The monk who handles Grenouille's return to the local cloister by Jeanne Bussie. He despises technical details and difficulties and is in charge of administering the cloister's charities. He's of the belief that children cannot be possessed by the devil due to their undeveloped souls, but admits that there's something strange about the infant Grenouille.
Father Terrier Quotes in Perfume
The Perfume quotes below are all either spoken by Father Terrier or refer to Father Terrier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Publisher edition of Perfume published in 0.
Part 1, Chapter 3
Quotes
Wasn't it Horace himself who wrote, “The youth is gamy as a buck, the maiden's fragrance blossoms as does the white narcissus...”?—and the Romans knew all about that! The odor of humans is always a fleshy odor—that is, a sinful odor. How could an infant, which does not yet know sin even in its dreams, have an odor? How could it smell?
Related Characters:
Father Terrier (speaker), Jean-Baptise Grenouille, Jeanne Bussie
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Perfume LitChart as a printable PDF.
Father Terrier Character Timeline in Perfume
The timeline below shows where the character Father Terrier appears in Perfume. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 2
...Jeanne Bussie stands at the gates of the cloister of Saint-Merri with a market basket. Father Terrier opens the door, and Bussie explains that the basket contains Grenouille. When Father Terrier inspects...
(full context)
As Father Terrier stands up he notices that Jeanne Bussie smells of milk and cheesy wool. He tries...
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Father Terrier , growing angry at Jeanne Bussie, turns the argument into a theological one. Bussie, peeved...
(full context)
Part 1, Chapter 3
Father Terrier is a learned man who has studied theology as well as philosophy, and thinks highly...
(full context)
Father Terrier rocks the sleeping Grenouille's basket on his knees and strokes Grenouille's head, talking to him...
(full context)
Father Terrier , still rocking Grenouillee's basket, entertains the fantasy that he hadn't become a monk, but...
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...His nose sniffs and snorts and his eyes open and appear to not even perceive Father Terrier . Father Terrier, however, has the uncomfortable impression that Grenouille is "seeing" him with his...
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Grenouille begins to cry, chilling Father Terrier 's blood. Father Terrier begins to think of the child as a devil, but stops...
(full context)