Why Doesn't Eli Shower?

[BravoHotel]

I am so glad I found this site.

Welcome Alice, it's great to see you're in the right place.
Brilliant idea about Elis' not showering by the way always great to see a new perspective yours' makes a lot of sense.

[Alice?Maybe]

I am so glad I found this site.

Welcome Alice, it's great to see you're in the right place.
Brilliant idea about Elis' not showering by the way always great to see a new perspective yours' makes a lot of sense.

Thank you

[sauvin]

I have also found these remarks astute and very relevant.

I have known many abused children, was in a psychiatric facility as a kid with several girls who had suffered years of abuse. These kids, for the most, didn't shower. It maybe some unconscious defense mechanism to make themselves les "desirable", something. I've known adult women who intentionally gained lots of weight to be less attractive to sexually abusive husbands.

For adult women, I can't comment. In decades gone by, this is undoubtedly true when divorce was far less easily obtained.

These kids didn't just "fail" to shower, I'll bet. The few I've had reason to suspect were subject to the kinds of abuses we're talking about have also tended to dress unattractively, for example, wearing baggy clothes and either either no makeup (in the case of girls) or painting themselves up garishly. They might become total wallflowers, trying very hard not to be noticed, or they'd become outright belligerent - and one young lady I once knew, at all of maybe 50kg and 150cm, was not somebody you wanted to accost if you wanted to survive, even if you brought a platoon with you.

We know that Eli was horribly abused, assaulted in the act that infected him. She tells Oskar that maybe the reason she has successfully survived for over 200 years was because she is small. She goes on to say that simply taking care of her was rarely the motivation.

She said this, and followed it immediately with a grimace, as I recall.

It certainly was not Hakan's primary motive. She chose him while he was being Aqualung, only eying lil boys instead of girls, in the park.

What I remember from the novel is simply that she sat down on the bench next to him and started issuing him his marching orders. We don't know that she watched him for any length of time, but many of us certainly believe she scoped him out for a while before doing this. It's also possible she could just say "oh, I know one when I see one" after long experience.

She knew what he was and what motivated him. Perfect for her needs. So, no showering, stinking, to keep Hakan and others like him and their advances at bay.

This is what many of us suspect, yes.

The grimace she gave after saying something like "people help me for.. different reasons" suggests disgust and loathing, which shouldn't be too surprising if Lindqvist went where we think he went (and yes, Lindqvist can go there); most twelve year olds aren't physically equipped to understand adult appetites, and (I suspect) most who've been subjected to them found the experience uncomfortable physically and emotionally (for having been dominated, subjugated and/or for having been treated with what's tantamount with a complete absence of respect).

Another possibility, one that doesn't necessarily exclude the foregoing lines of reasoning, is that Eli just just depressed. Even if not, yet another proposition is that as an apex predator whose diet consists entirely of the most hair-raisingly dangerous predator on the planet, until somebody like Oskar comes along, the issues of personal appearance and hygiene (apart from their practical utility as camouflage) are simply not relevant to her survival.

[metoo]

Personally, I don't believe that Eli's non showering was a means to keep Håkan away. From their interactions, it seems Eli could do that just fine through simply being lethal. Instead, it might be that he didn't bother. Or, like sauvin suggests, he might have been depressed.

However, it might also have been an original habit on Eli's part - it seems the 18th century was quite dirty.

[gkmoberg1]

It might be a combination of both ideas. Mind, though, that Elias doesn't smell of the noisome quality of young boys (and perhaps young girls) who refrain from any sort of bathing - he _really_ carries an odor that takes Oskar back to memories of his sick and dying dog. This is not just a barrier to keep away H. or as a result of not seeing an importance in hygiene.

[a_contemplative_life]

It might be a combination of both ideas. Mind, though, that Elias doesn't smell of the noisome quality of young boys (and perhaps young girls) who refrain from any sort of bathing - he _really_ carries an odor that takes Oskar back to memories of his sick and dying dog. This is not just a barrier to keep away H. or as a result of not seeing an importance in hygiene.

Vampire decay...

[metoo]

Yes, I think that was the intention on JAL's part. It doesn't seem the smell was just from Eli being dirty, but something more sinister.

Now, what was the source of that smell? If Eli himself was the source, it seems he didn't produce it always - he was able to wash it off, and after that a smell was not mentioned again.

Maybe the smell was a result of the long rest?

[Alice?Maybe]

It might be a combination of both ideas. Mind, though, that Elias doesn't smell of the noisome quality of young boys (and perhaps young girls) who refrain from any sort of bathing - he _really_ carries an odor that takes Oskar back to memories of his sick and dying dog. This is not just a barrier to keep away H. or as a result of not seeing an importance in hygiene.

Vampire decay...

Yes, her odor is something of infection, dying.

If Eli were a vampire, vampire decay might be an explanation as to the origin of the smell. Eli tells us she is not a vampire, "I live on blood. But, I am not...that." When Oskar asks what the difference is, Eli simply says there is a big difference.

But regardless of where the odor originates we are still left with wondering as to why she doesn't wash it off until she develops a relationship with Oskar.

[BravoHotel]

But regardless of where the odor originates we are still left with wondering as to why she doesn't wash it off until she develops a relationship with Oskar.

I see this as she was trying to get close enough to Oskar to nom him, maybe the bad smell takes away from her hypnotic effect she tries on Oskar, because of how close she needs to get to bite him, this is before of course he catches her off guard and hugs her ruining her plan that is. After this she just likes to make the effort to be his friend.

[Dominic]

Hello there! I am very new here but like you all I really love the Story about Oscar and Eli - The Novel and the Movie!

I am not sure if I managed to follow the complete conversation but like some of you I also was thinking about Eli's 'Bloodbath'
It is true that sleeping in blood would make it neccesary to clean the body every evening - what we all know Eli doesnt do.
So I had the Idea that the bloodbath could be part of a 'healing process'. After the fight with Hakan Eli also suffered severe burns from the sunlight and just
made it in time to get into the bathtub before loosing all strenght. Maybe she.. he.. I still dont know how to adress Eli.. extracted all his/her blood
to support the healing process. Eli was still very weak when he/she got out of the bathtub to feed on Lacke.
What do you people think?

Greetings D.