English Mock Oral: Perfume

Global Issue: Inequality and Poverty

Non-Literary Text: Red Dead Redemption 2

We’ve come down a definition as a group for both inequality and

poverty that best suits “Perfume”. Now inequality comes in a lot of types and
variants but the one most prominent in ‘Perfume’ is social inequality. Social
inequality is defined as the unequal distributions of opportunities and rewards
for people of differ rent social status or position. Poverty is defined as the
complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs, which is
quite evident in “Perfume” and the time period in which it was set in.

The global issue then eventually led to the prolonged worsening of

situations in society such as the decrease in social mobility; in which, leads to
and affects the actions carried out by of some of the individuals affected by it.
Things such as crime and suicide etc. To put it simply, its an amplifier of
existing issues and the trigger of even more.

For my non-literary text I have chosen the story of the well renowned
video game called “Red Dead Redemption 2” it focuses on a gang who stood
up and testified against the situations and the gap in social classes in the late 19
centuries. Set in the year 1899, social segregation was at its most prominent
state, the rich holding most the money and power whereas people at the bottom
of the social hierarchy were getting poorer and poorer due to the rapidly
modernizing society. You play as a character by the name of Arthur Morgan,
who is the enforcer and key member of the Van Der Linde gang. Now, the Van
Der Linde gang isn’t your typical gang who spreads mayhem and terror all
throughout where they are, their leader; a man by the name of Dutch Van Der
Linde is somewhat of a charismatic figure, and the gang has a set of rules as to
who they were allowed to rob and what they were to do. The entire gang is
built up on figures who has had their dealings with poverty or being at the
bottom of the social hierarchy; and this fueled the hate for figures who are at
the top of the hierarchy, especially those who are there due to the destruction
and advantages they took from using ordinary folks like them. Similarly, in
‘Perfume’ Baldini sees Grenouille as more of a tool rather than a person and
takes advantages of his abilities in the likes of benefiting himself. The gang
doesn’t rob ordinary folk who are just getting by through their hard work; but
rather, those who quote on quote deserve robbing. People who take advantages
of others in benefit to themselves. They commit their crimes in service of
Dutch's vision of Utopian personal freedom. They don't want to live with The
Man's boot on their collective neck. They just want to make a few bucks, find a
place where no one will bother them, and live out their days free of the
shackles of their rapidly modernizing society. In the game, the gang did just
that, they robbed a big-time oil man who was filthy rich and commanded a lot
of power in the wild west. The oil man did not take too kindly as to being
robbed and hired an entire detective agency to track and hunt down the Van
Der Linde gang. Similarly, when the entire town of Grasse, specifically
Antoine Richis was tracking and hunting Grenouille down following the
murder of Laure Richis.

We see a clear display of power here and the uneven distribution of it.
People at the bottom such as the Van Der Linde gang lack the social mobility
to raise themselves in the social hierarchy; therefore, they are forced to result in
the likes of robbing other people, which is wrong; even if they were robbing
who they thought were deserved to be and not anyone they come across. The
act of the oil man hiring a detective agency to hunt the gang down sparked the
downfall and the eventual destruction of the gang. Here, the uneven
distribution of power due to the likes of poverty and social mobility is on clear
display. Where the rich beholds most of the money and power of society.
They are at an advantage when it comes to just about everything, hence the
increased social mobility and the long-term possession of being at the top.
 In the later events of the game, the Van Der Linde gang acquires a bit of
power themselves, they’ve earned enough money to escape the country and
change their fates. Similarly, in Perfume, Grenouille acquires the perfume in
which had the potential to change his fate. Gone are the days of running and
hiding from the detective agency and being at the rock bottom of the social
hierarchy. The gang is ready to welcome a new form of living. However, the
story takes a twist and the gang is split into two factions as one of the members
ratted the gang out due to the alluring power and resources the oil man
promised him. Here once again, we can see another example of the uneven
distribution of power and it being implemented and used negatively.

Arthur Morgan, the character you play as, eventually dies, sacrificing
himself in the likes of others. (Grenouille sacrifices himself to challenge the
powered) He is the reason that a family within the gang escapes and survives.
Similar to the death of Grenouille, he sacrifices himself for the greater good.
Arthur gets no glorious, guns-blazing send-off here. No hero's death. Instead,
he dies alone, having achieved, in the end, so very little. He goes out tragic and
unfulfilled. He’s a mere placeholder in a larger story that continues without
him just like Grenouille as well. They both challenge the situations they find
themselves in society, they both born were in poverty and live in a world where
inequality is beyond evident. And in both of their endings, the sudden glimpse
of power they both wielded is then followed by their traffic deaths, evoking a
sense of destiny and cycle, it makes you wonder; is this what is bound to
happen when people of a lower class obtain a little margin of what the rich has?
Are the rich reluctant of their positions being taken away? It seems as if lower
classed people are just bound to be born and die as what they were intended to
be.