Memory and the Past Quotes in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph). We used Reg Keeland/a.k.a. Steven T. Murray's English language translation.

Quote #7

[Salander:] "He had that room for twenty-five years." (24.108)

That room has a hideous past. We can be sure the people who know about it will never forget it.

Quote #8

[Harriet:] "And when I looked up, there stood Martin." (26.116)

Harriet is telling Blomkvist about the day she kills her father. Martin saw her, and used the information to blackmail her into doing things he wants her to do. She's carried her secret for almost forty years.

Memory and the Past

Quote #9

Her mother's death meant the wound would never heal, since she would never now get an answer to the questions she had wanted to ask. (27.65).

This is the moment we realize that Salander herself doesn't know the secrets of her own past.