and a pelting shower of coins-Grenouille broke out in a
different jubilation, a black jubilation, a wicked feeling of triumph that set
him quivering and excited him like an attack of lechery, and he had trouble
keeping from spurting it like venom and spleen over all these people and
screaming exultantly in their faces: that he was not afraid of them; that he
hardly hated them anymore; but that his contempt for them was profound and
total, because they were so dumb they stank; because they could be deceived
by him, let themselves be deceived; because they were nothing, and he was
everything! (pp. 153-154)
How someone set their purpose of life could also help us to identify whether
he/she was a vain person or not. One of the criteria of vanity by Adler (1928) was that
a vain person was unable to adjust him/herself to life because his/her whole purpose
was to appear to be more than they were.
He was not particular about it. He did not differentiate between what is
commonly considered a good and a bad smell, not yet. He was greedy. The
goal of the hunt was simply to possess everything the world could offer in the
way of odors, and his only condition was that the odors be new ones. The
smell of a sweating horse meant just as much to him as the tender green
bouquet of a bursting rosebud, the acrid stench of a bug was no less worthy
than the aroma rising from a larded veal roast in an aristocrat’s kitchen. He
devoured everything, everything, sucking it up into him. But there were no
aesthetic principles governing the olfactory kitchen of his imagination, where
he was forever synthesizing and concocting new aromatic combinations. He
fashioned grotesqueries, only to destroy them again immediately, like a child
playing with blocks-inventive and destructive, with no apparent norms for his
creativity. (p. 37)
From the evidence above, the writer found that Jean-Baptiste Grenouille had a
purpose in his life which was to possess every odor in this world. The evidence was
taken from the moment when Grenouille was reminisced his past. He remembered
that the purpose of perfumes was to create an intoxicating and alluring effect. He also
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27
remembered that the value of the individual essences comprised them. Even he had
not differentiated the good smell and bad smell yet, he still wanted to possess the
scent. Grenouille was possessed to forcefully take something that he did not have
from that belong to someone else which were odors. Taking something which was
belong to someone else like odor was impossible thing to do. People might be able to
take someone else’s clothes, but they were not be able to ripped someone else’s scent.
Therefore, the writer identified Grenouille as a vain person because he was unable to
adjust his purpose to his life.
An average perfumer would not have made any great progress with its few
floral oils, colognes, and spices. Grenouille, however, recognized with the
first inhaled sniff that the ingredients on hand would be quite sufficient for his
purposes. He did not want to create a great scent; he did not want to create a
prestigious cologne such as he had once made for Baldini, one that stood out
amid a sea of mediocrity and tamed the masses. Nor was even the simple
orange blossom scent that he had promised the marquis his true goal. The
customary essences of neroli, eucalyptus, and cypress were meant only as a
cover for the actual scent that he intended to produce: that was the scent of
humanness. He wanted to acquire the human-being odor-if only in the form of
an inferior temporary surrogate-that he did not possess himself. True, the odor
of human being did not exist, any more than the human countenance. Every
human being smelled different, no one knew that better than Grenouille, who
recognized thousands upon thousands of individual odors and could sniff out
the difference of each human being from birth on. And yet-there was a basic
perfumatory theme to the odor of humanity, a rather simple one, by the way: a
sweaty-oily, sour-cheesy, quite richly repulsive basic theme that clung to all
humans equally and above which each individual’s aura hovered only as a
small cloud of more refined particularity. (pp/ 148-149)
The evidence above was taken from the moment when Grenouille realized
that the unique part of perfume was human aura. The thing that he was looking for
was the human aura in each individual. The evidence above explicitly elaborated that
Grenouille was unable to adjust himself to life because his whole purpose was to
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appear to be more than they were. He set his purpose beyond achievement; the reason
was because copying someone else’s aura was impossible. There was no explanation
on how human being was able to copy someone else’s aura. Therefore, the writer
stated that Grenouille set his purpose beyond his achievement since it was appear to
be more than he was.
