The Perfumist of Paris

“Didn’t I also believe at one time that having children and taking care of them was all I needed in life? Then I met Jiji and understood what it was to create something larger than yourself.”

A major point of misunderstanding between Radha and her husband Pierre is Radha’s changing needs as she realizes that she is not fulfilled by playing the role of devoted wife and mother. Pierre wants to limit Radha to the domestic sphere while he enjoys unquestioned authority in his own domestic, social, and professional spheres. As a man, Pierre believes that his profession is an integral aspect of his identity yet expects Radha to remain satisfied with just the domestic sphere.

“What I’d picked up from Antoine, whose parents came from Morocco, is that much of the preference for scent was in the wearer’s heritage, as much a part of them as the color of their skin.”

Scent is not simply the focus of Radha’s career but an ongoing motif connecting Radha to her roots and oldest identity. Professional fulfillment is not the only reason Radha desires to become a master perfumist; scent represents a deep connection to India, her culture, and the memories that make her who she is.

“The pride I feel is like a warm blanket. Having run a successful business as a henna artist on her own, Lakshmi understands the satisfaction a woman feels when she is recognized and appreciated for skills she has taken care to develop. I wish my husband could have reacted the same way.”

The novel examines the importance of supportive female influences by contrasting Pierre’s and Lakshmi’s reactions to Radha’s promotion to the Olympia fragrance project. It critiques the patriarchal tendency to subordinate and minimize female success and how women internalize these negative reactions as guilt and insecurity. Lakshmi’s positive reaction soothes Radha “like a warm blanket”; the simile highlights the comforting nature of female solidarity.

“Pitaji used to say, ‘He who does not climb will not fall either.’”

The novel uses Indian proverbs to characterize Lakshmi and the wisdom she offers as an older sister. Here, Lakshmi reminds Radha of their father’s wisdom, creating intimacy and gently encouraging her to take a risk for the chance of advancing her career.

“You eat fragrance in your food. You wear it from the inside out. You understand it in a way Michel with his degree in chemistry, and Ferdinand with his family’s wealth, never will. You are working on Olympia because you are the only person who can create a wholly unique scent for her.”

Like Lakshmi, Delphine offers Radha support and female solidarity. Eschewing the patriarchal pattern of viewing others’ talents as competition, Delphine builds Radha up instead of weaponizing her insecurities, recognizing that Radha’s talent will lead to their mutual success. Their relationship highlights the theme of Women’s Solidarity as a Means of Empowerment.

“I’ve worked hard to separate my life into two distinct parts: before giving birth to Niki and after Niki’s adoption by Kanta and Manu.”

Radha explores the pressure and hardship she has endured to cope with the shame of being an unwed mother and the pain of losing Niki. While patriarchal social pressures did contribute to her feelings of shame and her choice to keep Niki a secret, Radha eventually realizes that she has been her own jailer—she has cut herself off from vital parts of her identity. Further, she pushes herself to be a perfect mother to her daughters to make up for the guilt of giving Niki away. Radha’s compartmentalization of the past has worked to repress her heartache but at the cost of her own core identity and self-worth.

“She explains that the birth of a girl in a kotha is celebrated with fanfare while a boy’s birth is not. What can he offer, after all? Daughters will inherit their mother’s wealth, are privately tutored, and educated and can choose to follow their mother’s profession or not. Sons of the kotha have few options and no inheritance.”

Radha’s trip to Agra serves as a catalyst for her character growth because she is exposed to alternative values and ways of looking at the world. Though she assumes the kotha is a place of shame and male power because the courtesans engage in sex work, Havi and Nasreen reject patriarchal notions that sex is shameful for women and use their work to empower their employees. The kotha is a place of solidarity and support for women, and exposure to the kotha’s contrary value system helps Radha open her mind to how she might liberate herself from the double bind of her own gender identities and values.

“I want more for myself. I’m a bad wife for wanting more. I love Pierre and I want us to be happy. I resent Pierre for not understanding me or even trying to understand me. I love spending time with my daughters. I’m conflicted when I have to spend time with them and it cuts into my work on the Olympia project.”

Here, Radha articulates the double bind she has created for herself by applying patriarchal values to her various identities. The conflicting messages and emotions, and the impossibility of succeeding with so many competing demands have worn away Radha’s sense of self and her confidence. This has also tainted her love for Pierre and her daughters with a poisonous resentment that threatens her relationships with them. Rather than being a whole person, Radha has become a compartmentalized collection of fragmented identities and must find a way to synthesize her parts into a coherent whole to heal.

