The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Sparknotes

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has two main storylines and one “other”, arguably just as important story though; the first story is the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, and second the murder of multiple women by a serial killer, the lesser storyline has to do with the character Wennestrom.
The main characters of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo can be interpreted as representations of certain aspects of Swedish society, and act accordingly.
The Vanger family and corporation represent the decaying Swedish corporate aristocracy. Once important and powerful they are now in decline, though still having some power. Former CEO Henrik Vanger appears as a kindly, weathered old man, but, as the reader finds out, will always put his family/corporation first. The Wennestrom group makes it money using shell holdings, black market trade, and deceit. Milton security is painted as an upstanding, if economically inert, corporation. Both Wennestrom and Vanger are privately held companies, being won exclusively by the family of the founder, and as such are open to corruption. (Stenport and Alm 162).
As a character Harriet Vanger represents the escape from the gender biased and corporate controlled state, both literally and figuratively. Harriet escapes from Sweden …show more content…

Michael Blumkvist is, after quitting the magazine Millennium, a free-lance reporter/amateur detective that is hired to investigate Harriet. Both characters represent certain aspects of Swedish Society; Lisbeth represents the independent, non-conformer that is anti-mainstream and non-collectivist (Stenport and Alm 169), while Blumkvist is the truth-seeking, unapologetic crusader (Stenport and Alm 172). Both are opposed to big corporations and their control over the Swedish economy and state, but in the end both compromise their integrity by choosing to cover up the crimes of Martin Vanger (Larrson

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