The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Symbols

Have you ever been called a name you did not enjoy? In the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson characterizes Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth Salander, and Harriet Vanger through the use of literary devices. In the story, Mikael, a mere journalist, and Lisbeth, a private investigator, work together to solve the murder of Harriet that happened many years ago. The author used allusions to mirror Mikael and Lisbeth as characters in Astrid Lindgren's children's books and to link the spirituality of Harriet to Mikael's daughter.
From the beginning, Mikael is constantly referred to as Kalle Blomkvist, a detective in Lindgren's books, despite his plea of only being a journalist. A reporter asks for a comment on Blomkvist's trial, and says, "Give us a sound bite, Kalle Blomkvist" (Larsson 8). This quote shows that many people know Mikael as the storybook character and use this nickname often. The author

later explains the similarities between Mikael and Kalle by telling the story of Mikael's first journal where he busted a gang of robbers. Since then, Mikael Blomkvist has been publicly called Kalle, forcing him to remember his first claim to fame. Mikael is actually a financial journalist with a slight passion to solve crime. As he is constantly called the name of a well-known detective, he can never put crime solving to rest, which causes him to try to solve the murder. Seeing Mikael as Kalle lets readers understand the inner workings of Mikael and his reasoning to take on a murder case without proper experience.
In a less direct way, Lisbeth is shown as a more popular character of Lindgren's, Pippi Longstocking. After Mikael is characterized as Kalle, Salander refers to herself as Pippi Longstocking, a young, strange character. After she explains the reason for Mikael's nickname, Lisbeth says, "Somebody'd get a fat lip if they ever called me Pippi Longstocking on a newspaper placard (Larsson 39). As shown in the quote, Lisbeth is focused on not being called Pippi, which causes a reader to wonder why. Salander and Pippi are both odd characters who do not fit under any social norms; they surprise readers with each action. Lisbeth often acts rude and fiery towards others as a young child like Pippi Longstocking would do. By comparing Lisbeth to Pippi Longstocking, the author shows how Lisbeth goes through her life although it is not shown yet. Once the novel plays out, Lisbeth begins to share more than a few similarities with Pippi Longstocking.
As Mikael tries restlessly to solve the murder of Harriet, he decides to visit his daughter, and he discovers the most important clue to solving the case.

To explain Mikael's revelation, the author alludes The Bible, specifically the Book of Leviticus. This allusion is an explanation from the narrator, which says, "She had not written down telephone numbers. The figures indicated the chapter and verse in Leviticus, the third book of the Pentateuch (Larsson 252). Harriet had written down names and series of numbers that Mikael assumed were telephone numbers. When his daughter mentioned recently becoming spiritual and reading her Bible, he realizes Harriet was similar to his own daughter. As Mikael found out early in the investigation, Harriet grew up without a father most of her life just as his daughter had after their divorce. This childhood caused both of the girls to become independent and rely on a higher power. Without the link between his daughter and Harriet, Mikael would have never figured who he was investigating and why she originally went

missing.
In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Larsson characterizes each main character in depth with allusions to kid's stories and The Bible. These allusions exhibit Mikael as a secret detective, Lisbeth as a unorthodox orphan, and the religious values of Mikael's daughter and Harriet. With the use of these literary devices, readers develop feelings for the characters they think of as childhood friends.