Grenouille would not have been Grenouille, however, if he had long been
content with a fatalist’s heroic feelings. His will to survive and conquer was
too tough, his nature too cunning, his spirit too crafty for that. Fine-he had
decided to possess the scent of the girl behind the wall. And if he lost it again
after a few weeks and died of the loss, that was fine too. But better yet would
be not to die and still possess the scent, or at least to delay its loss as long as
humanly possible. One simply had to preserve it better. One must subdue its
evanescence without robbing it of its character-a problem of the perfumer’s
art. (p. 192)
The writer used Adler’s theory which stated that a vain person had the desire
to conquer everything and everyone which reflected in every attitude. The evidence
above was taken from the moment when he remembered the memory of the plum
girl’s scent. At first, he was terrified. His mind was full by the thought of running out
of scent. He lost a scent once and he did not want to lose any again. The writer
understood that Grenouille had the desire to conquer everything. The experience of
losing the scent before built a strong desire to conquer the scent. The novel’s author
stated clearly that Grenouille’s will to survive and conquer were too tough.
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B. The Influence Of Vanity To Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s Interpersonal
Communication
The previous part had discussed the identification of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
according to vanity. He was vain individual, analyzed from how he constantly
thought about himself and how he was unable to adjust himself to life because his
desire to conquer everything.
This part of analysis consisted of the influence of vanity to Jean-Baptiste
Grenouille’s interpersonal communication. The influences could be revealed by
analyzing the changes from the beginning point to the ending point. The writer chose
the moment when Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was obsessed with the plum girl’s scent
as the beginning point; for the ending point, the writer chose the moment when he
died being eaten be the poor people as the ending point. These points were made in
order to help the writer analyzed the novel. The writer analyzed the influence to
interpersonal communication. The following are the analysis of the process of
influence seen in Grenouille.
In the Johari Window, there are several areas to help the writer analyze the
interpersonal communication made by Grenouille. Area one in the Johari Window
means that the behavior and motivation known to self and known to others. It shows
the extent of the people could interact and share their experience together. It was
proven by the evidence below.
“Tell me, maître, are there other ways to extract the scent from things beside
pressing or distilling?”
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Baldini, believing the voice had come either from his own imagination or
from the next world, answered mechanically, “Yes, there are.”
“What are they?” came the question from the bed. And Baldini opened his
tired eyes wide. Grenouille lay there motionless among his pillows. Had the
corpse spoken?
“What are they?” came the renewed question, and this time Baldini noticed
Grenouille’s lips move. It’s over now, he thought. This is the end, this is the
madness of fever or the throes of death. And he stood up, went over to the
bed, and bent down to the sick man. His eyes were open and he gazed up at
Baldini with the same strange, lurking look that he had fixed on him at their
first meeting.
“What are they?” he asked.
Baldini felt a pang in his heart-he could not deny a dying man his last wish-
and he answered, “There are three other ways, my son: enfleurage à chaud,
enfleurage a froid, and enfleurage a l’huile. They are superior to distillation in
several ways, and they are used for extraction of the finest of all scents:
jasmine, rose, and orange blossom.”
“Where?” asked Grenouille.
“In the south,” answered Baldini. “Above all, in the town of Grasse.”
“Good,” said Grenouille. (p.104-105)
The evidence showed that Grenouille and his maître, Baldini, understood
Grenouille desire to learn about several ways used to extract the scents. Baldini might
not understand the real reason of why Grenouille wanted to learn about them, but he
understood his desire. Therefore, he told him that there were several ways used to
extract the scent in the south. The evidence above showed how Grenouille and
Baldini built the interpersonal communication by having conversation and
understanding the motivation of the conversation they had.
Area two represents that the behavior and motivation not known to self but
known to others. It can be illustrated when people talk to others, they may
demonstrate a need to dominate others and not be as aware of this need as others. As
the writer wrote in chapter two, Giffin and Patton (1976) said that in interpersonal
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31
communication, both the sender and the receiver of meaning must be present.
Interpersonal communication required constant adaptation and spontaneous
adjustment to the other person in the form of verbal and non-verbal messages.
Interpersonal communication also relied on behaviors. The behavior of someone
might be the manifestation of a unique intrapersonal experience. Sometimes, people
used the interpersonal perception, orientation, and relationship to shape their
behavior. Those theories were applied in the explanation of area two.
