Killer Instinct

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse.

Through its depiction of the main characters, Killer Instinct explores how trauma can affect an individual’s behavior and emotions. In depicting the complicated, and sometimes conflicting, ways in which each of the characters responds to current circumstances based on their previous traumatic experiences, the novel suggests that the Naturals’ supposedly “natural” abilities are in fact deeply shaped by what they have been through.

Dean, who struggles to form his own identity away from his father’s influence, illustrates the physical, emotional, and even social impact of trauma. Dean’s feelings of guilt and self-loathing lead him to isolate himself from others and thus deny himself any support. Cassie points out, for example, that “There [is] a chance—a good one—that Dean [doesn’t] need to be alone so much as he [thinks] being alone [is] what he deserve[s]” (69). Dean’s violent reaction to Emerson’s murder, in which he recognizes his father’s MO, shows how trauma has embedded itself not only in his psyche but in his body. When Cassie tries to comfort him, Dean instinctively grabs her arm and appears to momentarily dissociate before he comes back to himself and apologizes.