Daughter Of Fortune

Allende repeatedly refers to Eliza’s extraordinary sense of smell as an entryway into passion and a tool for detecting truth. When Eliza first falls in love with Joaquín, she feels “an overpowering urge to be close enough to smell him” (79). Moving as near to him as she can, Eliza “inhaled the aroma of damp clothing, common soap, and fresh sweat” (81), launching her overwhelming attraction. To feel close to Tao again, Eliza asks to sniff him, “at last recognizing the faint sea scent, the old, comforting odor” (335). By using the motif of scents, Allende allows Eliza to uncover secrets. Miss Rose invents the story that Eliza arrived as a baby in a mink coverlet, but Eliza knows that is a false narrative because she recalls the smells of “wool, male sweat, and tobacco” (6). Eliza’s amazing memory is linked with her capacity to smell. When Eliza visits Jacob Freemont, she recognizes him by his scent, “despite the years, the eyeglasses, the sideburns, and the American garb” (371). When a half-frozen unidentified man arrives on the doorstep of Joe Bonecrusher’s house, Eliza immediately knows that he is a fugitive from the law because “he smelled of evil” (306).