The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

On his way to Vanger’s house, Blomkvist bumps into Martin who invites him to dinner when he returns from a trip to Stockholm. Blomkvist interviews Vanger to keep track of the growing number of family members in his research. The Vangers date back to the 16th and possibly 12th centuries. Vanger Corporation began in the early 1900s, specializing in paper, steel, and textiles. According to old inheritance laws, only family members own a share of the business. Blomkvist narrows down his list to 23 relatives as potential suspects.

Vanger explains his contempt for his relatives when he reveals that three of his brothers–Richard, Harald, and Greger–were all involved in the Nazi movement. A fourth brother, Gustav, died early of lung disease and was not interested in politics or the family business. Harald, the only surviving brother at 92 and Blomkvist’s neighbor, had published an academic book using a pseudonym that supported eugenics, forced sterilization, and euthanasia. Vanger explains that Harald has despised him ever since Vanger married Edith, a Jewish woman he helped escape Germany in 1941. Edith died in 1958 of heart disease, but Harald’s hatred remains constant.

Meanwhile, Salander meets with Nils Erik Bjurman, a lawyer who has been appointed to take Holger Palmgren’s place as her legal guardian after he suffered a stroke. Since the age of 13, Salander has been a ward of the state, with the compassionate Palmgren as her trustee and later guardian. Dedicated to her welfare, Palmgren advised young Salander to consider the consequences of her actions and the risk of being institutionalized. She had lived in and out of a psychiatric clinic for children and various foster homes. No information is given about her traumatic childhood before her institutionalization, but the events in her past are referred to as “All That Evil” (180). She remained adamantly silent during school, interviews with social services, and psychiatric evaluations. Both medical and legal authorities diagnosed Salander based on her refusal to cooperate and described her with bloated terms like “ego-fixated,” “psychopathic,” and “incapable of assimilating learning” (175).

At 17, Salander was arrested for assault after she kicked a man in the head for groping her on the subway. Given her record, both doctors and social workers recommend her compulsory institutionalization at a psychiatric facility. At her hearing, Palmgren served as her attorney and convincingly argued that the psychiatric evaluations are baseless, as Salander’s silence was used to make assumptions about her mental and emotional abilities. The court appointed Palmgren as her legal guardian and, having grown to trust him, Salander agreed.

Palmgren’s replacement is the patronizing and abusive Bjurman. He inappropriately questions Salander about her piercings and revokes the financial independence she had with Palmgren. He takes control over her income and personal savings, instituting an allowance system with required receipts of her expenses. When he asks about her employment at Milton Security, Salander lies and tells him she works as a clerk. 

Blomkvist enjoys dinner one evening with Martin and his partner, Eva. Martin’s home is sleek and modern, with designer amenities and a sterile, impersonal style. In the following days, Cecilia Vanger, Harald’s daughter, introduces herself to Blomkvist. She is polite and shrewdly surmises that Blomkvist’s true assignment is to solve Harriet’s disappearance. She believes Harriet died in an accident and that Vanger is obsessive about finding her murderer. Blomkvist also encounters Isabella, Harriet’s mother, who is terse and tells him to mind his own business.

Blomkvist visits Detective Superintendent Morell, the original investigator of Harriet’s disappearance. Like Vanger, he is haunted by the unsolved case and believes Harriet was murdered. He confides that he has never stopped thinking of Harriet and describes a colleague’s similar obsession with the unsolved murder of a girl named Rebecka. Morell theorizes that Harriet may have had incriminating information concerning the company to report to Vanger, but when she went to speak to him about it that day, he was occupied. Though Morell was unable to find any evidence of a motive, he believes someone killed her to keep her from exposing a secret.

Blomkvist continues to pore over the police files, and the thought of his upcoming prison stay and his defeat by Wennerström depresses him. He finds some solace in petting the stray cat who has become a frequent visitor to his cabin. He learns that the cat’s name is Tjorven and is a fixture in the neighborhood. He has no luck speaking with Harald, a shadowy figure who rarely leaves his house. After a month of avoiding him, Berger calls Blomkvist and visits him.

That same Friday, Salander has her third meeting with Nils Bjurman. He interrogates her about her sex life and interprets her silence as her having an intellectual disability. Realizing that he will persist in harassing her, Salander makes up a partner and responds to his questions. When she becomes angry at his increasingly explicit questions, he merely smirks. Salander leaves his office disgusted and with the full understanding that Bjurman will be a “Major Problem” (220).

At a dinner with Vanger and Martin, Berger agrees to Vanger’s offer to become a partner in Millennium and reinstate Blomkvist as the publisher when he finishes his year in Hedeby. Unbeknownst to Blomkvist, Berger had discussed the terms with Vanger before her visit to Hedeby. Vanger believes the strategy will save the magazine and send a message to Wennerström that he has not escaped their scrutiny.

Continuing his research, Blomkvist reads Morell’s account of how Harriet had become more distant and religious in the years leading up to her disappearance. Unable to discern what may have caused her change, Morell had questioned Anita Vanger, Harriet’s closest companion. Unlike Harriet’s classmates and other family members who found Harriet distant, Anita describes Harriet as lively during the summer of 1966. A stranger clue is in Harriet’s diary, which lists the names Magda, Sara, and Mari and the initials R.J and R.L. with accompanying telephone numbers. Morell had attempted to decipher them, but each entry led to a dead end. Convinced that he has nothing to add to Morell’s thorough files, Blomkvist visits Cecilia. After a brief flirtation, the two sleep together.

Back in Stockholm, Salander’s laptop is damaged and she reluctantly meets Bjurman to request her own money to pay for a replacement. The narrative breaks to provide the legal definition of sexual assault on a person of dependence and the two-year sentence that would apply to Bjurman, “in theory” (241), for his initial attack. At his office, he sexually assaults her, first by forcing her to touch him and then forcing oral sex. Salander considers fighting with a mail opener but weighs the consequences of her defense against Bjurman’s legal authority. Bjurman threatens to have her institutionalized if she reports the assault, citing her legal status as “non compos mentis” (243): not of sound mind. He gives her a check, and Salander leaves the office, expressionless and shaken.