Deconstruction Derby

So one of the generalizations often made about GWDT is that it has strong themes of female empowerment. With Lisbeth being the titular character, it comes across as a book about a woman who’s been victimized (both before and during the novel) who overcomes not only her own attacker but also another prolific murderer/rapist, proving her strength and independence. While this is definitely true, and Steig Larsson succeeds in creating what Ms. Magazine calls a “feminist hero,” the theory that this novel is empowering may not hold up when looking at the rest of the women in the novel.

With the exception of Erika Berger, every main female character in the book is a victim. Lisbeth gets violently raped by her guardian, Harriet gets raped by her father and brother, Cecilia’s husband was abusive, Isabella’s husband was a drunk who also raped her children, all of Lisbeth’s friends have apparently been sexual assault victims, etc etc. The pattern is clear and not coincidental—Larsson definitely had a message to deliver.

But other than Salander, arguably none of the rest of the women got their own revenge. Harriet did kill her father when she was 15, but her only solution to escaping Martin’s grip was to run away and let him continue raping and killing immigrants and prostitutes. Lisbeth even calls her a bitch, saying, “If she had done something in 1966, Martin Vanger couldn’t have kept killing and raping for thirty-seven years” (pg.544). She got some revenge, but in the end was still a victim of her brother’s abuse.

Cecilia was beaten by her husband, but instead of getting any real revenge, she just moves out and never even files for divorce. Isabella, instead of standing up for herself and her children, lets her husband do whatever he wants and turns a blind eye. These women are unquestionably still victims years after their abuse.

Finally, the more “anonymous” women of the novel get no real revenge for all their pain. Lisbeth, “did not know a single girl who at some point had not been forced to perform some sort of sexual act against her will” (pg. 249), yet none of these friends got to tattoo and blackmail their attacker. And all of Martin’s victims got absolutely no revenge and, in the end, not even the press knew they were dead. They were victims in the strongest sense of the word, but never got closure.

While I am a fan of the whole “kickass girl power” thing regarding Lisbeth, I found it a little disturbing that regardless of the victimhood of every other woman in the novel, the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is still touted as a “feminist” novel.