be healthy and fuck everyone.

While in Genoa, Salander also undergoes one puzzling and dramatic body modification: breast augmentation surgery. … Femininity is an important issue with her, and on several occasions she is referred to both as childlike or doll-like … These descriptions give the impression that some might perceive her as a not-yet-fully adult woman in terms of responsibility, personal agency and sexuality.

As noted previously, Salander has a tendency to mark important events of her life on her body so as to imprint them in her narrative.

This time, instead of choosing a tattoo, she has cosmetic surgery.

She may be using the surgery to mark both the ending of her relationship with Blomkvist and her sudden independence, thanks to her new comfortable financial situation and change in status after so many years of guardianship.

So why does Salander fall apart and shut Blomkvist out completely at the end of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? She is on her way to do the incredible - declare her love for him - but she sees him in an intimate conversation with Erika Berger and is convinced that they are about to go to his apartment to have sex. Certainly this would be a hurtful and frightening situation for anyone, but Salander’s reaction is extreme, almost violent. She won’t return his calls and emails and eventually leaves the country. The severity of her reaction can be understood psychoanalytically as a defense mechanism at work. Discovering that she was in love with Blomkvist was so terrifying and shattering that she used the sighting of him and Berger as an excuse to suddenly shift directions and run away. At this point in her psychological development, she ultimately could not handle the threat that closeness - and the implied potential for loss or betrayal - meant for her.

Two porcupines understand the prickliness of one another; they don’t suddenly run to embrace each other but instead to warily approach their compatriot. So it is not surprising that one schizoid person could find comfort and companionship with another. Both will be careful to avoid intrusion and excessive neediness. Both will spend much time inside themselves, and would find it a great relief not to have to explain this or to be met with a partner’s demands for attention. They can achieve a uniquely comforting state of being “alone together”. It is precisely because Blomkvist keeps his distance and respects her remoteness that he is able to get into her heart.

In many ways, Blomkvist also fits the picture of a schizoid personality; he too avoids too much closeness and erects thick walls around himself. As his sister says at the end of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, “My brother is completely irresponsible when it comes to relationships. He screws his way through life and doesn’t seem to grasp how much it can hurt those women who think of him as more than an affair.” The key point in this characterization is the phrase “he doesn’t seem to realize”. It’s not unlike Salander’s “forgetting” to pay attention to her friends. He is polyamorous, which in Blomkvist’s case also means he doesn’t get too close or dependent on any one person. He rarely sees his daughter and, though fond of her, when he is not with her he seems almost to forget she exists. His longest and most cherished relationship is with a woman married to another man. He often lives deeply inside himself, profoundly engaged with crafting stories he feels passionately about. He craves solitude.