Smells like a mystery Scoob
Smell is an important yet often
overlooked part of our experience with the outside world. Smells carry a world
of meaning that is largely undescribed. Fish smells like fish; and anything that
smells similar is said to smell like fish. In a strange way, we only describe
smells based on other smells, hoping that whoever we are talking to knows the
comparison smell. Even if people disagree on whether or not a scent is pleasant
or repulsive, the scent itself is assumed to be uniformly understood.
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| Meow |
What is one of the first memories
of the zoo? For me, there smell was always a distinct memory. The smell of a
zoo is distinct but I cannot truly describe it unless I compare it to a farm or
other place with certain animals. Smell exists in our memories in a peculiar
way, extremely vivid and easy to recollect, yet difficult to describe. While I can
forget what the zoo, I went to looked like, or when I went there, I remember
the smell. When I encounter that smell again, I will think of a zoo, even if I’m
in a Dunkin Donuts. But that wouldn’t make sense, because Dunkin Donuts doesn’t
smell like a zoo. And unless animals are being smuggled in a donuts franchise,
then the two should never smell similar. It is just how things are, donuts do
not smell like a zoo.
The strange quality of scents is
how they can be ubiquitously understood and employed in various ways for the
descriptions of others. While the scents themselves are indescribable, they can
be used to describe almost anything. In Aroma of Righteousness, Deborah
Green showcases how smells are an integral part of describing the world in
rabbinic literature. She illustrates how “fragrance provides a lens through
which to view hierarchy, social constructions, and theological motifs of the Bible”
and how it is used to quantify the “the religion as conceived by the rabbis” (Green
115). Smells are used to associate certain feelings and perceptions in rabbinic
literature. Scent acts as the foundation of understanding.
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| Scented Candle |
Scent is one of the strangest senses
because while indescribable it can describe anything through the metaphors that
the scent conjures. The feelings that are connected to scents remain within us
long after the scent dissipates. Memories tied to scents persist while the images
and sounds fade away. Smell bridges the gap between understanding by
associating the unknown with a known scent, a familiar feeling. Scent allows us
to comprehend the world in a more subtle way and constructs how we approach
every new and unknown smell.
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