Red Dragon

“Years ago there was a lot of rivalry about who got the collar. Each side, federal and local, held out on the other. It made a gap that crooks slipped through.”

Crawford is not just racing against time to capture the killer. His efforts are hindered at every turn by minor complaints and quibbles. Part of his job is to massage the egos of the local police and to ensure that they are not insulted or aggrieved by the arrival of the FBI. As he tries to do with Graham, Crawford provides assurances and promises that he may not even be able to keep. Crawford is so driven to stop the killer and so aware of the complexity of the individuals involved that he overpromises.

“Graham found Molly’s interest in him largely inexplicable.”

Graham’s talent is to be able to empathize with and understand some of the most violent men in the country. Through his skills, he can reconstruct the thinking of people who transgress against some of the most firmly held moral convictions in society. Despite his ability to understand such violent people, he reacts similarly to Molly’s affection as Dolarhyde does to Reba’s—he cannot understand why Molly might be interested in him. Graham’s self-loathing causes him to see himself like the men he profiles, to the point where he cannot view himself as deserving love or affection from someone as normal and as innocent as Molly. Ironically, her thinking is more incomprehensible to Graham than that of any killer.

“Dr. Lecter seldom holds his head upright. He tilts it as he asks a question, as though he were screwing an auger of curiosity into your face.”

Red Dragon is narrated from an omniscient third person perspective in the past tense. In the descriptions of Lecter, however, the narrative breaks from this convention. Lecter is described in the present tense, with the narrator directly addressing the audience in the second person. The shift in narration creates a sense of abnormality around Lecter. He is not bound by the same forces that contain everyone else. Instead, he exists beyond the trappings of time and space, with the narrative presenting him as some sort of eternal, undying monstrousness that breaks free from the constraints of narration.

“Otherwise he would have to enter more houses and see what the Tooth Fairy had left for him.”

Graham is in the police department meeting in which the men were advised not to use the flippant nickname for the killer. Nevertheless, he cannot stop himself from referring to the suspect as the Tooth Fairy. The name slips into his thoughts as he is scrambling around for any hint of identity. Even though the nickname is flimsy and not particularly useful, Graham’s use of the name illustrates his lack of progress on the case and his desperation for anything resembling a profile of the killer.

“He looked like a man who had witnessed an irrevocable loss.”

The range master compliments Graham on teaching Molly to shoot so well. He does not know that Molly is learning to shoot because her life has been threatened. Graham cannot be happy about her newfound talent as, to him, the need for Molly to shoot represents a loss of innocence. Because of him, because of his involvement with the serial killers, she has been forced into a world where she does not belong. Graham has dragged Molly into his own violent orbit and now feels guilty for doing so.

“You kill me, you really do.”

Graham recognizes that Crawford is attempting to use him as bait to capture the serial killer. Since he is so careful with his words and so empathetic toward Crawford’s own guilty feelings, Graham’s response is a subtle way to needle Crawford. In a sardonic manner, he accuses Crawford of trying to “kill me” (193). Graham will not say no to Crawford, but neither will he allow Crawford to operate without feeling as much guilt for his actions as possible.

“Before Me you rightly tremble.”

The shy, reserved Dolarhyde of the past is in the process of becoming the Dragon. With the captured Lounds, Dolarhyde is unveiling this process before a person for the first time. The subtle change in the depiction of his pronouns in his speech allows the narration to indicate this narrative switch. When Dolarhyde believes himself to be the Dragon, his pronouns are capitalized in speech. The capitalization of pronouns is typically reserved for deities, so the use of capitalization in such a fashion indicates that Dolarhyde believes himself to be a transcendent, quasi-religious figure.

“Grahan set ne uh.”

During the photoshoot for the Tattler interview, Graham implicitly associates himself with Lounds by placing his hand on Lounds’s shoulder. The gesture surprises Bloom and catches Dolarhyde’s attention. When Lounds reaches the hospital, he accuses Graham of setting him up to be attacked. The accusation is made by a severely burned man without ears or lips. The recording of Lounds’s accusation is written phonetically, to illustrate the damage done to Lounds. The mispronunciation and the pain are illustrated by the spelling of the words, indicating to the audience the sounds which will cause Graham to feel guilt and shame.

“No, Aayma. No, Aayma.”

As a young boy, Dolarhyde pleads with his grandmother not to cut off his penis. His cleft palate makes speech impossible. Despite his struggles, he pleads with his grandmother not to hurt him. The use of phonetic speech in times of desperation is a motif in Red Dragon. Just as Lounds gargles his accusations against Graham, Dolarhyde pleads with his abusive grandmother. The motif reflects the Cycles of Violence, as one trauma leads into the next, and how being trapped in trauma makes communication with others more difficult, therefore alienating them.

“No more ponies.”

Francis’s stepsiblings blame him for their father’s professional failure. They complain about the family’s dwindling fortunes, such as their ponies being take away because the family can no longer afford them. In an earlier scene, Francis speculates how it would feel to kill a mule. While he might not know how it feels to explicitly kill such an animal, he is being figuratively blamed for the departure of the ponies. He feels content at being blamed for his stepsiblings’ pain, just as he feels when he kills a chicken. Francis is learning to associate physical and emotional pain with satisfaction and contentment.

“Maybe he already knew she was blind. Better yet, maybe he didn’t give a damn.”

Graham is especially talented as a criminal profiler because he possesses a uniquely intense form of empathy. When Dolarhyde meets Reba, his lack of concern for his visual impairment feels refreshing to her. In a twisted version of Graham’s empathetic talents, she feels a sense of empathy from Dolarhyde. In this way, Dolarhyde’s story is a twisted, dark version of Graham’s own story. They are similar but different, using their empathetic talents in different ways.

