Our experiences and perception gained over a lifetime allow us to mature and gain a larger collection of relations and experiences allowing us to discover a sense of belonging.
This is shown in Raimond Gaitas memoir “Romulus My Father”, Patrick Suricks novel “Perfume; Story Of A Murderer” and Shery Turkles “Together alone” lecture.
Romulus My Father is a memoir written in 1988filled with sullen experiences that shape Raimond.
Christina, Raimonds mother is mentally unwell, she comes to visit during school, taking him out.
“She danced around with such sympos”. It was at this point Raimond discovers his mothers yearning to be saved from herself, her own mind.
He uses a constant repetition of his mothers unusual gaieties but never admits nor denies her insanity.
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is a man with exceptional smell, claiming “the best nose in Paris”.
He is continually outcast from society as a whole, as he has no scent, and has been since his birth. This aids his removal of himself from society.
“This path took him away fro human kind”.
He isolates himself in a cave for 7 years doing nothing but “drinking the smells like fine wine until he passes out from too much”.
Patrick Surick uses a phenomenal expansion and relation to everyday smells, exploring them in a depth not considered by many humans’ minds, creating an image for the nose.
Especially when Grenouille is alone the earth “Smelt of moist clouds and the beetles of wet stones”. It allows the reader to be taken into the world of the text from a new perspective.
Raimond adores the landscape surrounding him, however Romulus and Christina have developed vastly different opinions on it “ The noble Red Gums were a sign of desolation”
This image of tall, royal gums spotting the land is taken from beauty and turned into an image of bleak isolation and helplessness.
The barriers to belonging for this family are largely related to the experiences had by the migrants coming to Australia. On arrival they are shunned from the “average Australian family” based on their origin. They see this landscape as different in a threatening way and find it a great demand to try and adapt to such merciless conditions in an environment. The desolation of this landscape begins to play with their mind set and general livelihood.
Sherry Turkle, a speaker at TED, spoke of being “Together alone”. How strongly the impacts of technology have changed our human world and placed us in a ‘bubble’, essentially isolating ourselves. “we create who we want to be, sharing our thoughts and feelings as we experience them” The irony placed throughout the speech of being together alone adorns the need for people to realise and admit that despite technology trying to bring us
