The Silence Of The Lambs

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-11

Chapters 12-18

Chapters 19-25

Chapters 26-31

Chapters 32-38

Chapters 39-45

Chapters 46-51

Chapters 52-55

Chapters 56-61

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Gender Bias against Women in Male-Dominated Fields

As a woman in the predominantly male field of the FBI, Clarice must navigate the gender stereotyping and bias that makes her job twice as difficult. Clarice hides her frustration for fear of being stereotyped as difficult or abrasive, and she worries that she is one wrong move away from being pigeonholed into traditionally feminine roles like secretary. She polices her language, knowing when she sounds too “shrill.” She apologizes to Pilcher when she hurriedly pushes him for information, not wanting to appear bossy.

Harris shows the precariousness of Clarice’s situation when she meets Paul Krendler. Krendler finds her presence in Memphis overbearing simply because Clarice warns him against letting the Senator run the investigation. Krendler uses an explicitly gendered threat of ending her career in the “typing pool” if she doesn’t “do something about that mouth” (218). In this moment Clarice “lost it a little” and let her anger through (218). Krendler uses Clarice’s emotional outburst against her when he files for her expulsion. Events like this reinforce why Clarice feels the need to conceal her true feelings, as any heightened emotion from a woman is perceived negatively.

Clarice faces discrimination and harassment from almost all men that she comes in contact with. Chilton makes judgements about Clarice’s status in a male-dominated field, going as far as to blame Clarice for his hospital’s lack of staff when he asks her, “Where are all the office girls, Miss Starling?” (10). He jokes that the FBI has too many women employees, implying that Clarice and other women lessen the agency’s prestige. In Potter, West Virginia, Clarice endures law enforcers’ comments about her appearance, such as “She don’t look half as good as she thinks she does” (79). These comments are blatant misogynistic leers. Even the men on Clarice’s side, like Crawford, are unfair to her because of her gender. Crawford leaves Clarice behind in the trooper’s car and locks her out in the hallway to perform masculinity and gain the policemen’s trust, but he makes Clarice confused and upset in the process. Crawford specifically chose her for her top forensic skills and flipped through the Buffalo Bill casefile with her on the plane; Clarice doesn’t understand why he shuts her out in the presence of other men when instead he could force them to perceive her differently. She looks at Crawford and the policemen as a boy’s club. Even with advocates, she faces challenges breaking in.

Clarice learns to find the strength in her womanhood and its unique value to the investigation, regardless of what her male colleagues think. She asserts her perspective to Crawford in Chapter 48, arguing that the lack of women on a case about women killings has negatively affected the FBI’s understanding of Buffalo Bill. As a woman, Clarice easily sees new leads and clues that male investigators missed, like the Juno clothing brand connection and the self-esteem issues that left the women vulnerable. Clarice’s femininity is critical to the successful capture of Buffalo Bill. Her inclusion highlights the need for both male and female perspectives in law enforcement and a well-rounded understanding of violence against women. Clarice perseveres and willingly accepts the social consequences for not fitting the mold of submissive femininity. She learns to follow her instincts to achieve positive outcomes.

Performing and Repressing Identity for Acceptance from Others

Several characters perform an identity that differs from their innermost selves to be accepted by a larger group. These performances and repressions cause tension within the characters, leading to both internal and external conflict. Clarice tries to repress her femininity and begins the investigation by acting brave and emotionless—stereotypically masculine traits—in the face of gruesome violence. However, she finds this performed bravado inauthentic and recognizes the futility of her attempts to distance herself from the case’s brutality. During the investigation, Clarice leans into her feelings of sympathy, compassion, and caretaking—emotions traditionally ascribed to femininity—to connect with the victims, prompted by the memory of her mother’s strength. When she allows this authentic part of herself to shine through, Clarice begins to view the victims as “her sister[s]” (292), a connection that helps her cope with the violent images. Her male colleagues already perceive her differently; Clarice eventually embraces this difference rather than rejects it.

Clarice hides her lower-class upbringing in rural West Virginia as she fears others will see her as tacky and incompetent. Clarice’s staunch dedication to her work and schooling is an attempt to prove she is worthy of respect despite her genealogy. In Quantico, Clarice speaks with a standard English dialect. Ardelia reveals that she and Clarice both learned to hide their natural accents to be taken more seriously, and even scolds Clarice when she speaks with “mushmouth” (37). Ardelia and Clarice want to succeed in the FBI. As women, their task is already difficult; they try to hide their background to not be doubly stereotyped. However, Clarice’s blue-collar upbringing and West Virginian manners prove useful to the case. Several situations require a resourcefulness that her parents prepared her for. Lessons from her father help Clarice unlock the stuck storage locker, leading her to find the connection between Raspail, Lecter, and Buffalo Bill. Her natural accent and knowledge of rural social codes makes initially hostile people—like the Potter’s police and the owner of Raspail’s car in Arkansas—more open to cooperation. Though her anxieties about her identity persist, Clarice grows to accept her history as vital to her way of thinking and she heals from the trauma of her past.

