93 pages • 3 hours read
Barry LygaI Hunt Killers
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
The Crucible
The classic 1953 Arthur Miller play The Crucible is referenced multiple times over course of I Hunt Killers. Set during the Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts, The Crucible follows John Proctor, a local farmer who stands up to the group of young girls who suddenly begin (falsely) accusing fellow townspeople of witchcraft. The play explores such themes as mob mentality and good vs. evil.
Jazz plays the role of Reverend Hale, an out-of-town expert on witchcraft, who comes to Salem to verify the young girls’ accusations. As Hale learns more about the young girls, he comes to realize that they are lying, and so Hale feels tremendously guilty for helping indict innocent people for crimes of witchcraft. Jazz finds the character of Reverend Hale “sort of annoying and wishy-washy” (74). Jazz goes on to say that, additionally, he finds the Reverend "hopelessly naïve” (74). Jazz explains: “There is a moment early in the play where Hale—an ‘expert’ on witch-craft—haughtily brandishes his books and asserts that ‘Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated.’ As if it could be that easy” (74). Unlike the Reverend, Jazz knows that “all the invisible world”—shorthand for evil, essentially—is an incredibly vast one. His father’s actions are evidence of that, and the motive that drives him cannot be caught or calculated. Like Hale, Jazz is an expert on “the invisible world” of evil.
Comparisons between Jazz and the character he plays are drawn throughout the play: “Hale starts out as one of the main proponents of the witch trials in Salem, but later comes to regret his part in them. As the play and John Proctor’s life near their end, Hale rants in the jail […] If Proctor can live, then maybe Hale can be redeemed” (76). The most poignant point of comparison is the overwhelming guilt felt by both Jazz and his character: “‘There is blood on my head!’ Hale screams at Danforth, pleased with him. You won’t just be saving Proctor’s life, he’s saying. You’ll be saving my soul, too! ‘Can you not see the blood on my head’” (76). The book concludes with Jazz reciting those lines into the crowd, as a trench-coated figure—presumably Jazz’s dad, or some other killer—watches on.
Trophies
Jazz explains that it is typical for serial killers to keep “trophies” from their victims, which could range from an article of their clothing to a severed finger, to remind the killer of his prey. Trophies are a recurring image thought the book, from actual trophies (when Erickson stands in front of a trophy case) to serial killer’s trophies (Billy’s trophies as well as the Impressionist taking his victims’ fingers). Additionally, when the cast of The Crucible gets together to try and figure out a way to honor Ginny’s memory with an object, such as a plaque or a statue, Jazz has a visceral reaction against these suggestions, comparing them to “trophies” (255)used by serial killers to commemorate the dead. Instead, Jazz suggests they honor Ginny with an action, rather than a thing. An idea running throughout the book is that serial killers have the ability to blend into mundane, normal life.
Fame
Fame is a motif seen throughout the book. Doug Weathers is the local small-town reporter. Portrayed as a “sleazoid” (66) type figure, Weathers will hang around crime scenes trying to capitalize on the public’s morbid fascination with serial killers, death, and crime in general:“Don’t get thinking that just because your buddy is some kind of local celebrity that you’re going to get off easy” (48). Weathers goes so far as to approach Howie, to give him a cut of whatever profits they would make exploiting Jazz. Weathers says to Howie at one point: “Hey Gersten, if you want in on the fame, I can make it happen. Convince Jasper here to give me an exclusive. A one-on-one interview. Mano a mano. And I’ll do a nice sidebar with you as the ‘best friend who lived through the madness’’” (67).
While Weathers has “fame lust” for himself, another side of fame is portrayed in Billy Dent’s cult status. Despite being a murderer, Billy Dent has plenty of admirers. Jazz references the ones that write to him in prison with their admiration for him; the “FREE BILLY DENT!” (314) protesters outside of the Wammaket State Penitentiary; and then, of course, there is the Impressionist himself, the ultimate devotee of Billy Dent. Fame-lust and the cult of celebrity in I Hunt Killers exposes the morbid side of human nature.
Tattoos
Tattoos are seen on multiple characters throughout the book. Billy Dent has two tattoos, one across the knuckles of each hand: the left reads L-O-V-E and the right reads F-E-A-R. Howie is a tattoo enthusiast, but due to his hemophilia, he is unable to get tattoos himself. Therefore, Howie strikes a deal with Jazz that, if Jazz ever loses a bet to Howie, Jazz will get a tattoo of Howie’s choosing. (The unspoken benefit to Howie is that he gets to live vicariously through Jazz in these moments.) In a book with so many shifting identity features, tattoos seem like one of the only permanent markers in the story. In Chapter 38, Jazz gets a tattoo that is “not for anyone else” but himself: “A total of twelve letters, in two-inch-high black Gothic script, inked along the broad V of his clavicle. The letters were flipped, but when Jazz looked in the mirror, he could read them just fine: ‘I Hunt Killers’” (361).
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