Career of Evil

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, graphic violence, sexual violence, and child abuse.

The motif of severed body parts recurs throughout Career of Evil, reinforcing Galbraith’s exploration of trauma and vulnerability, particularly in Misogyny and Violence Against Women. The severed leg sent to Robin at the detective agency is both a message and a threat, mocking Strike’s war injury by presenting a grotesque parody of his lost limb. While the private detective’s prosthetic limb is a symbol of his heroism and resilience, the dismembered leg conveys hatred and brutality. By sending the leg, the killer aims to manipulate the public’s perception of Strike, associating him with “the twin stenches of failure and perversity” (410), rather than success and bravery.

The killer’s decision to send the dismembered limb to Robin demonstrates his desire to instill fear in her. Robin is shown to respond more viscerally to the severed leg than Strike, as it belongs to a female murder victim. Haunted by its image, she feels she is “the only person to remember that a living, breathing human being had been using that leg” (101). For Robin, the reduction of “the unknown female to a lump of meat” (101) symbolizes the dehumanization of women through misogynistic violence.