The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Essay

The last 200 pages of this book brought a very wanted ending to the first novel of the trilogy. In some aspects the book completely answered the questions that you had thought, written down, or even said aloud while reading, ☺︎ but in others it left a bit too much to the imagination of the reader. A good author knows when to leave a question unanswered, and that is exactly what Stieg Larsson managed to do throughout the whole book. There were many different plot lines and characters, which helped me identify the conflicts charters had with finding truth, love, and their identity.
Throughout the novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Blomkvist and Salander are trying to uncover what happened to Harriet Vanger. Though this is the main plot
of the book, it is more evident that they are searching for a greater truth in the last 200 pages. While reading the book, there were small details that were uncovered every few pages. This slow stream of clues allowed the reader to take in the information and make there own predictions and connections about the ending of the novel. In the very beginning of the book, Vanger informs Blomkvist that he should be looking for Harriet’s killer. As part of the hunt for Harriet’s killer, Blomkvist discovers different photographs that show Harriet on the day of the disappearance. Blomkvist tracks down the owners of these photographs to find that in one picture Harriet looked as if she had just seen a building stand up and walk away. ☺︎ After looking through more photos, Blomkvist found out that Harriet’s brother had been the one who had startled her in the picture. After following many more leads, Blomkvist finally made a connection between gruesome murders and Harriet’s brother as shown on page 453 of the novel: “A human being is a shell made of skin keeping the cells, blood, and chemical components in place. Very few end up in the history books. Most people succumb and disappear without a trace.” Eventually, Blomkvist and Salander were able to completely expose Harriet’s brother and father as serial killers. Because of this discovery, Blomkvist found out the Harriet had not been murdered, but had actually run away from her father and brother to live in Australia. Blomkvist’s relentless search for truth helped reunite Vanger and Harriet after nearly fifty years.
Lisbeth Salander has been put down as if she hasn’t been good enough for of all her life. She never thought that she would be good enough for someone, which is why she never got too involved in any relationship. Then she met Mikael Blomkvist. Salander had been hired to work a case with Blomkvist in which the two became very close. She finds herself falling in love with Blomkvist, which surprised herself as well as the readers. In the book, it was explained that Salander’s mother had suffered from Alzheimer’s, and could no longer tell the difference between Salander and her sister. The reader can assume that this must have been hard for Salander considering her mother was the only one that believed in her. Later in the book Salander gets a phone call informing her that her mother had passed away. This leaves Blomkvist the only love interest in her life, both from her personal and family relationships. Salander wants to admit to Blomkvist that she loves him: “Their body language left no room for misinterpretation… the pain was so immediate and so fierce that Lisbeth stopped in mid-stride, incapable of movement” (Larsson 589). This quote is taken out of the moment that Salander realized that Blomkvist had chosen the other women in his life. Salander will presumably continue to create a more stable relationship with Blomkvist in the next book of the series, The Girl that Played with Fire, but as for now she is unknowingly longing for an unfound source of love in her life. Even though I already wrote about her, Lisbeth Salander seems to have a lot of issues putting her life together, which in turn makes for a good plot.
So I guess I’ll just right about her again in this paragraph. ☺︎ Most people that read this book will probably argue with me that Lisbeth is one of the only people that knows what they want in life and the kind of person that they want to be. While in some cases this is true, I think that Lisbeth is still trying to find who she is. There are multiple scenarios in the book in which Salander is very tough and has a very solitary mindset. At one point she was able to defeat a man in a physical fight who was easily twice her size. Though this proves that she is a very individualistic person, I think that she is still confused on how she wants to live her life. Salander is always getting in trouble with the law even though she knows what to do in order for her to avoid getting arrested. In my opinion, all of the problems she has with the law, finances, and relationships are coming from a deep-rooted issue of Salander not knowing who she really is. If she were to shy from her normal social behavior that she exhibits on page 236: “Salander found herself on the fringe of the group and rarely contributed to the talk.”, then she would be able to get her life back on track. Once Salander finds out what she really wants her identity to be I think it will make her life and the lives of those around her much
easier.
Once again, this book left me wanting more, which is good for me since there are two more books in the series. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a novel that you have to wait to understand. Once the book does get interesting it doesn’t stop. The characters are constantly intertwining, and with connections constantly being made this book is a personal favorite.
I think I deserve an 8/10.