“Crawford’s excellent administrative instincts were not tempered by mercy.”

Crawford is concerned for Graham, but this amicable concern never hinders his decision making. He is driven by his desire to catch the killer and save other lives. As such, he pragmatically balances the mental and physical health of Graham against the potential lives which can be saved. While he is concerned, this concern is outweighed by his pragmatic desire to exploit Graham’s talents in the name of catching the killer.

“Newspapers, when you print this, always capitalize the H in ‘Him.’”

Dolarhyde and his alter-ego, the Dragon, are very self-conscious about how they are perceived by others. During his transformation process, Dolarhyde thinks of himself as becoming a more divine and transcendental figure. This divinity is embodied in the Dragon, so he wants others to observe his transformation. As confirmation of their observation, they should write about him with a grammatical styling that is reserved for gods and deities. He wants his name capitalized as a confirmation that his transformation is being witnessed and respected.

“I’VE NEVER SEEN A CHILD AS DISGUSTING AND DIRTY AS YOU.”

The Dragon’s voice speaks Dolarhyde’s internalized abuse. When challenging Dolarhyde on his failure to follow their plan, the Dragon uses the same insults that Dolarhyde’s grandmother used many years before. These insults left a terrible trauma in Dolarhyde’s mind which now speaks to him from his own subconscious. The Dragon is Dolarhyde, a creature constructed from his abusive past which turns him into something terrible.

“Molly hadn’t mentioned it.”

With Graham forcibly separated from Molly for so long, she has visited Oregon to stay with the mother and father of her first husband, now deceased. During their short conversation, she does not mention that her father-in-law has bought a pony for Willy. The purchase of the pony is an implication that Molly and Willy are being provided for in a way that Graham can never match, as he only offers danger and trauma. Willy is making bonds and forming relationships a long way from Graham. That Molly does not mention this—and that Graham notices that she does not mention it—suggests that both he and his wife feel themselves growing further apart.

“It was a thing called The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun.”

Dolarhyde’s obsession with the Blake painting is so all-consuming that he has killed nine people and eaten a painting. To Crawford, the painting is just a “thing” (389). The dismissive way in which Crawford described the painting shows how far beyond the pale Dolarhyde has been driven by his obsession. The same painting which has driven him to kill barely registers in Crawford’s mind. Their perspective on the world is vastly different.

“Will Graham opened it for her.”

Dolarhyde’s murders have involved him trespassing in the homes of others. Even his earlier crimes involved trespassing, while retaining a defensive stance on who is allowed on his property. He has a very clear sense of physical boundaries and feels powerful when he breaks them. When he spots Graham in his place of work, Dolarhyde feels violated and vulnerable. He is scared because he feels that Graham is trespassing. As powerful as trespassing made Dolarhyde feel, the sight on Graham on his “property” makes him feel weak. This weakness makes him susceptible to the Dragon’s manipulation.

“I AM THE DRAGON.”

For the first time, Dolarhyde’s transformation into the Dragon is witnessed by living people. The transformation is no longer restricted to his mind. The demonstrative change in his voice is immediately noticed by Reba, who is struck by the change in tone and character. The Dragon speaks with a confidence that Dolarhyde never could, providing Dolarhyde with the power and intimidation that Dolarhyde always craved but could never project.

“Need a left thumbprint fast off a right-handed man.”

As Graham gets closer to uncovering the Dragon’s identity, he is not ruffled. While he has previously felt guilt, fear, and anxiety, the proximity to his suspect brings a clarity to his mind. When viewing Dolarhyde’s office, he immediately remembers the nature of the few fingerprints they have and the fact that the killer is right-handed. Rather than dwell on his success or feel any positive emotion, Graham views the moment with the same detached, calculating dispassion that killers like Lecter exhibited during their crimes.

“That’s a shotgun, Reba. A twelve-gauge magnum. Do you know what it will do?”

As is later revealed, Dolarhyde’s final conversation with Reba is an elaborate performance. There are subtle clues which indicate that the Dolarhyde identity has been completely consumed by the Dragon, such as the confidence with which he lies. He is no longer skipping over certain syllables or sounds, such as those found in the word “shotgun” (410). From a man unable to define his own identity in his youth, Dolarhyde has now become confident and brazen enough to be able to understand his own identity while performing another.

“Locating Francis Dolarhyde’s house was not so easy.”

The physical location of Dolarhyde’s house is a metaphor for his moral and psychological state. Dolarhyde has committed mass murder and his mental state has collapsed, meaning that he is completely off the map of human understanding. For the layman, Dolarhyde is an incomprehensible monster who is as difficult to empathize with as his house is difficult to locate. For people such as Graham or Lecter, however, the unmappable human consciousness of Francis Dolarhyde can still be found and understood.

“People who study this kind of thing say he was trying to stop. Why? Because you helped him.”

When Graham visits Reba in the hospital, he tries to comfort her. He assures her that the pain and guilt she feels is mediated by the chance that she may have prevented other people from being killed by Dolarhyde. The statement may or may not be true and Reba does find some comfort in it. For Graham, however, the statement needs to be true. He has risked so much psychological harm to his own self and his marriage has collapsed, so he needs the justification that he prevented Dolarhyde from killing again. Graham understands what Reba needs because he needs the same assurance.

“He was tired of being disliked.”

Graham is “tired of being disliked” (430) by the people who are theoretically meant to love him the most. This tiredness is felt more by a man with pure empathy. Ironically, the talent that makes him so good at profiling men like Dolarhyde makes him feel the pain of the dissolution of his marriage even more keenly. He empathizes with the way Molly sees him now and, rather than be angry at her or himself, he feels exhausted by the entire process. The exhaustion is even more pertinent because he empathizes and perhaps even agrees with Molly’s view of him. Graham is tired of being disliked, not least by himself.