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Chapter 21
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 descends through the hospital, eventually reaching Lecter's floor. There, she finds Barney, who informs her that Lecter is awake, just as he always is at nighttime. Starling walks toward Lecter's cell. On her way there, she notices a new inmate (Sammie) has taken Miggs's place. The new inmate has an expressionless face with spit dripping down the side of his face. Eventually, she reaches Lecter's cell. Lecter is sitting in his cell and sketching something with charcoal.
Again, Lecter defies typical human behavior, as he is always awake at night. Meanwhile, Miggs’s replacement, Sammie, appears to be less of a threat compared to his predecessor. However, someone does not end up on the same floor as Lecter unless they have done something unspeakable.
Themes
Starling greets Lecter, and he asks her why she is up so late. Before she can answer, Lecter asks Starling if she hurt herself because he can smell blood on her. Starling remembers that she did scrape her leg and is surprised Lecter noticed. Then, she tells him she went to see Buffalo Bill's latest victim in West Virginia. Lecter immediately catches Starling's error and reminds her that Buffalo Bill has a new latest victim.
Lecter’s sense of smell is uncanny and inhuman. He smells things that Starling entirely forgets about. Additionally, his response regarding Buffalo Bill’s latest victim suggests that he keeps up with the case. Lecter knows Starling might try to fool him, and he warns her that he knows what he is talking about.
Themes
As Crawford suggested, Starling does her best to play to Lecter's ego. She admits he was right about the scalping and says she has come for more advice. Lecter invites Starling to sit down. Once she does, he grills her about her feelings throughout the day, especially during the time she saw the body. As always, Starling answers his questions but keeps her answers brief.
Lecter and Starling enter a verbal sparring match where they try to trap each other and learn information for free. However, neither one gives up information easily. Whether Lecter knows Starling is trying to stroke his ego is unclear.
Themes
Next, Lecter asks Starling about how the investigation is going. She admits the FBI does not have much to go off of. She also references Alan Bloom, which catches Lecter's attention. Lecter does not like Bloom because of his reductive tendencies when it comes to identifying serial killers. Apparently, in his book, Bloom referred to Lecter as "a pure sociopath." Lecter warns Starling that Bloom is often incorrect.
This section returns to Lecter’s positions regarding human psychology that he expressed previously. Lecter thinks people like Bloom prefer to reduce the psychology of serial killers into tidy boxes and labels—like “pure sociopath.” However, to Lecter, human psychology is infinitely more complicated.
Themes
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Then, Lecter shows Starling a piece of paper his new neighbor, Sammie, gave him. The paper has a childish poem about Jesus written on it in crayon. Lecter asks Starling to read it out loud, so she does. When Sammie hears the poem, he starts screaming about his desire to go to Jesus. Lecter explains that Sammie is intensely religious, and he ended up in the Baltimore Hospital after he murdered his mother and stuck her head on a collection plate in church.
Lecter brings Sammie into the conversation to prove his point about human psychology. He and Sammie are nothing alike; Sammie can barely write. Yet, like Lecter, Sammie could be categorized as “a pure sociopath.” As such, Lecter finds the categorization laughable; it says nothing about him, and he doesn’t think psychologists are anywhere close to figuring him out.
Themes
After Sammie calms down, Starling turns the conversation back to Buffalo Bill. She tells Lecter that she has a deal for him from Senator Martin; she wants information, and, in return, Lecter will get transferred to a federal institution with a view. After hearing the deal, Lecter tells Starling he does not believe the deal is real. Even if Starling is telling the truth, he does not think Crawford will allow the deal to go through.
Whenever Lecter interacts with Starling, he knows Crawford pulls the strings in the background. As such, putting his trust in Starling also means trusting Crawford, which he refuses to do. Even though Starling is clever, she does not get the best of Lecter in this exchange.
Themes
However, Lecter says he is willing to help Starling if she gives him more personal information. Starling agrees to tell him what he wants to know. Lecter asks Starling to tell him about the worst memory from her childhood. In response, Starling talks about her father's death; he was a town marshal and was shot by two people addicted to drugs. He survived for a month in the hospital following the shooting but then died.
This scene is the first time in the novel where Harris fleshes out Starling’s background. Previously, he only hinted at it through momentary allusions and flashbacks. Starling knows that revealing these details about her past to Lecter will make her more vulnerable to him in the future. However, that is a risk she is willing to take for good information about the case.
Themes
Lecter thanks Starling for telling him the truth. Then, he asks her about the victim she examined in West Virginia. He already knows the answers to his questions, but he asks them anyway. In particular, Lecter is interested in the woman's size. Starling confirms that the victim was a heavy-set girl with an insect inserted into her throat. Lecter asks if the insect is a butterfly. Starling is shocked that Lecter could know so much before she did. She asks him what Buffalo Bill wants with Catherine. Lecter responds, "He wants a vest with tits on it."
Everything Lecter says implies that he knew Jame Gumb before the FBI captured him. He knows too much information to have deduced it from what he has read in the newspaper. Here, Lecter confirms what the reader already knows because of the scene that closely followed Gumb’s actions: Gumb feels like he is a woman. However, Lecter also suggests that Gumb plans to become a woman by using the flesh of his victims.
Themes
