Reader Response Peterman 3

Although the actual motive for killing was different in each of the novels Perfume and Frankenstein, it seems there were a few underlying similarities in the events that led up to the each character becoming a serial killer. In spite of the fact that each novel is about the progression of the main character’s serial killings, I still believe there is a clear moral message present in both the novels. In the novel Perfume, Grenouille is a young man who grows up never knowing a sense of belonging or family, he feels very isolated and alone most of his life and then discovers that he has an abnormal sense of smell which is very different from other human beings. Starting with the point at which Grenouille becomes aware of the essence of the “scent of a women”, his whole focus and quest becomes pinpointing and emulating this scent. It is during his drive to discover the “scent of a woman” that he becomes frustrated and obsessed and actually ends up killing young virginal woman. Ultimately Grenouille is able to re-create the “scent of a woman” and in the end his success actually spares him from the harsh punishment and death he was so sentenced to for the many young virginal women he killed along the way. In the novel Frankenstein, the “creation” (which later becomes known as “Frankenstein”) is a lab created monster who was assembled with various left over “parts” by a mad scientist, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The mad scientist’s creation was so hideous and repulsive looking, even his creator Dr. Frankenstein hated and feared him and refused to acknowledge him or have anything to do with him. When the creation was ignored and unaccepted by the rest of the human world, the creation went to Dr. Frankenstein and begged him to also create a female counterpart so that he could know the companionship of a female and feel a sense of love and belonging. When Dr. Frankenstein refused to fulfill the creation’s request, the creation became very angry and started