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Dr.DePaolis
English1B
December2015

Perfume:TheStoryofaMurderer

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a tale that pulls you by the snout into a world of
olfactory sensory imagery as described by Peter Suskind of Munsing, Germany, published in
1985.Thestoryissetin18thCenturyFranceandisan accidentaldetectivemystery.Itrevolves
around JeanBaptiste Grenouille who was an orphan and was raised as most were of his time
period, a process of which would be considered inhumane today. As an orphan, you were a
product to be barteredandsoldforyourfindersprofitratherthanachildthatneededloveanda
family.
Suskinds novel of the talented Grenouille is one that should be required of all fiction
writers as he uses languagetocreatevividscenesandevokethememoryofscentintheminds
of his readers.Grenouille isadeep,torturedcharacter byhisowntalentthatbringsoutaunique
mixtureofemotions.ThereisapityyoufeelforGrenouilleasanunlovedchildwhois mistreated
that his motives to take the souls of the young girls can even weigh at the most sensitive of
hearts to justify his actions.Suskindalsotakesgreatcaretobethoroughinhisplot,hedoeshis
best to leave his character with a proper resolution and an analysis oftheirbeliefsandplacein
the world. He uses the framework of a real setting and historical references and then tells the
tale of the man who could close his eyesandseethroughhisnose.Ibelieveanaspiringauthor
shouldlooktoPerfumeasaguidetousingsuchdiverseliterarydeviceseffectively.

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Dr.DePaolis
English1B
December2015

Grenouille is his own detective,hehasnoonetoholdhishandashetriestounderstand

hisgiftandwherehefitsintheworld.Asachild,Grenouillewouldlieinthegrasslistingdifferent
scents to himself and think of how he can capture them all. The character of Grenouille has
qualities that remind me of my younger brother, Steven, who was diagnosed with autismwhen
he was three. Autism is identified with the following qualities when the child has delayed
speech, they show extreme interest in one subject, and extreme sensitivity to sensory sounds,
images, and smells. Grenouilles physiological gift is also a torment as he is overstimulated by
all the smells in the world. Mybrotherhasexplainedthissensationtomeasclaustrophobicand
suffocating, he feels like he is fighting to breathe when in a crowd of people or under the hot
sun. This connection I made between autism and Grenouille gave me a compassionatefeeling
towards him and as Ireadon,Ifeltmyselflookingforevidenceofhisinnocence.Inmymind,he
couldnothelphimselfinthekillingforheneverknewittobewrong.
When he iscaughtoffguardbythescentoftheplumgirl,itislikeadogwhocatchesthe
scent of a shepherd's pie in the window sill, he will follow it down to thedepthsofhellifitwere
to lead him there.Suskindcapturesthebeautyofawomansscentinhisdescriptionoftheplum
girl,
Her sweat smelled as freshastheseabreeze,thetallowofherhairassweetas
nut oil, her genitals we as fragrant as a bouquet of water lilies, her skin as apricot
blossoms...and the harmony of all these components yielded a perfume so rich, so

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Dr.DePaolis
English1B
December2015

balanced, so magical, that every perfume that Grenouille had smelled until now, every
edifice of odors that he had so playfully created within himself, seemed at once to be
utterly meaningless. A hundred thousand odors seemed worthless in the presence of
this scent. This one scent was the higher principle,thepatternbywhichtheothersmust
beordered.Itwaspurebeauty.
(42)
Grenouille had found his Eden in the veins of the young girl and was confused by why hewas
so intoxicated by her. The ideaofpubertyandtheattractiontotheoppositesexhasneverbeen
explained to him, he is left to learn the meaning of this on his own. He concludes thathemust
keep the smell of her forever and looks for a master perfumer to teach him how to do this. He
finds the master Baldini, but his methods do not help Grenouille and he produces no scents of
glass or stone. He berates himself when he fails, this is also a characteristic thatcan belinked
to autism. They aretheirownworldandwhentheyfailitisthemostheinousbetrayal.Theyrock
themselves violently, beat themselves, they are their own father to showthemselvesdiscipline.
The sickness nearly takes his life,
In time, with his hundreds of ulcerous wounds, Grenouille
looked like some martyr stoned from the inside out. (100) Though when Grenouille is given a
solution, the boils and blisters dried up on his skin and he was free to learn the ways of
distillationinthemeccaofperfume,Grasse.
He spends seven years ina caveonhiswaytoGrasse,hereintheencompassingscent
of stone he discovers that although he can smell the dirt of his clothing, but he cannot smell

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Dr.DePaolis
English1B
December2015

himself. He isanguishedbythisdiscovery,forGrenouillehaddecidedearlierwhenhefoundthe
plum girl that a human soul is found in their scent which would mean that Grenouille does not
have a soul. When we are presented with a demon in popular culture, it is easy toloathethem
as they are depicted as cunning and aware of the immoral choices they are making. But with
Grenouilles case, he is forever a child looking forhiswayandbasinghisdecisionpurelyonhis
own inferences. He leaves the cave with a new sense of himself and a purpose, that he will
show the world that heissomebodyandbetrovetothempurebeautyinthebottleofaperfume.
Success does find out protagonist but at a cost, when he finally achieves the preservation of
human essence he causes an unavoidable panic and a manhunt for his crimes against the
young women of Grasse, France. The catching of the murderer would seem like the end but,
with feeling theweightoftherestofthebookIknewbetter.ThepersonaltouchesSuskindgives
to the Riche family and their doomed daughter was not enough for me to feel Grenouille
deserved death on a cross or in any fashion. Moreover, I felt thatsomeoneshouldreachoutto
Grenouille and help himunderstandthefrailtythatisalife.Ifeltthattheperfume could bemade
while the girl is alive, that death wasnt necessary if only she understood the purpose she was
fulfilling. This misunderstanding though could never be undone, only Grenouille and his
readership can understand the meaning behind his condition. That he was an evolutionary
achievement and what he accomplished was the ultimate tool in persuasion, though this gift
couldbemisconstruedjustashewas.

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Dr.DePaolis
English1B
December2015

Grenouille was fulfilled by the sensation of a thousandpeoplecallingto himasanangel

at the execution that despite escaping the crucifix, he chose toendhislifeinthesamefashion.
He is consumed by the people of France, who due to the magic of the fragrance led them to
believe they had done this out of love. I believe that every action Grenouille made in the novel
was to find the love he was never givenasachild.
Totheextentthatwebelievewemakemost
of our decisions about others using reason and conscious choice, the existence of prejudices
based on smells perceived unconsciously throws this view into chaos. This kind of
foundationshaking existentialism is a powerful feature of Sskind's work.
He expertlyleadshis
reader in this complex story that canbeanalyzedtodepictGrenouilleasSatanhimselforinmy
understanding, as a lost soul who didnt know any better. I conclude that it is essential to read
Suskinds novel if you are looking to create one yourself. He meshes the historyofFranceand
thesupernaturalinawaythatmakesyoubelieveitcouldhappen.