Gender Quotes in The Girl Who Played With Fire

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

He's planning to murder her. Forty million in the pot. The storm is his camouflage. This is his chance. (3.79)

When the novel opens, Salander is in Grenada, and she encounters an American couple Richard and Geraldine Forbes. She realizes Richard is abusing Geraldine and then learns he's planning to murder her for her money. Salander foils his plans and sets the tone for the rest of the novel's much more complicated plot which centers around the abuse of women by men involved in the sex trade.

Quote #2

Dag: "It's a tremendous assault on human rights, and the girls involved are so far down society's ladder that they're of no interest to the legal system." (4.127)

The novel wants us to spend some time thinking about prostitutes, some of the most vulnerable people in any society and how prostitutes aren't usually given equal protection under the law, or anywhere else.

Quote #3

"Dag's book is a polemic aimed at the people who are making money from trafficking. My thesis is statistics, field studies, law texts, and a study of how society and the courts treat the victims. (5.32)

Together, Dag and Mia are planning to try to expose the men who profit from the sex trade. They also want to expose the larger problem of how the women involved in the sex trade are further victimized by society and court systems which see them as worthless and unimportant.