No one knows how good this perfume really is, he thought. No one knows
how well made it is. Other people are merely conquered by its effect, don’t
even know that it’s a perfume that’s working on them, enslaving them. The
only one who has ever recognized it for its true beauty is me, because I
created it myself. And at the same time, I’m the only one that it cannot
enslave. I am the only person for whom it is meaningless.
When I was standing there at the wall below the garden where the plum girl
was playing and her scent came floating down to me… or, better, the promise
of her scent, for the scent she would carry later did not even exist yet-maybe
what I felt that day is like what the people on the parade grounds felt when I
flooded them with my perfume…? But then cast the thought aside: No, it was
something else. Because I knew that I desired the scent, not the girl. But those
people believed that they desired me, and what they really desired remained a
mystery to them.
Then he thought no more, for thinking was not his strong point, an then, too,
he was already in the Orléanais. (p. 252)
The evidence above was the proof of the intrapersonal experience in
Grenouille’s past. The experience of meeting the plum girl and desiring her scent
made Grenouille thought that he desired the scent only. The meeting with the plum
girl built a belief that she had the best scent. This belief built a behavior of how
Grenouille desired the scent and never thought that he desired the girl. Therefore, he
kept murdering women and making them into extract until he met Laure Richis.
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The little man in the blue frock coat, however, had suddenly simply been
there, as if he had sprouted out of the ground, and he had had a little bottle in
his hand that he unstoppered. That was the first thing that any of them could
recall: that he had stood there and unstoppered a bottle. And then he had
sprinkled himself all over with the contents of the bottle and all at once he had
been bathed in beauty like blazing fire.
For a moment they fell back in awe and pure amazement. But in the same
instant they sensed their falling back was more like preparing for a running
start, that their awe was turning to desire, their amazement to rapture.
They began to push, to shove, and to elbow, each of them trying to be closest
to the center.
They tore away his clothes, his hair, his skin from his body, they plucked him,
they drove their claws and teeth into his flesh, the attacked him like hyenas.
(pp. 253-254)
The evidence above was the proof of both the sender and the receiver of
meaning must be present. The evidence showed that both Grenouille as the sender
and the poor people as the receivers were present. They communicated through body
movements. At first, they did not recognize Grenouille’s existence because they had
been dealing with ghosts or angels or other supernatural beings. Usually, when there
was a stranger, they would only feel curious and therefore became very touchy.
However, after Grenouille poured the perfume upon himself, they suddenly adored
and desired him and, thus, they ate him alive.
In relation to motivation, Grenouille did not know why he poured the perfume
upon himself. On the other hand, the people knew that Grenouille’s action was done
based on love. And for the first time, the people felt moved by the act of love as it
pushed them to eat him alive. At first they felt ashamed but proud to be doing their
first act of love. The desire they had was not only a common desire but it was made
out of love as proven by the evidence below.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
33
When the cannibals found their way back together after disposing of their
meal, no one said a word. Someone would belch a bit, or spit out a fragment
of bone, or softly smack into the flames. They were all a little embarrassed
and afraid to look at one another. They had all, whether man or woman,
committed a murder or some other despicable crime at one time or another.
But eat a human being? They would never, so they thought, have been capable
of anything that horrible. And they were amazed that it had been so very easy
for them and that, embarrassed as they were, they did not feel the tiniest bite
of conscience. On the contrary! Though the meal lay rather heavy on the
stomachs, their hearts were definitely light. All of sudden there were
delightful, bright fluttering in their dark souls. And on their faces was a
delicate, virginal glow of happiness. Perhaps that was why they were shy
about looking up and gazing into one another’s eyes.
When they finally did dare it, at first with stolen glances and then candid ones,
they had to smile. They were uncommonly proud. For the first time they had
done something out of love. (p. 255)
Area three shows that behavior and motivation are open to self but kept
“hidden” from others. Some people tend to do this because they do not feel safe in
revealing their true selves and feelings.
