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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Silence of the Lambs, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sexism and Law Enforcement
The Nature of Evil
Class and Shame
Manipulation
Summary
Analysis
Starling and Crawford meet up at the Smithsonian. Crawford tells her the Memphis investigation has not turned up anything important, much to his disappointment. Even worse, he thinks Buffalo Bill will kill Catherine quicker than his other victims, especially if he figures out who he has in his possession. This is a position Crawford shares with Dr. Alan Bloom, a specialist who is working closely with Senator Martin and who helped Senator Martin develop her speech for the news broadcast.
Crawford knows that Buffalo Bill follows the news and will know that he has a United States Senator’s daughter in his possession. However, the question is whether or not he will care. Regardless of whether he does, Buffalo Bill’s kill window has shortened, meaning the FBI might only have a few days to find her alive.
Themes
Crawford takes Starling to the anthropology offices, where some anthologists examine Klaus’s head. Crawford informs Starling that someone at John Hopkins found a cocoon in the head, meaning Klaus was almost certainly one of Buffalo Bill’s early victims. Crawford thinks that the story Lecter told Starling is a lie. He doesn’t think Raspail was involved at all because the cocoon is too much of a coincidence.
As it turns out, Lecter’s initial advice was helpful, though, as Crawford says, he was not entirely truthful. Most likely, Lecter knows about the cocoons Buffalo Bill leaves in his victims, which is why he sent Starling to find Klaus’s head. However, how he knows about the cocoons is still a mystery.
Themes
