Hannibal

“Ardelia, I killed five people today.”

When Starling returns home, she speaks to Ardelia with a disarming frankness. The way she frames her actions reveals the difference between Starling, the FBI, and the media. To the FBI, the dead are suspects. To the media, they are criminals. To Starling, the dead are “people.” She refuses to dehumanize the people she has killed, holding herself accountable to her actions and her role in their deaths.

“DEATH ANGEL: CLARICE STARLING, THE FBI'S KILLING MACHINE.”

The reporting on the shootout reveals the way in which Starling is framed as a criminal from the early stages. The Tattler talks about Starling as if she were another serial killer, rather than a federal agent. This framing is an early foreshadowing of Starling's later alliance with Lecter, as they are both portrayed in the same lurid fashion in the press.

“You are a warrior.”

Lecter's message to Starling reveals his sympathies for her, juxtaposed against the scorn of the world. While the FBI wants to investigate Starling and the press wants to scandalize her, Lecter provides her with assurances that she is a strong, independent person. His comments are sincere and supportive, which makes them all the more confusing for Starling given their author. Her relationship to Lecter is changing as she begins to realize the way in which they are both separated from society in some fashion.