“You have, it appears, a fine nose, young man,” he said, once Grenouille had
ceased his wheezing; and he stepped back into the workshop, carefully setting
the candlestick on the worktable, “without doubt, a fine nose, but…”
“I have the best nose in Paris, Maître Baldini,” Grenouille interrupted with a
rasp. “I know all the odors in the world, all of them, only I don’t know the
names of some of them, but I can learn the names. The odors that have names,
there aren’t many of those, there are only a few thousand. I’ll learn them all,
I’ll never forget the name of that balm, storax, the balm is called storax, it’s
called storax…” (p. 73)
For Grenouille, his ability to smell scents was hidden from others. In the
evidence above, he told Baldini about his secret. He did this in order to made Baldini
let him worked to Baldini. He tried to convince him that he had the best nose in the
world. While he opened a secret to Baldini, he was keeping his actual intention from
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
34
him. Grenouille actual intention to Baldini was to learn how to make extract of scent.
It was proven by the evidence below.
Once he had learned to express his fragrant ideas in drops and drams, he no
longer even needed the intermediate step of experimentation. When Baldini
assigned him a new scent, whether for a handkerchief cologne, a sachet, or a
face paint, Grenouille no longer reached for flacons and powders, but instead
simply sat himself down at the table and wrote the formula straight out. He
had learned to extend the journey from his mental notion of a scent to the
finished perfume by way of writing down the formula. For him it was a
detour. In the world’s eyes-that is, in Baldini’s-it was progress. Grenouille’s
miracles remained the same. But the recipes he now supplied along with them
removed the terror, and that was for the best. The more Grenouille mastered
the tricks and tools of the trade, the better he was able to express himself in
the conventional language of perfumery-and the less his master feared and
suspected him. (p. 92)
Area four represents the inner sphere of behavior and motivation unknown
either to self or others. This area is assumed that people might surprise him/herself
for doing something that they do not even think that they are able to do it.
How it was that Grenouille could mix his perfumes without the formulas was
still a puzzle, or better, a miracle, to Baldini, but at least he had captured this
miracle in a formula, satisfying in part his thirst for rules and order and
preventing the total collapse of his perfumer’s universe. (p. 91)
By this evidence, the writer found that how Grenouille was able to mix
perfumes without the formulas was a mystery. Not only for Baldini, for Grenouille
himself, did he not know how he mixed the perfume without formula. He just
depended on his nose. He relied on what he smelled by his nose without thinking
about formula or even how to treat perfume appropriately.
From what the writer analyzed area one and area two had the biggest parts of
Grenouille’s motivation in order to do something. Grenouille unconsciously built the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
35
interpersonal communication to fulfill his need which was to be able to make
perfume. Even he did not make many relations with other people, he bravely asked
Baldini to let him work for Baldini. He also made a move by pouring the rest of the
perfume he made to his body without understanding the real meaning of his act.
While area three and four were giving less motivation than the previous areas.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
36
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter contains the conclusions of the study and consists of three parts.
The first part is the conclusions. This part contains the statements or answers to the
questions in the problem formulation. The second part is the implication of the study.
This part provides the reflections on the result of the study in relation with education.
Then in the third part, the writer proposes some suggestions for the future researchers
who want to conduct studies on Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
and also for the English language teachers.
A. Conclusions
Based on the analysis that has been done, there are some points to be
concluded. The first point is about Grenouille’s vanity. The analysis of Grenouille’s
vanity in the previous chapter is important. By discovering the vanity character in
Grenouille, the writer found out that it influenced Grenouille interpersonal
communication.
First, the conclusion discusses about Grenouille’s vanity. In the story,
Grenouille is described as a vain person. It is proven with the statement that vain
people thought constantly of themselves or only what other people thought about
them. The statement is also proven by the evidence of Grenouille accidentally killed
the girl in order to protect his secret of desiring the girl’s scent. Another criterion that
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
37
describes him as a vain person is one’s inability to adjust himself with life; vain
people’s purpose in life is to become more than what they already are. It is shown by
the evidence that he has a purpose of his life which was to possess every odor in the
world. His purpose of life is unable to be applied in the world because human is not
possible to forcefully take something that they do not have from that belong to
someone else. Vain person also has the desire to conquer everything and everyone. It
is reflected by the thought of Grenouille who is afraid that the girls’ scents are
running out. He ever lost the scent once and he does not want to lose it again. The
experience of losing the scent before built a strong desire to conquer the scent.
