The theory of the sovereignty of scent – By Allie Drew
Suskind’s eloquent novel, Perfume uses the sense of smell as a way to convey humanity, on the basis that scent controls how humans interact with each other, on an unconscious level. The concept that a humans’ scent is essential to their humanity. It is asserted in Perfume that: If we lose out sense of smell, we are disconnected from humanity and if we have no smell we are excluded yet if we understand how to manipulate smell it can control society. Father terrier believed that babies should not have a smell for they are not capable of sinning. But as soon as he smells the baby he wants nothing to do with it. Madame Gaillard lost her sense of smell as a child she therefore lost seemingly any emotional capacity, through being struck under the nose as a child. She lost the grounds to reject Grenouille based on the lack of her sense of smell. When Grenouille found out that he had no personal odour he was disgusted by himself and horrified. Despite his ‘gift’ for a sense of smell, because he had no odour he therefore he seemed unhuman and invisible, demonstrating why he had seemed insignificant to others his whole life.
Initially Father Terrier believed that as babies could not sin they didn’t produce an odour there being innocent. He took on baby Grenouille and was prepared to look after this child, even fantasising that Grenouille was his own child. “For a moment he allowed himself the fantastic thought that he was the father of this child” (pg 17) Bus as soon as Grenouille woke up he started smelling Father Terrier “The tiny wings of flesh around the two holes… swelled like a bud opening to bloom” (pg 17) Father Terrier’s whole emotional reaction was reversed. This child was smelling “him most tender emotions, his filthiest thoughts lay exposed to that greedy nose…he felt naked and ugly” (pg 18) To Father Terrier even though this child had no smell it could not only smell right through him but it felt to...