Perfume+LITS

Post information analyzing literary features of the novel (which should be clearly identified e.g. IRONY). Make sure information is clear and concise. Organize by order within novel. May be arranged differently at a later time. Include page numbers.

CHAPTERS 1-10 P. 5 - "(Grenouille's mother) was quite pretty and had almost all her teeth in her mouth and some hair on her head and - except for gout and syphilis nad a touch of consumption - suffered from no serious disease". The irony in the narrator's then perception of beauty and health allows the author to mock the people's views concerning these subjects at the time.

P.5 - "cut the newborn thing's umbilical cord with her butcher knife" The cruelty and lack of sensitivity presented in the word choice in the description of Grenouille, and the symbolism and connotation of a butcher knife, demonstrate his mother's complete inconsideration towards him. Moreover, the butcher knife, a symbol of violence, killing, suggests that Grenouille would not live for long, and probably won't live for more than a few minutes. However a contrast is later presented as the author seems to turn the tables, allowing Grenouille to live and killing the mother.

P. 7-13 - The abundance of hyphens and ellipses in chapter 2 throughout the dialogue between Bussie and Terrier concerning Grenouille demonstrates that neither of the two understands who, or even what Grenouille is. These punctuations provide lapses in their speech, showing hesitation about the subject at hand - Grenouille.

P. 17 “His most tender emotions, his filthiest thoughts lay exposed to that greedy little nose” Terrier a supposed man of god is revealing that he has thoughts that are not appropriate which are being “exposed” by the little Grenouille. P. 19 - "she had lost for good all sense of smell and every sense of human warmth and human coldness" By losing her sense of smell, Madame Gaillard loses her emotional senses. She remains fair, but she has no emotional or spiritual attachment to anything or anyone, whether it be children, money, or men.

Bottom of page 20 to 22 - extended metaphor comparing Grenouille to a tick

P 34 “holding it tight, pulling it into himself and preserving it for all time. The odor might be an old acquaintance” Suskind personifies odor to make it seem that Grenouille has a better understanding of odor then normal people P. 48 - The novel is largely written through the author’s perspective; however, on page 48 Suskind incorporates a small section of script to emphasize characters’ voice. The dialogue and script format portrays Baldini and Chenier as putting up an act. Baldini acts as if he is undisturbed by Pelissier’s new perfume, and Chenier as if he believes in Baldini.

CHAPTERS 11-20 P. 66 - Suskind often drives the reader in one direction but immediately shifts towards another direction. He misleads the reader to think that Baldini’s store is closing and entering retirement “his mind was finally at peace”; however Grenouille appears and the store thrives, signifying Grenouille’s everlasting effect on the people he encounters.  OXYMORON – “The perfume was disgustingly good” (60). Although Baldini hold a conservative mind which was against the creativity exhibited by Pelissier, as suggested by his disgust towards the man in his description of “disgustingly”, the old man was still vulnerable to the mesmerizing property of Amor and Psyche.  FORESHADOW – The modified Amor and Psyche which was created by Grenouille left Baldini in a reliving his younger days with pleasure. The mesmerizing property of Grenouille’s perfume foreshadows the powerful effect that Grenouille’s creation has on people. P. 87 - Both Grimal and Baldini suffer the same fates: thriving and then all is taken away. When Grenouille departs from Grimal and Baldini, both characters coincidentally die signifying a new beginning for Grenouille and an end for the characters’ he’s gained knowledge from.  METAPHOR – “Naturally, the gnome had everything to do with it” (90). Working in Baldini’s perfumery, Grenouille was compared to the dwarfish creature that lived underground, emphasizing his isolation from humanity and his obsession with the creation of new scents.

p. 64 - The latin phrase Baldini says here, "ultra posse nemo obligatur", means "no-one is obligated to doing the impossible" in english.

p. 73 - The first mention of Grenouille being a toad (Grenouille means toad in French).

p. 88 (top of the page) - Grenouille dreams of people having a giant orgasm in his name and basking in the odiferious glory of him, a foreshadowing of events near the end of the book. He dreams that night because that night was the turning point of his life, where he managed to break from the shackles of his circumstances and begin to take the world on as the olfactory genius he was.

pg. 101-"...he wanted to create--or rather, have created--personal perfume that would fit only their wearer, like tailored clothes". Baldini wants to create personal perfumes with the help of Grenouille. Ironic because after Baldini dies, he (obviously) ends up not achieving this goal, but instead Grenouille turns out to make his own personal perfumes. Uses these personal perfumes to his life-long goal.

CHAPTERS 21-30

Suskind uses one sentence to recapitulate Grenouille's infancy and early childhood (chapter 23) : "To enhance the mood he first conjured up those that were earliest and most remote: the hostile, steaming vapors of Madame Gaillard's bedroom, the bone-dry leathery bouquet of her hands, the vinegary breath of Father Terrier, the hysterical, hot maternal sweat of Bussie the wet nurse, the carrion stench of the Cemetiere des Innocents, the homicidal stench of his mother..." Through this Suskind effectively ties the second part of his novel to the first and re-emphasizes the premise that a child is the direct product of his environment, which in this case his environment is discribed in much more of a negative way, using diction like "hostile" "sweat" "homocidal" it doesn't give us a pleasant thought.