Second, it discusses the influence of vanity on Grenouille’s interpersonal
communication. As the writer said, he is a vain individual. It is analyzed from how he
constantly thought about himself and how he is unable to adjust himself to the
environment because his desire to conquer everything. This vanity character
unconsciously builds the motivation to put his desire, which is to mix perfume from
the girls’ essence, first. By using Johari Window, the writer analyzed the behavior
and motivation related to Grenouille and others. Area one in Johari Window shows
that Grenouille can interact and share his experience of mixing perfume with Baldini.
Both, Grenouille and Baldini, understand Grenouille’s desire to learn several ways
used to extract scents. Baldini might not know the real reason of why Grenouille
wanted to learn about them, but he understood his desire.
While area two represents the motivation which is affected by intrapersonal
experience. Intrapersonal experience can affect the behavior of someone. By this
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
38
behavior, interpersonal communication is also affected by the intrapersonal
experience. The experience of Grenouille meeting the plum girl and desiring her scent
makes him thinks that he truly desiring the scent only. He does not realize that he
desires the girl too. He experienced how to love someone. Unfortunately, he does not
realize it because his mind is focus on the scent only. Therefore, he also does not
realize the real reason of why he pours the perfume he made to himself in front of the
poor people. At first, the poor people also do not know why he pours the perfume to
his body. After they eat him alive, they realize that what they do is based on love.
Area three shows the behavior and motivation that open to self but keep
hidden from others. Grenouille may reveal to Baldini his ability to smell every scent
and odor in the world, but he keeps his actual intention to himself. Grenouille actual
intention to Baldini is to learn how to make extract of scent. Area four represents the
unknown motivation either to self or others. Grenouille is able to mix perfumes
without formulas. Grenouille, himself, does not know how it could be happen. What
he does is just rely on his nose without thinking about formula or even how to treat
perfume appropriately.
By those analyses, the writer could see that Grenouille’s vanity influence his
interpersonal communication. His vanities lead him to fulfill his needs first. The
writer could see that mostly the motivations of his interpersonal communication were
in order to make his dream came true. Grenouille let Baldini knew about his secret
ability in order to make Baldini let him learn about perfume. He had the desire to
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
39
conquer everything, therefore he did not mind to reveal his ability as long as he got
what he wanted.
Before Grenouille was obsessed to scents, he would choose to remain silent
and stay away from people. He preferred to live in his own world rather than deal
with other people. It was because other people would judge him as a weird person
because of his ability. It was proven by the evidence below.
As he grew older, he was not especially big, nor strong-ugly, true, but not so
extremely ugly that people would necessarily have taken fright at him. He was
not aggressive, nor underhanded, nor furtive, he did not provoke people. He
preferred to keep out of their way. (p. 23)
After Grenouille was obsessed to scents, he chose to follow his vanity and
reveal his ability to several people. This statement was proven by the analyses above.
Grenouille put his vanity as his priority in order to do many things. Therefore, the
writer could see how he put his act, thought, and feeling based on his vanity.
B. IMPLICATIONS
The implications of the study are related to the value of vanity, interpersonal
communication, and education. The first implication deals with how students can
apply vanity wisely and positively to avoid the bad impacts of it. The second
implication deals with the role of English language teachers in helping the students.
The novel, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, tells about Jean-Baptiste as a
vain person. He has a goal in his life. He wants to be a great perfumer and make the
most powerful and perfect perfume which is able to influence people’s behavior
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
40
towards the wearer. In all the time of his life, he has never felt how it is to be loved.
He does not have scent like a normal human should have. People rarely notice him.
He is a nobody for everyone. By making a perfect perfume that can control people’s
behavior, he has a hope to make people love and respect him. He desperately needs
attention from others. He will not stop until he gets what he wants. That is how vanity
people are. He expects confidently that people would love him after he makes and
wears the perfume. He often gets depressed when he cannot meet his standard. He has
a dream that is difficult to reach, to make people love him using a perfect perfume.
Until one day he is successful in making perfume. Unfortunately, when he pours the
perfume to his body and sees people’s reaction which shows that they madly love
Grenouille, he realizes that it is the perfume which makes people act nicely to him,
not because of himself.
