Violence against women has always been prevalent in our society. Although it may have become less frequent over the years, it has not diminished. Violence against women has deep roots in our society, which makes it hard to get rid of. There are many factors which affect violence against women. The novel ' The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' originally titled 'Men Who Hate Women' was written by Steig Larsson. Set in modern times; the story revolves around a missing girl who was believed to have been murdered. Her Uncle Henrik Vanger hires two socially isolated investigators named Lisbeth Salander, and Blomkvist Mikael. These two work together and try to find out what had happened to Henrik's grandniece. In the novel Stieg Larsson depicts how violence
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By isolating a woman from her basic needs like family, or money, she instantly becomes dependent on other people, who are in a position to exploit them. For example, when Salander expresses, "Taking away a person's control of her own life... is one of the greatest infringements a democracy can impose"(Larsson 246), she is referring to her situation with her guardian. She is completely dependent on him for money, which basically leads to him controlling her life. By giving control of her life to a stranger, she is in the perfect condition to get exploited. When Salander is in need of money for a new laptop, she gets denied by her guardian. When she stresses the importance of the laptop for her job, Bjurman, her guardian abuses his power and blackmails Salander into giving him oral sex. She goes through with this as she needs the laptop to do her job, which pays for most her basic needs. Bjurman blackmails Salander by saying " If you be nice to me. I'll be nice to you... If you make trouble, I can put you away in an institution for the rest of your life (Larsson 243). He uses his control over Salander's bank account to threaten her. He also ends up raping Salander when she goes to his apartment to ask for more money. Her isolation leads to her being put in a situation where someone else is in control of her, making her an easy target. Also, her low social status helped Bjurman's …show more content…
The lower the social value of women, the higher is the chance she gets targeted by a rapist or has to face some other form of violence. In the novel Armansky, Salander's boss is described as "bewildered and angry with himself for having so obviously misjudged her"(Larsson 2.37). He does so by judging her from her torn black clothes, many piercings, and her tattoo. From his first impressing he says that "he had taken her for stupid, maybe even retarded." By this Armansky is implying that Salander's appearance makes her look like an easy target for other people, as she looks dumb and poor. Also, after being raped by Bjurman Salander is hesitant towards going to the police as she thought, "The police were not an option"(Larsson 178). She thought so as the police would most likely not believe what she said. They would most likely conclude that it was her fault that she got raped. To them, Salander would just be another girl who dressed bad, had piercings and tattoo's, so in a way she was asking for it. Also, rape was a common crime and nobody ever looked again at a sexual assault as a crime in Sweden at the time. There was no point for Salander to go to the police for justice. Martin also explains how he chooses his victims when he says " the ones who won't be missed," and the ones "who go unnoticed" (Larsson 347). By this, he means he evaluates his victims according to their social status.
By isolating a woman from her basic needs like family, or money, she instantly becomes dependent on other people, who are in a position to exploit them. For example, when Salander expresses, "Taking away a person's control of her own life... is one of the greatest infringements a democracy can impose"(Larsson 246), she is referring to her situation with her guardian. She is completely dependent on him for money, which basically leads to him controlling her life. By giving control of her life to a stranger, she is in the perfect condition to get exploited. When Salander is in need of money for a new laptop, she gets denied by her guardian. When she stresses the importance of the laptop for her job, Bjurman, her guardian abuses his power and blackmails Salander into giving him oral sex. She goes through with this as she needs the laptop to do her job, which pays for most her basic needs. Bjurman blackmails Salander by saying " If you be nice to me. I'll be nice to you... If you make trouble, I can put you away in an institution for the rest of your life (Larsson 243). He uses his control over Salander's bank account to threaten her. He also ends up raping Salander when she goes to his apartment to ask for more money. Her isolation leads to her being put in a situation where someone else is in control of her, making her an easy target. Also, her low social status helped Bjurman's …show more content…
The lower the social value of women, the higher is the chance she gets targeted by a rapist or has to face some other form of violence. In the novel Armansky, Salander's boss is described as "bewildered and angry with himself for having so obviously misjudged her"(Larsson 2.37). He does so by judging her from her torn black clothes, many piercings, and her tattoo. From his first impressing he says that "he had taken her for stupid, maybe even retarded." By this Armansky is implying that Salander's appearance makes her look like an easy target for other people, as she looks dumb and poor. Also, after being raped by Bjurman Salander is hesitant towards going to the police as she thought, "The police were not an option"(Larsson 178). She thought so as the police would most likely not believe what she said. They would most likely conclude that it was her fault that she got raped. To them, Salander would just be another girl who dressed bad, had piercings and tattoo's, so in a way she was asking for it. Also, rape was a common crime and nobody ever looked again at a sexual assault as a crime in Sweden at the time. There was no point for Salander to go to the police for justice. Martin also explains how he chooses his victims when he says " the ones who won't be missed," and the ones "who go unnoticed" (Larsson 347). By this, he means he evaluates his victims according to their social status.