The Silence of the Lambs (Novel) Literary Elements

Crime Fiction

1980s (but written as the present) Quantico behavioral profiling unit in a climate of panic and fear as a serial killer has kidnapped the daughter of a senator

Third person narrator. There is no particular point of view

Threatening and wrought with physical and psychological danger. Dark and ominous

Clarice Starling is the protagonist. The main antagonists are Buffalo Bill and Hannibal Lecter.

There is a conflict between Clarice and Dr Chilton generated by the doctor who wants to get credit for "cracking" Dr Lecter and would rather get a woman killed by a serial killer than lose credit for catching him to a young female Federal Agent.

The discovery of Catherine in the basement of Buffalo Bill's home is the climax to the novel.

When Clarice sees a death head moth at Buffalo Bill's home it foreshadows the knowledge that she is in the home of a serial killer.

Dr Lecter is described as dangerous which is a wild understatement.

The FBI allude to Dr Lecter's crimes throughout the novel without getting into any specifics about them.

When Dr Lecter is transferred out of the prison he is wearing a complex mask which creates an image of a monster who cannot be allowed to get close to another person for fear of him literally eating their flesh.

Although Dr Lecter is a serial killer and therefore an enemy of the profiling unit he is being treated as an ally when it comes to catching Buffalo Bill.

There is a parallel between the way in which Miggs hits on Clarice and the way in which Dr Chilton does; both have a similar view of her and there is also a parallel in the way in which Dr Lecter views and deals with the disrespect from both of them.

The victims is a phrase used to include and represent the individual young women who are kidnapped and murdered.

The jail threatened Clarice which gives the jail the ability as a building to have an intent or a feeling about someone.