From the story, we can learn that having a purpose in life can motivate us to
reach it. Having an ambition is not bad as long as we can control ourselves. We will
understand that if we cannot control our behavior and have a high standard for our
lives, we can be vain people. Nowadays, there are many people with ambition. For
example, students who want to get best grades in the school. It is good to have an
ambition of having the best grade in school, but they are supposed to know how to
deal with the worst possibility which is when they cannot meet their standards. It is
better if they know about vanity and how to positively apply vanity, so the possibility
to suffer from being overwhelmed with the ambition is decrease. However, vanity
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41
still has the good characteristics which can lead to successful lives. If they can
manage themselves by using their ambition, they can even get the better results.
Through this study, English language teachers and teacher candidates can
learn how to deal with vain students. Not only how to deal with vain students, but
also how to build a good interpersonal communication with them. As teachers, we are
supposed to know more about students’ condition. Therefore, we can build the
atmosphere to learn easily. Some people may think that vain students will inhibit
other students from expressing themselves in class. On the contrary, we can help the
vain students and other students to be balanced by using interpersonal
communication. Communicating things is a good habit to do. It is not only needed for
students to students, but also for students to teachers, teachers to students, and
teachers to teachers. Once we can build a good interpersonal communication, we can
help the vain students to be understood to others and we can give understandings to
the vain students that giving chance for other students will not make them lose.
C. SUGGESTIONS
After conducting the study on Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: The Story of a
Murderer, the writer proposes two suggestions. The first is for the future researchers.
The second is for the readers.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind is an interesting novel.
There are many surprising events in the novel. The ending of the novel is also
unpredictable. Many people say that this novel is full of psychopathic things.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
42
However, there are many topics that can be discussed based on the story of the novel,
especially about the main character, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. In this study, the writer
has analyzed the influence of his vanity to his interpersonal communication. For
future researchers, the writer recommends them study the meaning of love for Jean-
Baptist Grenouille. It can be a topic of the discussion because it seems that Grenouille
is not only looking for attention but he also looking for the meaning of love to
himself.
For all the readers, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind can
be used as a media to understand students character. This novel will help us to deal
with our own character too. It depends on how the readers want to reflect the event in
the novel to them. This novel is full of personal lessons such as how to deal with our
emotion, how to deal with other people, and how to fight to reach our goals.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
43
REFERENCES
Adams, J. (2000). Narcissism and creativity in the postmodern era: the case of
Patrick Süskind’s das parfum. Taylor and Francis, Inc. Retrieved February 13,
2017 from
http://www.westshore.edu/personal/mwnagle//Wciv/PerfumeAnalysis.htm
Adler, A. (1928). Understanding human nature. Greenwich: Fawcett Publications.
Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., & Asghar, R. (1972). Introduction to research in education.
New York: Holt Reinhart and Winston.
Feist, J. & Feist, G. J. (2010). Teori kepribadian. (Handriatno, Trans.) Jakarta:
Salemba Humanika.
Giffin, K. & Patton, B. R. (1976). Fundamentals of interpersonal communication (2nd
ed.). London: Harper & Row.
Jackson, L. A. (1979). A guide to more effective use of imaginative written language.
Language Arts, 55, 280-281.
Karina, L. P. (2014). The Impact of Perfectionism on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s
Psychological Condition as Seen in Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: The Story of a
Murderer. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
Kennedy, X. J. & Gioia, D. (1999). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, and
drama (7th ed.). New York: Longman.
Kothari, C. R. (1990). Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd revised
ed.). New Delhi: New Age International Publisher
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44
Laar, E. & Schoonderwoerd, N. (1963). An approach to English Literature.
Hertogenbosch: L.C.G. Malmberg.
Murphy, M. J. (1972). Understanding unseens. London: George Allen & Unwin.
Napitupulu. D. K. (2012). Anti-social Personality Disorder of the Main Character in
Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Yogyakarta: Sanata
Dharma University.
Rohrberger, M. & Woods, S. (1971). Reading and writing about literature. New
York: Random House.
Sartre, J. (1998). What is literature?. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Süskind, P. (2006). Perfume: The story of a murderer, 1986. (John E. Woods, Trans).
New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Warner, W. B. (1998). Licensing entertainment: The elevation of novel reading in
Britain.California: University of California Press.
