52 pages • 1-hour read
Killer Instinct
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Symbols & Motifs
Cassie’s Lipstick
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, child abuse, and emotional abuse.
Throughout the story, Cassie keeps a tube of Rose Red lipstick in her pocket and often plays with it when she is reflecting on her past or working out current problems. The lipstick reminds her of her mother, who wore that shade before she was murdered. However, it was also given to her by her aunt, Lacey Locke, who was revealed to be a serial killer in The Naturals and kept her victims’ lipsticks as trophies.
With its complex legacy, Cassie’s lipstick symbolizes different aspects of her journey. As she explains, the tube “had been a gift from Locke to [her], part of the sick game she’d played, doling out clues, grooming [her] in her own image” (27). In connecting Cassie to both her mother and her aunt, the lipstick thus symbolizes her family trauma: “It was a masochistic reminder: of the people I’d trusted, the people I’d lost” (28). In addition to illustrating The Impact of Trauma on Behavior and Emotion, the lipstick represents Cassie’s related struggle with Biological Heritage Versus Found Family—specifically, her conflicting emotions as she feels torn between her moral principles and her ability to empathize with “monsters.” After she and the other teenagers help the FBI catch Christopher Simms, Cassie reflects, “I’d joined the Naturals program in hopes that I might be able to save some other little girl from coming back to a blood-drenched room. That was what we were doing. […] And still, I couldn’t throw away the lipstick, I couldn’t shut the door on my past” (325). The lipstick underlines how much of Cassie’s desire to help others stems from her traumatic history. By working on murder investigations that mirror her own situation, Cassie symbolically attempts to process her mother’s murder and find emotional closure. The lipstick therefore represents her constant drive to seek answers as well as her enduring connection to her mother and aunt.
Sterling’s Clothing
As a profiler, Cassie notices habits and behaviors, including a person’s choice of clothing, and these inform her understanding of character. For instance, she often points out how Veronica Sterling’s clothing reflects the agent’s mood, attitude, and identity. When Sterling is first introduced, for instance, Cassie notes, “Her clothes were expensive; she wore them like they weren’t” (20), pointing to Sterling’s natural authority. Sterling’s clothing choices also hint at her deeper motivations, as Cassie reflects: “She wore her clothes like armor. They were expensive, freshly pressed. She’d had a coat of clear polish on her nails. […] Did she enjoy the ritual of applying it, putting a thin layer between her nails and the rest of the world? There was subtext there: protection, distance, strength” (28). As Cassie senses in this passage, Sterling’s desire for discipline partly stems from trauma and a need for safety.
Sterling’s clothes are thus a motif related to her characterization and arc. At several points, Cassie connects Sterling’s clothing to her mood. When the FBI Director visits the house, for example, she notes that “[Sterling’s] shirt [is] buttoned all the way up. So [is] her suit jacket. […] she’d gotten dressed today expecting a fight” (184). After she learns about Sterling’s tumultuous past, Cassie’s view of the agent shifts: “[The way she dressed wasn’t] about presenting an image of professionalism to the rest of the world. It wasn’t a protective layer to keep the rest of the world out. She did it, all of it, to keep the old Veronica Sterling […] in” (46). Here, Cassie realizes that Sterling uses her austere clothing not as protective armor but to keep her more brash impulses in check.
At the end of the story, Sterling eventually embraces the Naturals program’s potential despite her initial reluctance to exploit young people’s gifts. As a result, her clothing also relaxes and reflects her newfound peace of mind: “Her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck, stray hairs plastered to her forehead with sweat. She was wearing jeans” (368).
Monsters
Monsters, as a metaphor for people capable of extreme, immoral acts of violence, are a recurring motif in the novel. They are the theme of Professor Fogle’s class, for example, which is titled “Monsters or Men: The Psychology of Serial Murder” (48), and both Lacey Locke and Daniel Redding are explicitly referred to as monsters.
The title of Fogle’s class contrasts metaphorical monsters with “regular” people but also draws the distinction into question, much as the narrative itself blurs the lines between the two groups. Where the stark dichotomy of monsters versus men enables individuals to distance themselves from immorality and violence, the novel suggests that so-called “monsters” are in fact everyday people driven by deeply human, if morally corrupt, impulses. This implies that anyone may become a monster under the right circumstances, which makes the characters’ Moral Dilemmas in the Face of Danger all the more impactful. Dean in particular struggles with the knowledge of his father’s actions and his own part in it. He resents being the son of the serial killer and is afraid of becoming monstrous as well.
Geoffrey’s presentation to Cassie and Michael sums up the relationship between monsters and humans:
The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said that anyone who fought monsters had to fight becoming a monster himself. ‘If you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.’ Geoffrey paused on a slide that included dozens of pictures—not of bodies, but of men. I recognized some of them—they lined our walls at home, smiling out at us from frames, a constant reminder that the kind of monster we hunted could be anyone. Your neighbor. Your father. Your friend (112-13).
Cassie echoes the sentiment but instead argues that “Maybe […] to do what [the Naturals] do, [they] have to have a little bit of the monster in [them]” (72). She suggests that being able to empathize with criminals does not necessarily make them alike but rather enables them to bring murderers to justice. The narrative thus suggests that the very qualities that lead some people to commit heinous acts can also be turned to good ends, eroding any absolute distinction between “monsters” and “men.”
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