Plum Girl

* The murder of the plum girl is in chapter 8

Why he is so taken in by her scent:
- her innocence
- he finds it difficult to grasp and is something that he has never smelt before
- the 'beauty' of the smell ('exceptionally delicate and fine' - page 38)
- she's on the edge of womanhood
- 'this scent was the key for ordering all odors'

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- the murder of the plum girl makes Grenouille certain that he wants to be the world's greatest perfumer which moves the plot on as it leads to the later killings

- the girl is metaphorical for a purpose in his life. He is filled with a sense of duty, that he will bring out no matter what is right and wrong.

- Grenouille is so taken in by the newly found scent that he 'had to discard all comparisons' - page 39. The use of asyndeton amplifies his anxiousness to describe the scent, 'not the freshness of limes or pomegranates, not the freshness of myrrh or cinnamon bark or curly mint or birch or camphor...'

- For once, Grenouille did not trust his nose, he had to use his other senses to help him believe what he smelt

- His sense of possession over the smell of the girl led him to kill her. There is no shock, because he is built up to be a predatory person.

- Lots of use of colour, which creates a beauty of an image. If you read it in isolation, it appears the Grenouille is attracted to the girl.

- The text is almost romantic. The sense of judgment to make the reader feel as though the death isn’t as morally bad as it should be. Süskind is luring the reader into the existentialism of life.

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Realisation:
- when Grenouille kills the plum girl, he realizes that he has eliminated the source of the beautiful and is no longer able to smell it
- this realization allows Grenouille to become conscious of the fact that he needs to preserve the scent which moves him on to his journey ('he had to have it, not simply in order to possess it, but for his heart to be at peace' - page 38)
- also Grenouille's realization of what his purpose in life is ('he had found the compass for his future life) This sums up the whole purpose of the plum girl.