The Mute Boy and the Tattooed Girl - Character Study

                                    

One character lives in one book whereas the other lives in a trilogy. The two characters  that feature in these two books - Edgar Sawtelle in ‘The Story of Edgar Sawtelle’ by David Wroblewski and Lisabeth Salander in the Steig Larsson’s - Millennium trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with Fire and The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest). 

These four books introduced me to the new habit of reading books using my Ipad. This blog is an attempt to define the character of these two literary beings. I have divided this character study into three segments,  

1. A brief character profile.
2. Titular hero status.
3. Overlapping traits.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: 

Edgar Sawtelle is a story set amidst the world of dog breeding. The story is replete with terminologies related to dog breeding. Sawtelle is the name of the fictional breed of dogs that figure prominently in the book. Edgar is a mute boy and he is happy to live with his father and mother until the death of his father under suspicious circumstances. The death happens soon after the arrival of his paternal uncle who was leading an estranged life. Edgar has his own suspicions about his father’s death and is uneasy about the presence of his uncle at home and near his mother. Edgar decides to leave home and Almondine, his pet dog and embarks on a journey to the neighboring woods with three puppies. His life in the wild is portrayed in all its grandeur. His wanderings and the events are described in great detail. After a few weeks of wandering Edgar decides to return home and face his father’s killer and the woman who was once his mother. He faces his destiny in the fire engulfed Sawtelle kennel. 

The Tale of Lisabeth Salander 

Lisabeth is a young woman who possess a great knowledge about computers and the Internet. She uses modern gadgets like a iBook and the hacking software Asphyxia ( maybe fictional). She is an employee of Milton Security Agency. She appears in the first book - ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ and works as an assistant to Blomkvist , a journalist who is assigned with a private investigation by the head of a rich family in Sweden.  She helps him by digging information about his clients and at one point even saving him from the clutches of a sadistic sex pervert. In the second book she is after her father Zalenokov who had tortured her mother and had made her childhood a mess by putting her in the mental asylum. In this book titled - ‘The Girl Who Played with the Fire’ she is not with Blomkvist and she has amassed a fortune. The story ends with the death of her father and her subsequent hospitalization. The third book opens with the preparation for Lisabeth Salander’s trial. The concluding part of the trilogy titled ‘The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’ reveals to the reader Salander’s true identity and how she comes out of the courthouse a winner after burying her horrid past. 

Titular Hero Status: 

It is the boy versus the girl. The mute boy is Edgar Sawtelle and the tattooed girl is Lisabeth. Both of them are the titular heroes in their respective literary worlds. The stories revolves around them and they are the ones who take the fictional action forward. The authors have invested their time and energy to delineate them. Edgar has got a problem and he is bent on finding a solution to the same. His trip to the wilderness gives him a chance to explore his mind and take a decision. Lisabeth is quite capable of doing things in her own way and nothing can stop her from that. 

Character Overlapping:  

When I compared these two characters I found the following common traits in them:

1. Loneliness ( Solitude): Both the characters can be found searching for a lonely space in this world. They are not that social and are mostly inwardly in their pursuits. For Edgar, maybe his muteness is a reason and for Lisabeth Salander it is her troubled childhood. They spend time in solitude but emerge from this brief isolation, stronger and more determined about their causes. Edgar’s wild trip and Salander’s foreign trip are illustrations for this. 
2. Silence: They don’t speak much. For Edgar, this gives him more opportunity to see and hear more. Lisabeth is an introvert. The only person to whom she has opened her heart is her lesbian friend Minnie and to some extent she has reveled her inner thoughts to Blomkvist.   
3. Exploring / Adventurous: Both the characters are keen on adventure and they are risk takers. Edgar takes a great risk when he ventures out into the wilderness with no food and proper clothes accompanied by three yearling dogs. Salander takes on the mighty Swedish government using hacking tools and her network of hackers. 
4. Independent: Salander and Edgar are strong willed independent characters. They make their own decisions and carry on with the act of chasing their own destinies.