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.
Essay Topics
Jasper “Jazz” Dent has an unlikely friendship with Howie Gersten. Analyze their friendship in terms of the major themes of the book. How is Jazz’s identity defined by his best friend Howie?
Lobo’s Nod is the small-town setting of I Hunt Killers. How does the town function as a character in the book? Discuss how the story would differ if it took place in a big city.
Author Barry Lyga uses third-person limited perspective strategically throughout I Hunt Killers, switching from Jazz’s perspective to that of the Impressionist throughout the book. How does this help build suspense throughout the book?
The 1953 play The Crucible by Arthur Miller is referenced throughout the book. How does this motif help support the major themes of the book, particularly those around identity?
Jazz is not the only character that explores his identity in I Hunt Killers. Billy Dent, we learn, has tried on different personas (i.e. the Artist and Green Jack) over the course of his serial killing career. Outside of Jazz’s own personal identity questions, what other characters are trying to find themselves? How does this affect the main themes involving identity?
Jazz regards Connie as “safe” because she is African American, and Billy Dent did not have any African American victims. Examine other instances where race is mentioned in the book. Through a discussion of Jazz and Connie’s relationship, how does race affect the characters’ motivations?
Jazz refers to Gramma Dent as “hateful, spiteful, and crazier than a wind sock in a tornado, but family” (89). How is this quote emblematic of all family ties in the novel?
Doug Weathers is the local reporter in Lobo’s Nod, willing to capitalize on the gruesome deaths in order to build a name for himself. Analyze the motif of fame in the book. Are there other characters in the novel who use death and mayhem to their advantage?
In Chapter 30, Jazz sees his father for the first time in nearly four years, in one of the most climactic scenes of the novel. Jazz notices that Billy has new tattoos. On the one hand he as the word “love” tattooed across his knuckles and on the other the word “hate.” What is the symbolism of these tattoos? Unpack this primary theme through the lenses of love and hate.
The novel ends with Jazz in his role as Reverend Hale in The Crucible, shouting the lines: “There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!” (361). What is the significance of concluding the novel with this line?
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By Barry Lyga
