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The novel’s titular lambs symbolize innocence, which Starling believes must be protected at all costs. After Starling’s father died when she was a 10, she was sent to live with some relatives who owned a ranch. Starling loved the animals on the ranch and was horrified when she learned that her relatives slaughtered them. As an adult, she still hears the lambs’ cries in her dreams. For Starling, the lambs are innocent creatures deserving of life. They have done nothing wrong and die for reasons they cannot comprehend. In her imagination, Starling links the lambs with the serial killer Buffalo Bill’s victims. Buffalo Bill skins his victims just as people sheer sheep for their wool. Additionally, like lambs being slaughtered, Buffalo Bill’s victims are innocent people who do not deserve what happens to them. In her meetings with Hannibal Lecter, Starling and Lecter talk about how the lambs might stop crying in Starling’s dreams if she can solve the Buffalo Bill case and save Catherine Baker Martin. At the end of the novel, Lecter writes a letter to Starling asking her if the lambs’ cries have stopped. Lecter suspects they have but predicts they will come back. Lecter’s prediction suggests that although Starling saved some innocent people, she will witness the slaughter of many more throughout her career.
Lambs Quotes in The Silence of the Lambs
The The Silence of the Lambs quotes below all refer to the symbol of Lambs. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 35 Quotes
Do you think if you caught Buffalo Bill yourself and if you made Catherine all right, you could make the lambs stop screaming, do you think they’d be all right too and you wouldn’t wake up again in the dark and hear the lambs screaming?
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This quote comes from the final conversation between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, and it reveals the source of the novel’s title. The central metaphor to which the title alludes compares the innocent lambs in Starling’s dreams to Buffalo Bill’s victims. Typically, lambs and sheep are sheared for their wool, just as Buffalo Bill kills his victims for their skin. As Lecter suggests, Starling thinks the lambs will go silent if she can save Catherine Baker Martin, who is currently in Buffalo Bill’s possession. Indeed, at the end of the novel, Starling rescues Catherine and, for the time being, the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti
Chapter 59 Quotes
From Dr. Frederick Chilton, the National Tattler bought the tapes of Starling’s interview with Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The Tattler expanded on their conversations for their “Bride of Dracula” series and implied that Starling had made frank sexual revelations to Lecter in exchange for information, spurring an offer to Starling from Velvet Talks: The Journal of Telephone Sex.
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This quotation comes from the end of Chapter 59, as the narrator details the media’s response to Clarice Starling as a central figure in the Lecter case. Unsurprisingly, the media focuses on Starling’s gender, and though they generally cover her in a reasonable fashion, some outlets cannot help but give in to sensationalism. Even though Dr. Chilton failed miserably with Lecter, he still wants his 15 minutes of fame, and he wants to get revenge on Starling. After all, he still feels slighted because Starling rejected his advances. To get back at Starling, Chilton sells the Lecter tape to a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt.
Chapter 61 Quotes
Well, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?
You owe me a piece of information, you know, and that’s what I’d like.
An ad in the national edition of the Times and in the International Herald-Tribune on the first of any month will be fine. Better put it in the China Mail as well.
I won’t be surprised if the answer is yes and no. The lambs will stop for now. But, Clarice, you judge yourself with all the mercy of the dungeon scales at Threave; you’ll have to earn it again and again, the blessed silence. Because it’s the plight that drives you, seeing the plight, and the plight will not end, ever.
I have no plans to call on you, Clarice, the world being more interesting with you in it. Be sure you extend me the same courtesy.
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This quote comes from a letter Hannibal Lecter sends to Clarice Starling before departing for Rio de Janeiro. Lecter’s willingness to write to Starling shows his genuine interest in her as a human being. In particular, Lecter is obsessed with Starling’s fears and her sadness, which he feeds off of, like the moth Noble Pilcher describes earlier in the novel. Of course, on top of his love for human sadness and desperation, Lecter is also a psychologist, and he has a professional interest in Starling’s case. Essentially, Lecter’s interpretation of Starling’s psychology is pessimistic. Though the lambs may have gone Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam
Far to the east, on the Chesapeake shore, Orion stood high in the clear night, above a big old house, and a room where a fire is banked for the night, its light pulsing gently with the wind above the chimneys. On a large bed there are many quilts and on the quilts and under them are several large dogs. Additional mounds beneath the covers may or may not be Noble Pilcher, it is impossible to determine in the ambient light. But the face on the pillow, rosy in the firelight, is certainly that of Clarice Starling, and she sleeps deeply, sweetly, in the silence of the lambs.
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These are the final words of the novel. Finally, Clarice Starling has a moment of peace after weeks of fear, stress, and hard work. Although Noble Pilcher may not be next to her at the moment, he certainly was at one time, because Starling mentions that she planned to visit him on Chesapeake Bay. As such, it seems Starling is finally comfortable enough with her professional life to put some time into her personal life, which she has neglected throughout the novel. Furthermore, as Lecter suspected, the lambs have finally stopped crying, meaning Starling can sleep undisturbed. However, even though Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Acc
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Lambs Symbol Timeline in The Silence of the Lambs
The timeline below shows where the symbol Lambs appears in The Silence of the Lambs. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 35
...recalls waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone slaughtering lambs. The lambs’ cries made Starling realize that the horse she loved was about to be...
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...her to continue to tell him about her dreams. He wants to know if the lambs will ever stop shrieking.
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Chapter 47
...in the middle of the night because she has her recurring nightmare about the crying lambs. Try as she might to distance herself from the Buffalo Bill case, it will not...
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Chapter 61
...is the most intimate. He asks her to update him on her dreams about the lambs. He hopes she will put something in the newspapers so that he will have an...
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