Internet Sources:
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kbb#ixzz4
sNF9NE3t
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
45
APPENDIX
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
46
Summary of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
The story in this novel begins with John-Baptiste Grenouille’s birth. He was
born with scentless body. He also has a unique ability which smells every scents and
odors. This ability becomes his motivation to keep on living and learning how to keep
the scent. Not only being sold twice by people who took care of him, but he also
dumped by his mother. He has to work for a tanner, a person whose job is to tan
animal skins to make leather, named Grimal, and also for a perfumer, named
Giuseppe Baldini. Grenouille comes to Baldini to learn how to keep scent not how to
mix perfumes or compose scent correctly because he thinks that the more he mastered
the tricks and tools of the trade, the better he will be able to express himself in the
form of perfume. Unfortunately, Grenouille gets more and more possesive to the
scent around him and it brings him into an unexpected accident in his life.
Baldini’s technique to concentrate the scents does not fulfill Grenouille’s
obsession to extract and collect more scents. He ends up getting sick because he is
mad at Baldini and himself. Baldini who is shocked then suggests him to go to the
South to learn more about extraction. Baldini releases Grenouille under three
conditions which are: (1) he is not allowed to produe any of the perfumes under
Baldini’s roof and not sell the formulas to third parties, (2) he must leave Paris and
not enter it again as long as Baldini lived, and (3) he must keep the first two
conditions absolutely secret.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
47
Before Grenouille arrives at the South, he stays for few days around a
mountain consists of a giant cone of blue-gray rock. He can smell purer air there. The
more Grenouille gets accustomed to pure air, the more sensitive he is to human odor.
Then he realizes that he has no odor. He is questioning himself why he has no odor.
He is confused with his own mind and decided to continue his journey to the South.
During the way the South, he realizes that every human smell different. He
thinks that aura is the important aspect to make a perfume because it represents the
personal odor. He also thinks that he can deceive people by making a perfume which
smell is like human odor. Then he tries to make a perfume that can build an aura
according on his thought. After he uses his perfume, many people respect and admit
his existence. He becomes a famous guy and no longer shy.
Grenouille comes to Paris secretly. He comes to learn about several
techniques to better his scent producing. He comes to a warehouse and he smells the
odors of a redhead girl named Laure Richis. He wants to keep her odor but he still
does not know how to keep it. Therefore, he promises to himself that he will be back
in two years to learn how to keep it then make the scent to his own.
Grenouille works to Madame Arnulfi, a perfumer and learns how to make the
essence absolue, the basic to make a perfume. After learning how to distill jasmine
and other flowers, he tries to fulfill his obsession. He tried Madame Arnulfi’s
distillation technique on a puppy and a deaf-mute beggar woman. However, he is not
happy with the result because their scents turn out to be the scent of meat. He is
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
48
obsessed to the odor of human beings who love. He slowly kills several young and
beautiful girls and makes perfume from the essence of their body.
He has collected scents of virgin women and he is going to distill the redhead
girl whom he really desires to keep the scent. Antoine Richis, the father of Laure
Richis, knows that his daughter is killed and began spreading the rumor about his
daughter. Everybody is looking for the murderer and no one can find Grenouille.
Madame Arnulfi checks Grenouille’s room and she finds the red hair of Laure Richis
also the clothes and the hair of the other women. Many people look for him and
finally Grenouille is caught.
He is punished to be hung after being tortured. In the execution day, he comes
and he uses the perfume which was made from the virgin women scents. The perfume
gives a miracle effect everybody suddenly denies that Grenouille is the murderer.
They sink to their knees and begin seeing Grenouille as they see God. They act like
they are in ecstasy. Grenouille is shocked with what he sees and hates them so much.
Unfortunately, the more he hates them, the more they praise him. Then he lost his
consciousness due to his shock condition.
