It’s very rare that I go along with trends. I hardly ever go see popular
movies. I can’t say I own any
current popular music. I can’t
even name 5 of the most current popular bands or musicians on the Top 40 radio
stations right now…even if my life depended on it. That’s why I surprised myself that I jumped into Stieg
Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy of
books.
The reason I finally did make the plunge had nothing to do
with their popularity. Sometime
well after The Girl With the Dragon
Tattoo had been made into an American Movie, I found out that these books
were actually translations of Swedish books. I found out that these books took place mostly within
Sweden. That is what hooked
me. My ancestors on one side of my
family came from Sweden, and that is the side I know the least about, and
probably in some way to “connect,” I decided to read the first book – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – and
since then, I had to keep reading until I finished the other 2 books – The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.
To be honest, these books are standard issue modern popular
crime novels. The plots are not
too deep beyond the crimes at hand, though there are many twists and turns
keeping the action fast paced. The
characters are not multi-dimensional, and they are often predictable. In order to fit with “modernity,” there
are often sex-scenes that are completely unnecessary to the plot and only
slightly advance the subplots of the love lives of the characters.
Where the books do succeed extremely well is in the
portrayal of the protagonist – Lisbeth Salander. Yes, Salander is still a type-casted character, but whether
intentional or not, she is a symbol of much deeper societal issues.
Some may say I’m overanalyzing Salander, and that is
probably the truth. On the other
hand, Salander is a character that represents much more than just a person in a
crime novel. She represents a
sizable segment of the population that goes unnoticed, ignored, despised,
shunned, and hated.
It’s impossible for me or anyone else to analyze anything
from a completely neutral point of view.
I therefore can only analyze Salander from my own point of view that is
shaped by my own experiences and biases.
If you’ve read anything that I’ve written on this blog, you’ll know that
I’m writing from an unapologetic Christian standpoint. That said, I also write from a
sympathetic point of view that not all people are afforded the same
opportunities to make the same choices as others, and therefore, in some way,
though I don’t completely understand how it will work, I believe we are
responsible only for what we know.
With that, those of us in privileged positions, rather than flaunting
them, should reach out to in a spirit of genuine friendship and caring to those
whom we can reach in hopes of providing them the opportunity to do the same for
others.
SPOILER ALERT:
Lisbeth Salander, the unlikely protagonist, is the victim of a
complicated string of crimes involving national security stemming from a political
refugee abusing her mother when Lisbeth was a teenager causing brain damage to
her mother leading to her death in years to come. Lisbeth set fire to this political refugee (who was also her
biological father) setting off a series of events which caused her to be put in
a psychiatric ward in the name of “national security,” and the political
refugee allowed to be cleared of all crimes. Only in the end of the trilogy is all of this exposed and
justice is done.
Salandar is a caricature of many things that are wrong with
our society, however, rather than deserving our condemnation, the Salanders of
our world deserve our sympathy and our assistance. While they may have chosen some unwise and unhealthy paths,
the first path of destruction was chosen for them by us – society.
12 Year Old Salander had no choice when she was sent to the
Psychiatric Unit because no one would listen to her. How many children today live in sheer terror because no one
will listen to them? They are
abused. They are forced into prostitution. They are witnesses to serious
crimes. They go home to houses
with no adult supervision. They go
home to houses with no food. They
have no homes. These children are
voiceless. No one will listen.
I was a teacher for 10 years. A student who I knew had very serious issues came to me
after developing trust in me and shared information. I called social services and had to wait until 6 PM at the
school for one particular person to call me back. I was told there was nothing they could do. This student – this child – had no
voice. This student was
essentially condemned to the streets.
More than 10 years later, I did a “Google Search,” and I was right. This student is in prison. As hard as I tried, no one listened.
After being released from the Psychiatric Unit, Salander
became a socially awkward, and engaged in self-harmful behaviors, though she
lived by a code of self-protection and self-preservation. Those may seem to be contradictory behaviors,
and they are, but in reality, those behaviors usually work hand in hand. Salandar was sexually promiscuous,
refused to become friendly with anyone, engaged in heavy drinking too often,
remained a loner who trusted no one, and used people only to achieve her own
ends without worrying about their needs or feelings. These same behaviors also protected her – she didn’t have to
worry about anyone breaking into her life again as she did in her
childhood. She could keep
relationships at a distance and only worry about herself. Her fears and worries were numbed by
her promiscuity and drinking.
Such are the consequences when society shuns or forgets
people. All day, we can argue that
people just have to pull themselves up by the bootstraps to make it in life,
but if you have no boots, that is impossible. Yes, there are exceptions to every case, and someone can
find many counter examples where someone defeated the odds and “made it” in
life. There are tens of millions
of more examples of those who couldn’t.
Yes, I said, “couldn’t,” not, “wouldn’t.”
Salander never stood a chance to know how to live in
society. She lived in an
institution for much of her teenage years, and then was turned out on her
own. How was she expected to know
how to function like a “productive” adult? How do we expect people who are raised in urban housing
projects overrun by gangs to know how to get out when they are adults? How do we expect someone raised in
homeless shelters to know how to buy a home? How do we expect someone abused throughout childhood to know
how to show appropriate love and affection if they are not taught?
Why does society blame the Salanders of today? Let me narrow the question. Why do Christians blame the Salanders
of today? Shouldn’t Christians be
the LAST to place blame? Isn’t it
the call of EVERY Christian to reach out to the Salanders of today?
I believe that somewhere along the way, Jesus’ message was
misunderstood. Good Christian
people started to misunderstand.
Jesus never said we have to accept what the Salanders do. We never have to approve of their
lifestyles. We never have to
approve of anything. We do have to
approve of EVERYONE. Salander was
once an innocent little child. She
was damaged by watching her father literally beat the life out of her mother. She was destroyed by the system that
was there to protect her.
Today’s outsiders are tomorrow’s potential insiders OR they
can be the breeders of more outsiders.
The choice is ours, not theirs.
Salander didn’t have the choice, but everyone else did.
No comments:
Post a Comment