15665 West 139th Street

Homer Glen, IL 60491

May 18, 2014

Kerri Green
Central Campus Principal
Lockport Township High School
1222 South Jefferson Street
Lockport, IL 60441

Dear Ms. Green:

My name is Sierra B. Goldstein, and I am currently a freshman enrolled in the Honors
English Program at Lockport. Over the past two weeks, I have read The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo for my independent novel project, and I am proposing that you add this particular novel to
the curriculum. It is important that adults shelter their younger children from certain things in the
world, but at the same time, it is just as important for the adults to also show their older children
the realities of the world despite how horrific they may seem. Although some of the content
within the novel should be deemed appropriate by the parental unit, the book should be included
in the required reading for some of the more mature English classes. Despite some controversy,
the book provides a realistic point of view on the victimization of women and personal
investigations in a thrilling way that will captivate the students and make them more avid
readers.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is divided into four parts, and at the beginning of each
part, there is a statistic given about the treatment of women in Sweden that refers to the present
day. It was said that eighteen percent of the women there have been threatened by a man, forty-
six percent have been subjected to violence by a man, thirteen percent have been subjected to
sexual assault outside of a relationship, and ninety-two percent of the women who have been
sexually assaulted have not reported it to the police. Throughout the book, the most discussed
topic is the victimization of women, and the whole plot of the story is to find the murderer and
the murder victim that are within the Vanger family. It was discovered that the person
responsible for the possible death of Harriet Vanger could be traced to numerous other grotesque
deaths, in which all of the victims were women. Students should read this because it is absolutely
paramount for them to understand that they cannot subject another human being to the
aforementioned abuse based on differences regarding religion, skin color, or in this case, gender.
There is a character in the book by the name of Lisbeth Salander, and she is a personal
investigator that eventually is hired to help with the Harriet Vanger murder case. Lisbeth, along
with many other women, was mistreated to say the least on two occasions in the book. Despite
these events in her life, she was able to save her partner, solve the mystery, and use her natural
abilities to escape dangerous situations in which she was subjected to violence. She is portrayed
as a brilliant, young heroine that can solve any case she is presented with and is not on any
occasion incorrect in her accusations. This character alone shows women that they are not
inferior to men, and that they can do any job a man can do if they apply themselves to their work.
Finally, the dysfunctionality of families is another topic that comes up in the book on several
occasions. In most situations, the Vanger family always seemed to be pitted against each other
for one reason or another. This divide seemed to stem from a fascist point of view on one side of
the family that eventually caused Gottfried Vanger, the father of Harriet Vanger, to become
violent towards his own family. He was a drunk, he abused his son and daughter, and he turned
out to be the murderer of many other women, especially the ones of Jewish descent. Later, he
taught his own son to commit the same actions he was committing, creating an even more
dysfunctional family. This just shows that family morals and values should be upheld as a
societal priority because even today in America, as many as two-thirds of the people in treatment
for drug abuse reported being abused or neglected as a child. Teaching students today about
family values will only help posterity become more responsible, upstanding men and women of
character.

Because of the mentioned evidences, I believe that the English department should not
only consider adding such literature into the curriculum, but discuss some of the key points such
as tolerance, victimization, courage, and family values in the classroom. This should be done to
make the children more informed of current events related to these topics, more understanding of
other peoples points of view, and more courageous when the time comes to stand up for
someone who is a victim. The main goal of education is to provoke critical thinking in the
classroom and to prepare the next generation for reality, and reading The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo with the permission of a parent or guardian, would do just that if read carefully and
analyzed thoroughly. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,



_________________________________

Sierra B. Goldstein