JEAN-BAPTISTE GRENOUILLE’S VANITY-DRIVEN INTERPERSONAL ... fileGrenouille’s interpersonal communication. This study uses psychological approach in analyzing the psychological aspect

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

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

i

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


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




iv

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.



vi

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


xi

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.



xii

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


xiv

FIGURE

Figure Page

2.1Johari Window……….……………............................................................15


xv

APPENDIX

Page

Summary of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer ….......................................... 45


1

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


2

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


3

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.


4

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


5

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.


6

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.


7

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,


8

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.


9

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.


10

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


11

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.


12

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.


13

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


14

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.


15

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,


16

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


17

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.


18

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


19

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.


20

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


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


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


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.


24

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


25

(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:


26

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


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


28

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.


29

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?”


30

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


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.


32

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.


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


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


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.


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


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


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


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


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


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.


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.


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


http://www.westshore.edu/personal/mwnagle/Wciv/PerfumeAnalysis.htm

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


http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kbb#ixzz4sNF9NE3t

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=kbb#ixzz4sNF9NE3t

45

APPENDIX


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.


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


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


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.


45

APPENDIX


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


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


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


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.


Documents

JEAN-BAPTISTE GRENOUILLE’S VANITY-DRIVEN INTERPERSONAL ... fileGrenouille’s interpersonal communication. This study uses psychological approach in analyzing the psychological aspect