A Literary Analysis of Perfume by Suskind Essay

Perfume Reflective Statement 1Today in class, we discussed the psychology and the science behind scents. By learning more in-depth about smells, I furthered my understanding of how Sskind implanted scents into his novel, Perfume. Furthermore, I realized how important the role of smells was in the novel. During the oral, I learned about the olfactory system which is the sensory system inside your head used for the sense of smell. In the novel Perfume, by Sskind, Grenouille has an extremely powerful olfactory system. He has extraordinary smelling capabilities which separate him from everyone else in the world. However, we discussed in class how Grenouille lacks a personal odor which results in a lack of personal identity and self-awareness. This thought provoking discussion made me think, Did Sskind purposely create Grenouille without an odor? I think that to make up for Grenouille supernatural smelling ability, Sskind added a weakness to Grenouille so he would not be invincible. Grennouilles lack of personal odor is only thing that he is missing in life which causes him to find a perfect scent to mask his odorless body. Also during the discussion, I deepened my understanding of Sskinds writing style. We talked about how he did a lot of research on the creation of scents and how the novel informs the reader about perfumes. As the novel progresses, the reader learns a lot about the methods of creating scents and in depth explanations of the process itself. This expanded my cultural knowledge of smells as Sskind gave insight through his novel of the roles and ideas of scent in society during the 1700s. Also I learned that certain smells can influence a persons mood and manipulate a person by triggering emotions in them. This is exemplified in Perfume because Grenouille creates various scents that provoke different response in people. When Grenouille wanted to be noticed by others, he created a humanlike scent to fit in with society. Other times, when...