Well, kind of a question.
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on why he hated census takers so much?
I have never been part of a census, so I really have no knowledge of the process. It always puzzled me that Lector would be so enraged by someone who was just giving him a survey? My own speculation is that the census-taker was rude in some way, but I’d like to know what someone who has actually been used in a census thinks about this.
Being a psychopath, his rationale doesn't need to be something most people can relate to but I'm sure he had his reasons. In Hannibal he ate someone who was a bad musician and from the way it was presented that was the victim's only sin.
shareAny more theories out there?
shareI admire your dedication coming back and checking 2 years after you first asked this :)
shareCheers!
I appreciate your answer.
I just googled ‘Maoi dietary restrictions’ and they didn’t just list beans, but fava beans in particular, which makes the scene even more unnerving for me now. Great theory, puts a whole new spin on things.
Hannibal always seemed so lucid when talking to Clarice, I didn’t even think they were giving him meds, but now... Makes sense he would fake the effects when he needed to. He was probably insulted by the notion of having to take any medication he didn’t want.
And now I wonder if he actually did kill that census taker, or if he was just trying to intimidate Clarice. Honestly I believed him, didn’t take it as hyperbole at all.
Hannibal was always quite lucid anyway. Recall that when he attacked that nurse his pulse never went above 68bpm
He's someone who is always of control of himself even when it seems he's not
In context of the scene
Clarice tells Hannibal to use that high powered perception to look at himself
Hannibal then responds with the famous line.
So Hannibal probably doesn't like boring questions or having his patience "tested" is my guess but also his answer is a possible inside joke. Dr. Lecter’s choice of sides wasn’t based on his taste predilections, he was making a medical joke. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) could have been used to treat him, and what are the three things you’re not allowed to eat while taking them? Liver, beans, and wine. As a psychiatrist, Hannibal would have known this, so as well as making Clarice uncomfortable he was cracking a joke for his own amusement and hinting that he hasn’t been taking his meds.
I never understood the context of the census taker. They are basically volunteers without authority to do anything but deliver letters.
shareLecter is particularly irked by being probed, tricked or challenged. Any situation in which he is intellectually submissive is intolerable to him, he must always be dominant. Clarice’s comment about redirecting his psychoanalysis at himself, and her questionnaire, insulted him.
I suspect a census taker asking him probing questions had a similar effect. Asking Lecter a question he doesn’t feel like answering will likely end up with you on the menu. As an active serial killer, the slightest inquiry into his life, no matter how innocent, could have triggered him.