The Silence of the Lambs, like Red Dragon, centers on the hunt for a serial killer, one of American society's most frightening nightmares. However, this novel emphasizes from the very outset the trials of an intelligent and capable woman, FBI trainee Clarice Starling, in a patriarchal system, and as such should be considered a work with strong feminist sensibilities. Clarice is treated differently from Will Graham, the hero of Red Dragon, and not simply because she is a trainee at the FBI Academy; she is consistently treated with less respect because she is female.

Underlying all Clarice's trials in the novel is the reason for her involvement with the case, the murder spree of the serial killer "Buffalo Bill," who kills and mutilates women so that he can construct a costume of their skins. This combination of female hero and female victims means that The Silence...