“Mumtaj died giving birth to their fourteenth child. They were only married nineteen years, which means sometimes she didn’t have a year between babies! That poor woman’s body just gave out. Building that monument was the least the emperor could do for what he put her through. Many would argue with me, but I have often wondered whether Mumtaj herself was in a tomb during life.”

Havi tells Radha about the history of the Taj Mahal, arguing that it is darker and more patriarchal than the version Radha has likely heard. Like Olympia’s history, it provides another example of how patriarchal values harm women. Though Mumtaj fulfilled her duty as wife and mother, this likely caused her early death and she lived only as a vessel for others. Havi uses the example of Mumtaj’s death in childbirth as an example of why she chooses to live outside of patriarchal values, even though her work is looked down upon. Like Victorine, she would rather direct her own exploitation by men than have men exploit her to death.

“My mother and grandmother taught Nasreen and me—and we teach all our girls—to unlearn the ways of centuries. To perfect their skills in classical dance, poetry and literature for their own edification. To satisfy their own physical desire while satisfying another’s. To manage their dignity and their money equally.”

Havi speaks of the solidarity of women in the kotha and of the traditions passed from one generation of women to the next that have ensured that the women not only survive but thrive. Rather than relying on patriarchal traditions and roles, they embrace their own empowerment.

“He happened, Radha, and he was lovely. And he is lovely. You did nothing wrong. An older boy took advantage of you. He knew what the consequences would be but he failed to tell you.”

Here, Lakshmi encourages Radha to share the burden of her pregnancy with others. While Radha is overwhelmed by the guilt surrounding her liaison with Ravi Singh, Lakshmi points out that she doesn’t blame Radha since she was very young when it happened, and Ravi took advantage of her youth and innocence. Lakshmi also reminds her that the product of this affair—Radha’s son Niki—“is lovely,” encouraging Radha to look beyond the pain of the memory and acknowledge the beauty of the new life it created.

“It’s just that I have to be the one to look out for her. That’s what big sisters do…When a girl tries to pick on her at school, it’s my job. She knows that.”

Shanti’s easy assumption of the role of protector and caretaker to her younger sister Asha gives Radha insight into Lakshmi’s sense of responsibility toward Radha after their parents died. The novel points out that women’s solidarity is natural and leads to mutual uplift, but Radha has forgotten this through patriarchal socialization. Only after visiting Agra has she rediscovered that women’s solidarity is a means of empowerment and liberation.

“We can’t go back and change anything, beti. But think of what the past has taught you. What it’s taught me is that keeping secrets has a cost.”

Since visiting Agra, Radha’s attitude toward herself has shifted from one of negative worry and self-reproach; instead, it now mirrors the balanced and supportive advice of Lakshmi and Havi. Rather than avoiding the past or using memory as a tool of her own diminishment, Radha realizes that acknowledging the imperfect parts of herself allows her to learn and grow.

“I know better than Pierre how you love being in that lab creating all those scents. What woman wants to stay home all day? That’s just a fantasy that men make up. I envy you. This passion you have. And the talent. They make you come alive.”

Radha and Florence recognize that chasing the impossible perfection required of mothers in a patriarchal society has profoundly harmed their relationship with one another and with Pierre, whose expectations both of them fail to meet. Radha realizes belatedly that Florence has always understood that Radha’s work is integral to her identity and well-being; yet, patriarchal socialization has encouraged Radha to see Florence as a rival instead of an ally. Radha comes to realize that an alliance between them is not only possible but mutually empowering.

“Being a woman is difficult. I can see why my mother didn’t like her own gender. We can do so much. Give so much. But not everyone wants what we are offering. And in the end, we’re left with…pieces of a whole. Shards. Splinters. Chips. Pick them up, they cut our hands. Leave them on the ground, they cut our feet.”

The extended metaphor of female gender identities as sharp, fragmented shards that can wound and harm viscerally captures the effect of gender double binds. Unlike Pierre, who does not have to discard his professional identity when he returns home or worry about his domestic identity at work, Radha must compartmentalize her various identities. When she struggles to keep them separate, like “pieces of a whole,” they cut her like glass shards, causing emotional and social pain.

