Within a novel, authors incorporate and implement symbols into their works to convey more detailed ideas and deeper meanings to the reader; richer ideas than what they actually write. In Patrick Süskind's novel Perfume, Grenouille, a strange character with an extraordinary sense of smell, travels in search of his identity through various encounters with women and methods of perfumery. The setting of this story, particularly the historical place and time, mimics Grenouille's life and can be much easier to identify due to the inclusion of strategic symbols within the book. Through the use of girls, flowers, and perfume as symbols surrounding Grenouille's life and experiences within the novel, Süskind illustrates the significance of the period in France, including historical views on women and the role of the Enlightenment. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The recurring symbols and metaphorical interplay between flowers and women are very reflective of the pre-revolutionary period in France. During this era, women were commonly seen only for their beauty attributes and their likelihood of marrying. In this way, Grenouille's views echo those of the time, in which his feelings towards flowers symbolized his thoughts towards women. Because of this metaphorical connection, he finds beauty in girls through their perfumes, while "the rest of the stupid things... [don't] interest him" (100). Grenouille's lack of interest in the non-olfactory aspects of flowers serves as a metaphor to show his feelings towards girls as well, however, it is also a testament to how society at the time commonly objectified women in a similar manor. Furthermore, Grenouille directly compares extracting perfume from a woman to extracting perfume from a flower, saying that "it should ultimately be no more difficult than to rob a rare flower of its perfume" (178). These ideas produced by Grenouille further present women as objects within society and establish them as mere articles available to men. The idea of ​​objectification is also present more specifically in the case of Laure, whose attractive characteristics not only attract the attention of many men, including Grenouille, but also cause her father, Richis, to develop incestuous thoughts about "lying next to her, on her, in her" (208). The fact that Richis's thoughts and emotions are almost uncontrollable in this situation is also symbolic of the role women have played in society, describing how men have become so devoted to the pursuit of a sexually mature and attractive woman that no other factor , not even the blood bond, could not interfere with their desires. Grenouille also treats the second red-haired girl he kills as he would a flower, waiting for it to bloom enough to produce perfume, in fact he directly refers to the girl as a flower when he says that "the flower would bloom there without her help." (179). Once again, women's value and standards are lowered to a level that meets that of society, and in this case, the blooming of flowers symbolizes not only women's sexual maturation, but also how women were valued only when they were still virgins during this time period. For the same reason, Richis wishes for Laure to get married as soon as possible to eliminate her from being a possible target of Grenouille, seeing as Grenouille, like almost every other man in France at the time, only wanted a pure girl and innocence.