Book 3 Project: Character Comparison

In The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, can be compared to Peter Parker (Spiderman). Both of these characters can be seen as unlikely heroes because they aren’t the typical big and strong persona that people are used to associating with being a hero. Peter Parker is a nerdy teenager who deals with “rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness”. No one would suspect him of having the capability to fight villains. Salander is in a very similar boat because other characters acknowledge something off about her oddness. They’re both introverted and shy. Salander has very little trust in anyone else. When being interviewed by authorities and other people trying to help her, her lawyer, Giannini is confused by Salander’s attitude. “Salander seemed at times to be in a deep depression and had not the slightest interest in dealing with her situation or her future. She simply did not grasp or did not care that the only way Giannini could provide her with an effective defence would be if she had access to all the facts” (166). Giannini is thrown off be her behavior. She doesn’t know how this abnormal girl could’ve previously wedged an axe into her father’s head because she doesn’t see how Salander is intelligent enough to find him when police couldn’t. This is a lot like how Peter Parker is an awkward, clumsy boy which leads to people’s disbelief that he can be so fierce, strong, and agile as Spiderman. When the time comes, both Salander and Spiderman can turn on. Even as a petite nine year old girl, Salander was capable of bringing out a tough side. It was “reported that she was vicious and aggressive towards her father and that she seemed to be not in the least afraid of him” (104). When she feels she has to protect her mother, a whole different side emerges from her shy persona, much like how Peter Parker manages to be clever and quick as Spiderman compared to his uncoordinated life as Peter. Along with being unlikely heroes, Salander and Peter Parker both experienced difficult upbringings even though the degree is sufficiently different. Peter Parker dealt with the death of both of his parents leading to him being raised by his aunt and uncle who were a much older couple. Salander, on the other hand, was taken away from her mother when it was determined that she was unqualified to take care of children and her father was never in the picture. Because of a series events dealing with her abusive, government-protected father, she illegally ended up in psychiatric care where she was taken advantage of by a deranged doctor. Peter and Salander are both motivated by the past of their fathers. Peter Parker works to clear his parents’ names and prove that they weren’t traitors of the country. Obviously, Salander wants revenge on Zalachenko  because of all the damage he did to their family and since he is the underlying cause of her traumatic childhood.  On one incident in the hospital, “Salander spent the whole day brooding about Zalachenko. […] She had tracked him to Gosseberga fully intending to kill him. She had failed, with the result that Zalachenko was alive and tucked into bed just thirty feet from where she was” (122). She dedicated herself to revenge and Peter wanted justice for his parents in a similar fashion. Although Salander and Spiderman are very quirky characters, they both have a completely different side when it comes to getting justice. They came from troubled pasts and their motives are family related. Most importantly, both prevail.