“Or am I responsible for making Pierre feel good about this, too? For soothing his bruised ego? And the shock he must be feeling? Am I supposed to make everything ok for Niki as well?”

Radha’s rhetorical questioning following the revelation of her deepest shame and secrets to both Niki and Pierre underscores the impossible expectations of women in patriarchal societies. As both a mother and wife, she is expected to be honest and preserve the feelings of the men in her life, but since her honesty causes them pain, she fails to live up to standards and experiences shame. While her feelings are in turmoil, she is forced to give precedence to the feelings of the men in her life.

“I am shocked at his audacity; he’s superseded Delphine’s authority. If he had an idea about the project, why did he go to Delphine first? That would have been the correct protocol.”

This passage depicts unfair patriarchal ideas that allow men to flout civil agreements like chain of command and ethical conduct without consequences. Unlike Radha, who once hesitated to question Delphine’s imprecise formulation in public, Ferdinand brazenly violates company rules and ethics. Moreover, since he has stolen Radha’s work, he gets rewarded with a promotion. Whereas Radha struggles against gendered rules and double binds, Ferdinand advances with little honest effort even after a client rejection, highlighting a gendered double standard.

“Belatedly, I realize Olympia is also me, isn’t she? I’ve given my best, but I’ve been used. Delphine said I have to move past it. Lakshmi moved past her betrayals. So did Victorine. Isn’t that the look she’s giving us in Manet’s painting?”

This passage confirms that the allusion to Olympia, and by extension, Victorine Meurent, throughout the story is intended as a parallel to Radha’s own story. The novel’s choice to link the two women’s stories helps support the message that Radha’s struggles are not singular but have been shared by women across cultures and throughout history.

“It’s hard to trust someone whom you knew to be a different person in the past. Lakshmi had that issue with Hari, her ex-husband. But Hari had changed. And Jiji accepts him as he is now.”

By choosing to trust Sheela Sharma Singh, Radha is learning from both her past and her instincts. Lakshmi’s example of forgiveness helps Radha to reach this point. Radha and Sheela’s alliance liberates them from the negative influences of Ravi and their professional solidarity empowers them both. Though socialization has made them past enemies, their choice to let go of the expectations that put them at odds helps them gain more success.

“They posed for hours, ignoring their thirst or hunger, their aching muscles. Who were they to the painter? What were they thinking while posing? […] Why does no one talk about these women? The focus is always on the men—the artists.”

Sheela’s observation that the models’ roles in the success of the artist goes unappreciated directly parallels the feminist observation that women’s unpaid and unacknowledged labors enable men’s social and professional successes. These models in famous paintings become the figureheads for the countless forgotten women throughout history whose support men have taken for granted and whose labor men have appropriated for themselves.

“That’s what Pierre can’t forgive, isn’t it? I’m being selfish. Keeping the me part for myself instead of relinquishing it all to him.”

The irony in Radha’s rumination is that Pierre is the one with the selfish desire for a woman devoted entirely to his needs. Whereas Radha has pursued professional fulfillment because it brings her joy, she has not expected Pierre to put aside his needs and desires for her, nor has she truly neglected her children. Pierre has selfishly placed Radha in a double bind by limiting her choices—she is forced to choose between being censured by him for fulfilling her professional ambitions or erasure by catering completely to his needs.

“Is that erasure of us something other people do to us or do we women do it to ourselves?”

The novel explores the concept of internalized oppression as Radha unpacks the often invisible barriers that limit her. While it is true that Pierre’s expectations of her factor into her conflicts and struggles throughout the novel, Radha also recognizes that accepting subordination to men and competition with other women as a default has made her complicit in her own unhappiness. However, with the solidarity of strong women in her life, Radha can remove her mental barriers, and this helps her find ways to remove obstacles for others, too.

“I’d like you to focus on the work, Radha. It will live longer than your heartache.”

Delphine’s advice exposes the truth that people require balance in the various spheres of influence they inhabit, and that roles forcing people to focus on one sphere at the expense of others threatens their overall core identity. Radha can bounce back and thrive following her divorce from Pierre only because she has taken the time to cultivate successes in other areas of her life. A profession is not a vanity, as Pierre assumes, but an integral aspect of Radha’s identity that allows her to carry on when her identity no longer involves being his wife.