Recently I started reading the Millenium series, or, to be more specific, I continued reading it. I had read the first book, the Girl With the Dragon tattoo, as it was published in English, when I was in high school. It was one of the few books that my mother banned me from reading, which of course made me read it. I loved the mystery and the uniqueness of the writing, taking me to a place that I know little about. Maybe I shouldn’t have read it at that age. Maybe I wasn’t ready. A lot of the problems that I noticed in my outlook on life probably came from reading books like that earlier than I should have. Even though I liked the book, I didn’t continue to the others in the series. It was senior year, I was busy, it was a big bother to get ahold of a book that I wasn’t supposed to be reading. At some point, I got the audiobooks for the next two in the series, but I never listened to them.
Then, on one of my long car rides home a few weeks ago, I started listening to the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire. I was captivated with the story of Lisbeth Salander again, for a number of reasons.
Lisbeth Salander is a woman who is fighting to live life on her own terms, something that is her only source of freedom in a world that has consistently failed her. She is unique, almost asocial, and ruthless to those that get in her way. When I first read the scene where she tattoos Niels Bjurmann, her guardian, I was scarred. But coming back to it now, I see Lisbeth as protecting herself the only way that she knows how: no holds barred. She loves, without being overly sentimental or weak, a pitfall that some writers fall into. She desires plenty of people, and is labeled by her world to be a possible prostitue or slut. She is such a multifaceted character that readers are forced to admit that any term like that is to limit her so severely that they cannot see her as she is- imperfect, sometimes brutal or callous, but thoroughly human. There is a great quality in how Stieg Larsson writes her so that it truly feels like a privilege to get a glimpse inside of her head, something that Mikael Blomkvist or Dragan Armansky would so value. The reader gets to know Lisbeth as she knows herself, something that no one in her own world can say. While this view into a character’s mind is always a part of great literature, with a character like Lisbeth, who is complex and does not relate openly to others in her world, it feels like a particular treat.
Not only does Larsson give us one great female character, he gives many. Women from all walks of life, Olympic athletes turned policewomen, strong mothers and wives who are powerful lawyers, and an editor-in-chief who is intelligent and competent whil also being a consistent lover of the main character. All of these women defy being shoehorned into one role or another. When Erika Berger receives threats in the mail and then breaking into her house, all calling her a whore, it highlights the struggle that women always face by being judged by those who barely know them. I am not like Erika Berger as a character, and I do not agree with some of the choices that she makes, or the way that she lives. But I do respect her, and I see the way that women who break a non-existent norm, can be punished.
I would not consider myself a feminist in the modern sense of the term. I have no hatred of men, but I do believe in equality. I believe that we are at the state in history where that equality can only be achieved by little acts from day to day, women demanding to be seen as equals, and putting a quiet but firm end to any behaviors from men or women that go against this ideal. Even if I don’t agree with Erika Berger on her morality, she is a talented and powerful woman, and she does not deserve to be called a whore any more than Lisbeth does, or any woman who desires men openly. I would like to defending the Erika’s and Lisbeths of the world by demanding respect, but know that I have a long way to go to living up to that.
All of this makes the Swedish title, “Men Who Hate Women” make a lot more sense. Mikael Blomkvist is a great example of a man who loves women and treats them as his equals, and fights for their equality through exposing violence against women. He does not do this for any selfish gain, or because women need protecting because they are women, but because it is wrong, and something needs to be done. This series really challenges everyone who reads it to truly see women as people.
I have started reading a book on Stieg Larsson as I have gotten more interested in this man who wrote such a successful and deep series, but they weren’t published until after his death. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
The World Is Too Much With Us 