Lisbeth+Salander

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is about Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist’s pursuit of the truth hidden within the Vanger family. Salander is a controversial, anti-social, pierced, tattooed, and brilliant hacker who spends her days under the guardianship of the state of Sweden. Mikael works tirelessly as the head of a small magazine devoted to exposing big __business__ crooks for the gangsters they are. And the Vanger family is a wealthy enterprise with more hidden secrets than one could count- the most haunting of which is the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. Mikael is hired by Harriet’s great uncle to solve her mystery after a run of bad luck in the world of journalism, and Lisbeth Salander joins him on his hunt to find a killer after Mikael discovered she’d been used to profile him before the job was offered. The pair discovers the criminal, uncovers the truth, seeks revenge on Mikael’s professional enemies, and forms a solid friendship by the end of the book. The main themes of the novel include: friendship, justice, violence towards women, and isolation.
 * Short Synopsis of Novel **

**Lisbeth as an Anti-Hero ** Lisbeth Salander is a dark angel, a shaded light, an anti-hero. This heavily pierced, tattooed, unconventional woman walks both sides of the system- playing the bad guy, and the good. She does not accept the conventional notion that people are good or evil, but proves that this is not the case. She fits into the archetypal category by being marginalized by society, deemed stupid, being angry, and rejecting societal values and supplementing her own. Lisbeth’s society rejects her and refuses to even allow her control over her own life. She is under “guardianship” which is “a stricter form of control, in which the client is relieved of the authority to handle his or her own money or to make decisions regarding various matters.”(180) Sweden has made a minor out of a full grown woman, and, what’s more, they decide who parents her. She is not regarded as fit to live her own life, much like Dr Horrible is not accepted into the Villain’s league no matter how fervent his efforts. Despite being perfectly capable of handling herself, because of Lisbeth’s past courts refuse her basic rights. Because of her stand-offish nature many people mistake Salander of being stupid, or even mentally handicapped. After molesting her, Bjurman thought to himself “Hard-nosed bitch. She really is fucking retarded.”(178). People deem her incompetent based solely on their interpretation of her behavior, because it is outside the norm. Though she is far from stupid, as she proves through her immense knowledge of hacking and photographic memory people do not hesitate in judging her because of her abnormal qualities. Salander’s list of flaws is not a short one, but written in red across the very top should be angry. Like Dr. Horrible, who fights bitterly against Captain Hammer because he is angered by his love interest’s relationship with the superhero, Lisbeth is “anything but forgiving.”(182). As if saying this did not do our protagonist justice, Larsson further proves his point when he has his anti-hero release her rage out on a women-murdering monster. “As long as Blomkvist lived, he would never forget her face as she went on the attack. Her teeth were bared like a beast of prey. Her eyes glittering, black as coal. She moved with the lightning speed of a tarantula and seemed totally focused on her prey…”(360). As is expected with the anti-hero, and what could be argued the most important aspect of the archetype, Lisbeth does not let conventional morals rule her. She gets things done her way, and has little regard for how others view it. This does not mean she is without moral- on the contrary, she has quite a few. They just aren’t the same as those that we generally apply to heroes or to society in general. When explaining her ethics to Mikael, Lisbeth says “I also have principals comparable to your ethics committee’s. I call them Salander’s Principals.”(273). She is showing that though her morals do have a precedent in her life, because they are not the conventional morals that the majority lives by, her actions will not be the same as those of a person who has conformed to society’s view of morality. These are the characteristics that define the archetypal anti-hero, and they definitely apply to Lisbeth Salander. She has a reputation as one of the few female anti-heroes of literature, and she has certainly earned it through her exaggerated anger, expulsion from society, label as mentally insufficient, and principals which rival the standard.

**How to Speak like Lisbeth Salander ** So you want to have the power of the Lisbeth Salander without running off to the tattoo parlor? You want to be intimidating, powerful, and cold? Well don’t pierce your eyebrow just yet! Here are a few things you can change just in your attitude and speech that’ll have people speechless and staring. First, keep your sentences concise and simple. Only speak what is absolutely necessary to be spoken. The less you talk the better. Take this example: //“Blomkvist said, ‘I’ve discovered a lot of secrets about you. How many people, or example, know that you’re a hacker?’ // //‘No-one’ // //‘No-one except me, you mean’ // //‘What are you getting at?’ // //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">‘I want to know if you’re OK with me. If you trust me.’… // //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">‘There’s nothing I can do about it.’ // //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">‘Do you trust me?’ Blomkvist persisted. // //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">‘For the time being,’ she said.”( //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">337) <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Lisbeth doesn’t confide in even her best friend, she keeps her thoughts to herself and only allows herself the words that will convey the slightest meaning. She is distrustful of everyone and feigns disinterest. This is the attitude you’re trying to summon. <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Be abrasive. Lisbeth is not a warm, cuddly character. She demands respect by taking matters into her own hands. She elicits an aura of self-sufficiency and does not get overly emotional. After being raped, she simply thinks that //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“As a girl she was legal prey, especially if she was dressed in a worn black leather jacket and had pierced eyebrows, tattoos, and zero social status. There was no point in whimpering about it.” //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">(182) <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mourning her situation does not cross her mind because Lisbeth Salander does not get upset- she gets even. She’s a vengeful person who doesn’t focus on the past, but shifts her perspective to the future. Therefore, moaning on about past grievances is not the way to go- instead; seek revenge on those that have wronged you. This is the Salander way. <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">If you truly want the Lisbeth Salander image you’ll have to remember that profanity is not only accepted- but encouraged. She is a no nonsense woman without regard for whether her vocabulary is appropriate or not. //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“I thought you were going to make me give you a blow job again, which is disgusting enough in your case, but not so disgusting that I couldn’t do it. I thought I could easily acquire good documentation to prove you’re a filthy old prick. I misjudged you. I didn’t understand how fucking sick you were.”( //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">206) <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Do not fear the use of profanity, but use it to emphasis your point and degrade your enemies as Lisbeth Salander does. <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Speaking of enemies- remember that in order to speak like Lisbeth Salander, you must think like her. And this requires that you believe everyone to be your enemy. Even those you care about. Take this example of Lisbeth’s language right after having sex with her acquaintance Mikael. <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">//“We are out of milk. I’ll go to the petro station. They open at seven.”// (315) <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif;">She refuses to show emotion to avoid getting hurt. She believes if she keeps everyone at a distance, she will be able to keep herself separated and indifferent towards them. <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Despite the hardened woman Lisbeth portrays, her cover does slip just enough to let the audience know that she is, in fact, human. She has a low self-image and does occasionally let her guard down enough to show it. //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“I’m a nut case, I admit it: a freak.” //<span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> (399) <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">On the occasion that someone crosses into your path that you actually enjoy, though, for Lisbeth these people are few and far between, you are allowed to show some emotion- sparingly, of course. <span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">If you do choose to portray yourself as the new Lisbeth Salander, just follow these guidelines and watch as people hang their mouths in shock. And though the eyebrow piercing may not be necessary, it //is// imperative that you do her justice with a dragon tattoo.

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