The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson - Essay Example

As a hacker and investigator, the character appears to make a steady financial income. “Salander earned about 160,000 kroner a year. […] In spite of this modest income, she had 90,000 kroner in her savings account. But she no longer had access to it” (Larsson 92). This indicates the extent to which Salander is not in control of her life and her earnings. She is deeply under the thumb of her guardian who is supposedly a pillar of morality and respect, but who is in actual fact severely abusing Salander and is much more morally reprehensible than Salander herself.

            The setting, plot, imagery and tone of the story all strongly reflect the dark and grimy issues conveyed throughout the text. The plot is fundamentally dark - that of the hunt for a serial killer and the narrative is infused with instances of violence, abuse, sexual exploitation and immorality. Despite this, the setting of Sweden is conveyed pleasantly throughout the text in terms of culture and food, for example, "herring and the aquavit" (52) and “Billy's Pan Pizza” (7).

Sweden is portrayed as chic, beautiful and rustic which serves as a contrasting backdrop to all of the grisly murders and crimes alluded to. The narrative is consistently of a very dark tone in which instances of violence are well distributed, for example, “She shoved the taser into his left armpit and fired off 750,000 volts. When his legs began to give way, she used all her strength to push him down on the bed” (28), and “At first she did not understand what was happening.. The plot is fundamentally dark - that of the hunt for a serial killer and the narrative is infused with instances of violence, abuse, sexual exploitation and immorality.

Despite this, the setting of Sweden is conveyed pleasantly throughout the text in terms of culture and food, for example, "herring and the aquavit" (52) and “Billy's Pan Pizza” (7). Sweden is portrayed as chic, beautiful and rustic which serves as a contrasting backdrop to all of the grisly murders and crimes alluded to. The narrative is consistently of a very dark tone in which instances of violence are well distributed, for example, “She shoved the taser into his left armpit and fired off 750,000 volts.

When his legs began to give way, she used all her strength to push him down on the bed” (28), and “At first she did not understand what was happening. Then she saw the handcuffs close around her wrists” (200). Both of these sections deal with the character of Salander and highlights the fact that aggression is part of everyday life for her. The second quotation describes her realisation when she sees the handcuffs, that her guardian is about to rape her once again. Such imagery along with the grisly plot are extremely morbid and the darkness is reflected in the tone of the story while the pleasing setting acts as an effectively contrasting backdrop in which such horrific acts are committed.

There are many themes running throughout the story including violence against women, moorality and the incompetence of investigative journalism. Salander has suffered almost every kind of abuse and adversity that society can possible offer to someone and many of these offences have and are being carried out by men such as her guardian, which has made her something of an