"The mountain consisted of a giant cone of blue-gray rock and was surrounded by an endless, barren highland studded with a few trees charred by fire and overgrown with gray boulders....." (page 119) This imagery of the mountains when he is himernating gives a brilliant imagery of nightmarish picture. Grenouille's self-imposed hibernation is intriguing. The nightmare imagery shows that although hes trying to hide away from humans because he is disgusted by their smell, being in the mountains isn't something that makes him happy, it isn't positively written.

(page 133) "..if the catastrophe had not struck, driving him from his mountain, vomiting him back out into the world." this is when Grenouille had the internal catasrophe and decided to return to the human world, and un-isolate himself. As you can see, the connotation is negative, "vomiting" which shows that the world is disgusted by him, vomiting him out is almost like comparing him to puke.

Irony (pg. 137) - Grenouille's discovery that he had no scent even though he had the ability to smell and analyze every scent in the world. This also foreshadows his new aim of creating the perfect perfume for himself.

Irony (pg 111) It is ironic that Baldini was the only one to suffer after all the success he had gone through. Also ironic that he still had future plans and his death ended with all the formulas lost that he tried to keep so dearly.

Irony (pg. 109) Having Baldini talk on and on about how God would forgive him for exploiting Grenouille's skills and then finally killing Baldini when he was at the peak of his career.

Tone (pg 106-7) In the first part, the narrative tone towards Baldini is filled with pride and the tone towards Grenouille is filled with loathing and disgust, which shows how the readers viewed grenouille, a twisted being.

Similie (pg. 116)- "...it became clear to Grenouille for the first time that for eighteen years their compacted human effluvium had oppressed him like air heavy with an imminent thunderstorm." The presence of humans near Grenouille shows his desire to be alone, isolated away from all human existence.

Similie (pg 121) "He carried on like a madman until late into night." Grenouille is being compared to a madman, which is appropriate since he himself is a human but hes trying to get away from other humans as well.

Contrast (pg. 123) - "He lay in his stony crypt like his own corpse, hardly breathing, his heart hardly beating--and yet lived as intensively and dissolutely as ever..." Although Grenouille seems physical weak, he is nevertheless strong and ambitious inside. This ambition allows him to persevere through his journey to achieve his desires.

CHAPTERS 31-41: - Grenouille is often compared to God in the previous ten chapters. In this chapter however Grenouille comes to the conclusion that he is better then God. This progression foreshadows how Grenouille's plans are coming to an end and reveals to us his arrogant character (characterization). -Imagery: The killing of the puppy was swift and ended abruptly yet still described quite vividly. People tend to have a connection to puppies and Grenouille's ability to kill it without a second thought shows us how Grenouille lacks moral values. -Suskind does not describe any of the killings and only mentions the deaths and the town's reactions. This lack of imagery gives us the idea that the women were simply being used as tools much like how Grenouille was treated his whole life.

CHAPTERS 41-51

Contrast (200 )"even Richis would catch himself looking at his daughter…..forgetting the rest of the world, even his business---which otherwise did not happen even in his sleep”.---he never forgets his business even in his sleep, but his daughter was so attractive and beloved that he couldn’t think of anything other than her when gazing at her.

Sentence Structure (pg. 208, 212): the description of Richis's plan uses elaborate, long sentence strucutures. This shows a heavy amount of detail, illustrating the complex thought process Richis goes through in laying out his seemingly perfect plan. The sentence structure seems to mock the fact that despite his careful planning, his scheme ultimately fails. He probably spent too much time "planning", and not "doing". Meanwhile, Grenouille has a specific goal in mind: Laure's scent. However, the short sentences used in describing his actions when he tracks Laure down shows that instead of wasting his time planning, he is "doing". Rather than lay plans that fail, he "jumps into action", and adapts to whatever changes that come his way.

Symbol (pg. 215): "The world was nothing but odor and the soft sound of surf from the sea." The sea, formerly the place that Grenouille always wanted to go to, here represents his dream. Thus the presence of the sea here foreshadows Grenouilles dream coming true, which is obtaining Laure's scent.

Irony (pg. 215-216); "In Grasse, where the house had barred windows and was tightly guarded, all this would have been much more difficult... she was lying on her stomach with her head pressed into the pillow" The escape plan was meant to protect Laure, but it only made her even more vulnerable to Grenouille.

Simile (216-7) “rolled her up in it as a baker rolls strudel…” using simile, comparing Laure to a baker roll, as if she’s the food, and Grenouille is the one that’s going to eat it (her) while the reality is that Grenouille is possessing her scent, which is pretty much the same thing.

Oxymoron (pg. 218): "in a certain sense active, waiting." "active waiting" suggests that for Grenouille, waiting itself is a part of his plan. Unlike Richis, he is not rushed to do things, but paces himself and takes the appropriate steps towards his goal.

Personification (226) : “this time, fear set it’s jaws too firmly into their souls.” The fear G brought was active in the perception of this sentence, through this personification Suskind emphasizes how strong G’s influence was.

Metaphor (pg. 255): //*The Cannibal Metaphor//* Throughout the novel, Grenouille was "eating" people by taking their scent. But now, the roles are reversed as they are literally eating Grenouille, and compared to a "pack of animals". Suskind might be suggesting that all the people at that time, and possibly now, are no more different than Grenouille as they are trying to take the beauty of each other.