Gumb also performs several identities because he wants acceptance from those around him. Rather than just causing internal and social conflict, Gumb’s performance of identity leads to extreme violence. Raspail asserts that Gumb’s gender identity is only “something he picked up in prison” (172). Gumb performed a gay identity for Raspail—a gay man—and even killed his lover, Klaus, to replace him and gain acceptance from Raspail. Gumb creates a fantasy world wherein he performs an exaggerated femininity to prepare himself for transforming into his mother and entering the world as a woman. Gumb believes he is transgender, but Lecter, medical professionals, and the third-person narration assert that he is misguided by “mental disturbances” (168-69). On the VHS tape, Gumb sees his mother’s beauty being celebrated by others; he wants to mimic her appearance to gain acceptance. Gumb’s internal conflict bleeds violently into the external world, where he uses the lives of other as discardable materials for his project.

The Manipulation of Others for Good and for Evil

Regardless of whether characters are on the side of good or evil, most characters participate in the manipulation of others to meet their goals. Harris questions why society allows some forms of manipulation and not others by showing both the protagonists and antagonists engaging in deception. The narrative associates Hannibal Lecter with manipulation from the beginning when Crawford warns Clarice, “You don’t want any of your personal facts in his head” (6). Lecter has a history of using people’s information against them for his own fun—and to violent outcomes. Harris shows that Lecter takes pleasure in forcing people to share their painful memories, which he asks for in exchange for his critical knowledge of Buffalo Bill. Lecter knows the killer’s identity, but he withholds facts to prolong the Senator’s grief and secure the privileges that aid his escape. Lecter’s information is unreliable, so agents must doublecheck his clues. As with the singular note left in Clarice’s casefile, Clarice must flip through the entire file “to be sure there wasn’t anything else” concealed inside (293). Clarice comes to trust Lecter’s honesty with her, but the FBI and other law enforcement don’t find “much interest in […] any other theory of Dr. Lecter’s” (298). Harris portrays Lecter’s manipulation as negative because the pleasure he takes in playing games leads to Buffalo Bill taking more victims.

Harris illustrates both Gumb and Chilton as manipulators motivated by personal success at the cost of others, though to different degrees. The FBI perceives Gumb as a disorganized, chaotic killer, but Clarice discovers that he has an intelligent method of evading the FBI that allows him to effectively avoid capture. The reader sees Gumb abducting Catherine using an elaborate ruse involving a fake plaster cast, sling, and pieces of large furniture. Gumb pretends to be injured to manipulate Catherine’s kindness and use it against her. Gumb also manipulated Fredrica’s “dreadful need” for human connection when he began a secret affair with her (360). The attention led Fredrica to trust him completely, so much so that she even “wrote him a note from the pit” before he killed her (360). Chilton’s selfish actions don’t directly result in harm to others, but his manipulation of Clarice’s investigation puts Catherine’s life on the line. Chilton’s secret recording of Clarice’s interview gives him ammunition against the FBI, allowing him to interfere and create a deal with the Senator that physically removes Lecter—who knows Buffalo Bill’s identity—from Clarice’s reach. Clarice knows that this manipulation may cost Catherine her life.

Clarice and Crawford also take part in the deception and manipulation of others to move their investigation along, but the narrative establishes these moments as necessary and harmless. Clarice and Crawford perform exaggerated sociability to gain others’ trust so they’ll want to help the investigation. Crawford teaches Clarice the importance of playing to egos, which she puts into practice with the entomologists and Barney the orderly by making them feel vital to the investigation. As the investigation stalls and Buffalo Bill abducts new victims, Crawford and Clarice’s manipulation escalates to dangerous territory. The two agents concoct a deal to exchange information with Lecter, toying with his singular desire for “a cell with a view” and “reasonable access to books” (162). The plan backfires when the Senator removes them from the case entirely. Crawford even descends into outright threats against Dr. Danielson and his clinic to manipulate the doctor into releasing confidential information. The narrative portrays this moment as especially devious because Dr. Danielson wants to save lives just as much as Crawford. The narrative emphasizes that even when a character’s motivations are altruistic, the exploitation of someone’s livelihood or quality of life in exchange for another’s safety is wrong.