For this reason, Grenouille collects the scents of many young women by enclosing their scent in a waxy oily substance after killing them. These scents are used as key elements for its final perfume. This procedure is an example of collectivism in the novel. This concept is shown in other ways in the novel. The main example is when Grenouille is first learning the methods of perfumery. He discovers that it takes thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of individual rose petals to create a tiny volume of concentrated perfume essence. This, along with endless hours of hard work, he learns, is all necessary to create this almost insignificant yet powerful amount of essence. This absolute essence is described by Grenouille when he states that it “no longer had a sweet fragrance. Its smell was almost painfully intense, pungent and acrid. Yet one drop, dissolved in a liter of alcohol, was enough to revitalize him and resurrect an entire field of flowers” ​​(177). It is a reflection of Grenouille's goal to formulate an all-encompassing human scented perfume and therefore a classic example of collectivism. This idea of ​​collectivism is described as a