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Part 2, Chapter 32
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Perfume, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Growing Up and Becoming Human
Power and Control
Creative Genius vs. Convention and Assimilation
Upward Mobility and Social Movement
Scent, Sight, and the Grotesque
Summary
Analysis
Taillade-Espinasse is thrilled with the perfume Grenouille created for him, and is also thrilled to see the effect of the earth-removed perfume on Grenouille, who appears to have acquired a personality in the last few hours.
Note the correlation here between suddenly acquiring a human scent and developing a personality. This develops the idea that one's scent is intrinsic to the kind of person they are.
Themes
One week after his first lecture, Taillade-Espinasse presents Grenouille at the great hall of the local university. All of Montpellier, scientific and otherwise, attends, and is shocked by Grenouille's miraculous transformation. Rather than listen to the marquis, Grenouille watches the effect of his perfume on the crowd. As his scent reaches people, their faces soften. When the crowd cheers the marquis at the end of the lecture, Grenouille knows that the cheering is really for himself, Grenouille, and his perfume.
Grenouille's transformation is intense. He's essentially made the transition from sub-human, scentless child to normal, powerful, and scented adult. Grenouille's scent is powerful enough to reach the back of the room and soften everyone's expressions—it doesn’t just make him seem human, but also affects the emotions and even actions of others.
Themes
