Effects of Childhood Experiences on Behavior Development

Student’s Name

Dr. Barish Ali

HUM 100: Introduction to the Humanities

January 19, 2022

Effects of Childhood Experiences on Behavior Development

The text chosen for analysis is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a 1985 literary historical novel by German author Patrick Süskind. The story centers on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a French orphan during the 18th century who was born with an extraordinary sense of smell. Children have been largely dehumanized in this novel, which eventually affects their behaviors in future. Süskind demonstrates how daily interactions during childhood affect a child’s life in the future through showing how children are dehumanized and how this affects them. Usually, a person’s behavior is influenced by their experiences during childhood. This essay presents a comprehensive analysis of how a person’s daily interactions during childhood affect their behavior in the future as depicted in Süskind piece of work.

The experiences that the protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, undergoes during his childhood builds his character and behavior. Grenouille is dehumanized during his childhood and is treated as though he was expendable. This resulted in the mindset of Grenouille that he was expendable, and the emotions led him to become a serial killer. First, he grew up as an unwanted child and lacked the compassionate upbringing desired by children, and that leads children to live a successful life. By the time Grenouille’s mother was decapitated after being tried and found guilty of several infanticides, Grenouille had three wet nurses. However, these nurses considered him too greedy for milk. Jeanne Bussie, Grenouille’s wet nurse, although she is given three francs weekly to feed him, she goes to the extent of telling Father Terrier that Grenouille has gorged himself with her milk and she would no longer feed him. Describing a small child as greedy portrays a lack of motherly love for Grenouille. We see this act and other acts of dehumanizing Grenouille severely affect him in the future.

Also, Grenouille does not have a sense of emotional sensitivity to death because everyone he came across during childhood dehumanized him. One of the people who dehumanized him was Father Terrie, who considered him subhuman. For instance, Father Terrier dehumanizes Grenouille by saying, “A strange, cold creature lay there on his knees, a hostile animal” (Süskind 9). Also, when Jeanne Bussie tells Father Terrier that Grenouille is evil possessed because he does not smell, Father Terrier tells her that infants are not yet human and, therefore, they cannot be possessed. Considering children as sub-humans is an act of dehumanizing them. We find Grenouille inflicting onto his victims the dehumanization that he was subjected to as a growing child. Overall, Süskind introduces his story showing how Grenouille was dehumanized during his childhood to set a background for Grenouille’s mental state and showcase to the reader the reasons as to why Grenouille goes out to kill others. Thus, it can be concluded that one’s surroundings and experiences during childhood impact their behaviors in the future and influence who they become.

Additionally, Süskind uses Madame Galliard to showcase how daily interactions during childhood affect a child’s character and behavior in the future. Although the author introduces Madame Galliard in the novel from her childhood, she is long dead inside. Madame Galliard lost her human feelings during her childhood after being hit with a poker across the face by her father, which damaged her sense of smell and ability to feel any emotions. As such, she grew up without having any sense of smell and emotions and does not even know that Grenouille is scentless. As such, Grenouille’s lack of personal scent does not bother her, and she is able to bring him up without being bothered. Most people who come across Grenouille and realize that he does not have scent are bothered by this issue and end up not taking care of him and dehumanizing him. A good example of such people is Jeanne Bussie, who tells Father Terrier that Grenouille is evil possessed because he does not smell at all. Thus, it can be logically inferred that Madame Galliard’s ability to take care of Grenouille without being bothered is attributed to her lack of sense of smell which she lost during her childhood.

Furthermore, Madame Galliard is charged with a boarding house, but she shows no preference for any of her charges due to lack of emotions. Her main goal in life is to save much money and have proper death and descent funeral instead of being buried in the Hôtel-Dieu like her husband. Madame Galliard’s lack of sense of smell and ignorance about the gifts she receives from Grenouille, along with the assistance he offers to find her lost money using his olfactory senses, causes Madame to believe Grenouille is a psychic. Since Madame Galliard believes that psychic individuals are associated with death and bad luck, she sells Grenouille to the tanner Grimal. As a result, she ends up losing all her money in old age and dies a very miserable death in the same hotel where her husband died. Instead of being buried individually after her death, she is thrown in a mass grave. The main cause of Madame Galliard’s miserable death can be related to her childhood experiences. If she had not lost her sense of smell and emotions, she would have believed in Grenouille’s ability to use olfactory ability to help her find her money. However, because she does not have such senses, she does not believe such senses exist.

Conclusively, it is evident that a person’s surroundings and experiences during their childhood model their behaviors. Grenouille’s experiences of dehumanization led him to become a serial killer. Grenouille was dehumanized by everyone he grew up around, including the midwives and Father Terrier. The midwives called him a greedy child, while father Terrier considered him as a subhuman. Also, the loss of sense of smell and emotions by Madame Galliard as a result of being hit with poker by her father affected by behavior in the future.

Works Cited

Süskind, Patrick. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Trans. John E. Woods. London: Penguin, 1986.