Grenouille is on Laure Richis’s bed when he is awake. Grenouille run away
from the town. He no longer has any scent because the miracle is over. While on his
run, he thinks about his perfume which he made. He had the power of money or the
power of terror or the power of death. He keeps walking while thinking about the
perfume. He ends up where he was born. He sees many people who are poor and
hungry. Grenouille pours the perfume to his body. The poor people come to him and
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
49
try to be the closest to him. They end up eating them alive. They are ashamed at first
of what they have done, eat a human being. Then, they finally smile because they are
uncommonly proud for doing something out of love.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
45
APPENDIX
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
46
Summary of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
The story in this novel begins with John-Baptiste Grenouille’s birth. He was
born with scentless body. He also has a unique ability which smells every scents and
odors. This ability becomes his motivation to keep on living and learning how to keep
the scent. Not only being sold twice by people who took care of him, but he also
dumped by his mother. He has to work for a tanner, a person whose job is to tan
animal skins to make leather, named Grimal, and also for a perfumer, named
Giuseppe Baldini. Grenouille comes to Baldini to learn how to keep scent not how to
mix perfumes or compose scent correctly because he thinks that the more he mastered
the tricks and tools of the trade, the better he will be able to express himself in the
form of perfume. Unfortunately, Grenouille gets more and more possesive to the
scent around him and it brings him into an unexpected accident in his life.
Baldini’s technique to concentrate the scents does not fulfill Grenouille’s
obsession to extract and collect more scents. He ends up getting sick because he is
mad at Baldini and himself. Baldini who is shocked then suggests him to go to the
South to learn more about extraction. Baldini releases Grenouille under three
conditions which are: (1) he is not allowed to produe any of the perfumes under
Baldini’s roof and not sell the formulas to third parties, (2) he must leave Paris and
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
47
not enter it again as long as Baldini lived, and (3) he must keep the first two
conditions absolutely secret.
Before Grenouille arrives at the South, he stays for few days around a
mountain consists of a giant cone of blue-gray rock. He can smell purer air there. The
more Grenouille gets accustomed to pure air, the more sensitive he is to human odor.
Then he realizes that he has no odor. He is questioning himself why he has no odor.
He is confused with his own mind and decided to continue his journey to the South.
During the way the South, he realizes that every human smell different. He
thinks that aura is the important aspect to make a perfume because it represents the
personal odor. He also thinks that he can deceive people by making a perfume which
smell is like human odor. Then he tries to make a perfume that can build an aura
according on his thought. After he uses his perfume, many people respect and admit
his existence. He becomes a famous guy and no longer shy.
Grenouille comes to Paris secretly. He comes to learn about several
techniques to better his scent producing. He comes to a warehouse and he smells the
odors of a redhead girl named Laure Richis. He wants to keep her odor but he still
does not know how to keep it. Therefore, he promises to himself that he will be back
in two years to learn how to keep it then make the scent to his own.
Grenouille works to Madame Arnulfi, a perfumer and learns how to make the
essence absolue, the basic to make a perfume. After learning how to distill jasmine
and other flowers, he tries to fulfill his obsession. He tried Madame Arnulfi’s
distillation technique on a puppy and a deaf-mute beggar woman. However, he is not
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
48
happy with the result because their scents turn out to be the scent of meat. He is
obsessed to the odor of human beings who love. He slowly kills several young and
beautiful girls and makes perfume from the essence of their body.
He has collected scents of virgin women and he is going to distill the redhead
girl whom he really desires to keep the scent. Antoine Richis, the father of Laure
Richis, knows that his daughter is killed and began spreading the rumor about his
daughter. Everybody is looking for the murderer and no one can find Grenouille.
Madame Arnulfi checks Grenouille’s room and she finds the red hair of Laure Richis
also the clothes and the hair of the other women. Many people look for him and
finally Grenouille is caught.
He is punished to be hung after being tortured. In the execution day, he comes
and he uses the perfume which was made from the virgin women scents. The perfume
gives a miracle effect everybody suddenly denies that Grenouille is the murderer.
They sink to their knees and begin seeing Grenouille as they see God. They act like
they are in ecstasy. Grenouille is shocked with what he sees and hates them so much.
Unfortunately, the more he hates them, the more they praise him. Then he lost his
consciousness due to his shock condition.
Grenouille is on Laure Richis’s bed when he is awake. Grenouille run away
from the town. He no longer has any scent because the miracle is over. While on his
run, he thinks about his perfume which he made. He had the power of money or the
power of terror or the power of death. He keeps walking while thinking about the
perfume. He ends up where he was born. He sees many people who are poor and
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
49
hungry. Grenouille pours the perfume to his body. The poor people come to him and
try to be the closest to him. They end up eating them alive. They are ashamed at first
of what they have done, eat a human being. Then, they finally smile because they are
uncommonly proud for doing something out of love.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI