allyraito

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“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.” (1): thus we enter the dark, amorous world of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Extolled as art in some circles and vilified as pornography in others, Lolita is the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive love for the adolescent Dolores Haze. At the surface it is a confession written from a prison cell, a work of art taking the reader from the heights of his love to the very nadir of his existence. Humbert’s beautiful but selective use of language, however, only serves to further his purpose: it blinds the reader to the evil writhing at the heart of the novel – the stripping of innocence of a twelve-year-old girl. [DAVID SUGGESTS: MAKE PARAGRAPH LONGER]

The novel begins with an introduction by "John Ray, Jr., Ph.D." who informs the reader of his task in editing "Lolita, or the Confession of a White Widowed Male". He tells the reader at the very start that the writer of the manuscript, with the self-ascribed cognomen "Humbert Humbert", died of coronary thrombosis and informs us of the fate of several of the other characters. His review on the "offensive" qualities of the work, however, is mixed. He sets aside several lines to assure us of Humbert's depravity, accuses him of "diabolical cunning", calls him "horrible... abject... a shining example of moral leprosy..." (5) At the very end of this eloquent arraignment, however, John Ray admits to Humbert's enchanting prose style: "But how magically his singing violin can conjure up a tendresse, a compassion for Lolita that makes us entranced with the book while abhorring its author!" Who is this man, who can evoke such a sigh of sentimentality from someone whose job it is to pick apart people's faults? Humbert Humbert, though the object of numerous female's desires - a well-read and exceedingly fluent being - has an intense dislike for most people. His childhood lover, with whom he had abruptly interrupted intimate relations (the origin, he believes, of his pedophiliac tendencies), was the only person he ever had a close relationship with. With everyone else he is cold, distant, immeasurably aware of their shortcomings, their flaws, their hypocrisies. This detachment may help him cover up his dark secret: his concupiscent desires for young girls, self-described "nymphets" whom he describes as girls "who, to certain bewitched travelers… reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demonaic)… “ (16) The highlight of his life is meeting the remarkable nymphet Lolita... the point at which “The twenty-five years I [Humbert] had lived since then, tapered to a palpitating point, and vanished”. (39)

As ornamental and elaborate as Humbert's diction proves to be throughout the novel, several elements should keep the reader from assuming that it is, if not an inaccurate, at least a thoroughly unreliable account. The reader should not take anything Humbert Humbert says for granted. After all, in this novel the assumed “reader” is not a generic audience but the “ladies and gentlemen of the jury”. Humbert is writing this piece in a prison cell and, he claims, will use it “in toto at my trial…” (308) This, then, is not intended as a cathartic piece but as a work of exculpatory evidence. Everything he writes will be slightly skewed in his favor since he is well aware that the “readers” holds his life in their hands: this supports the idea that his is an unreliable narration. Numerous times throughout the novel he will interject a comment or two in his favor, pleading with the reader to believe something that will make him look better. One example of him quickly trying to stifle the impact of his “immoral” thoughts is on an excursion with Charlotte Haze on Hourglass Lake. He contemplates and mentally plans out the murder of his wife, only to realize that he could never “ make… [himself] put her to death” (87). The horror the audience might feel at this point – at the fact that he would kill his wife to get to her daughter – becomes transformed into near-pity as Humbert discusses what a miserable life pedophiles have. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the majority of sex offenders… are innocuous, inadequate, passive, timid strangers who merely ask the community to allow them to pursue their practically harmless, so-called aberrant behavior… without the police and society cracking down upon them. We are not sex fiends! We do not rape as good soldiers do. We are unhappy, mild, dog-eyed gentlemen… ready to give years and years of life for once chance to touch a nymphet. Emphatically, no killers are we. Poets never kill.” (87-88) This is a dramatic tone shift from the cold and calculating language of "make myself put her to death". Use of the words put her to death, instead of kill her, suggests she is not even worthy of the human rage and emotion inherent in actively killing. Rather, she is a nuisance who should be passively, robotically removed: something only a cold-blooded man could so calmly suggest. It is extremely ironic that after using this frigid diction he takes the time to elaborate upon his "unhappy, mild, dog-eyed" nature. This convenient interjection in the midst of his homicidal thoughts helps support the idea that the object of this narrative is not that of a “confession” – rather, a carefully calculated attempt to avoid permanent confinement in the prison cell he is writing from.

After a journey to Arctic Canada, Humbert experiences a bout of insanity, “(if to melancholia and a sense of insufferable oppression that cruel term must be applied)” (34). The reader should keep in mind that this may be a downplaying of what actually happened. People are not typically incarcerated for being “down in the dumps”, as his description seems to imply. Humbert’s attitude toward the psychiatrists trying to cure him is sarcastic, biting. He says that his cure came from the discovery that “there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists… leading them on; never letting them see that you know all the tricks of the trade; inventing for them elaborate dreams… teasing them with fake “primal scenes”; and never allowing them the slightest glimpse of one’s real sexual predicament.”(34) This is a prime example of Humbert being manipulative and mendacious. This deceit is almost a palliative for him, a “sport”. This attitude towards his psychiatrists parallels the attitude between himself and the reader. The psychiatrists, like the readers (“the jury”), are in positions of power. They both see him as a man with a “problem”, be it mental or legal. Both of their jobs are to “figure him out”. It is this close scrutiny that Humbert detests, something the reader can observe time and time again throughout the novel. Humbert’s animosity towards the psychiatrists may parallel his dislike of the readers and, thus, support his unwillingness to give them the “whole” story.

But why is Humbert so defensive about what the psychiatrists might find in the first place? They cannot harm him, or publicize their findings. Though Humbert is obviously skeptical about their ability, their purpose is to help him. Humbert’s resistance to any attempt to support him, “cure” him of his unidentified illness is only an impediment to his “getting better” and the potential removal of his socially stigmatic illness. It is as though he does not want to be cured, as though he wants to believe that society will reshape itself and allow him to follow his heart’s desires – an almost impossible idea that helps support his lack of touch with reality. As previously mentioned, Humbert’s reasons for incarceration may have been played down, suggesting that things more obviously indicative of mental illness, such as nervous breakdowns or erratic behaviors, may have occurred. Suggested eccentricities aside, Humbert’s odd behaviors in the asylum do little to support his sanity. His unwarranted dislike for psychiatrists, as well as his glee at discovering he had been wrongly diagnosed, are not within the spectrum of “normal” behavior. His extended stay of a month – be it self-chosen as he claims, or forcibly determined by the staff – only helps support his mental instability. If the extended stay were self-chosen, it does not qualify as “normal” behavior because he is only staying to torment the staff. If it were forced, it means the staff did not think he was well enough to leave, and he is an unreliable narrator for warping the message. His period in the sanatorium is characterized by his belief that he is in control of the situation, when in reality he is not. His three incarcerations, and his behavior during the third (the only one examined in depth, perhaps because he does not want to admit the extent of his illness in the first two) serve to support the idea that Humbert is mentally ill and, therefore, an unreliable narrator.

Lolita: Victim or Vixen?
Thesis Statement: In the novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, the prepubescent character Lolita (Dolores Haze) is victimized by the main character Humbert Humbert. This is supported by his unreliable biased narration.

The novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, is the story of Humbert Humbert and his relationship with the “nymphet” Dolores Haze, who the pedophilic main character coined “Lolita”. Throughout the novel, Humbert constantly tries to seduce the reader into sympathizing and belittling the severity of the crimes he commits against the 12-year-old Lolita through the use of beautiful, amorous language, that makes the reader forget what is happening at the heart of the novel: the complete stripping of innocence of a prepubescent girl.

OR

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul." (1) Thus we enter the dark, amorous world of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Characterized by the Russian-born author's crafty manipulation of the English language, Lolita is the story of the self-christened Humbert Humbert and his relationship with the "nymphet" Dolores Haze, whom the pedophilic main character coins "Lolita". Throughout the novel, Humbert constantly tries to seduce the reader into sympathizing and belittling the severity of the crimes he commits against the 12-year-old Lolita through the use of beautiful, repentant language. The reader, in this case, is presumed to be the "ladies and the gentlemen of the jury", the audience to whom his case is being presented and on whom his future depends. It is his plea for innocence: woven into the fabric of the novel is an inherent bias in the author's favor. The reader is made to sympathize with him and his situation, see him as guiltless and innocent. The ornate, selective linguistics at times makes the reader forget what is happening at the heart of the novel: the complete stripping of the innocence of a prepubescent girl.

Humbert Humbert is a British professor of literature whose penchant for “nymphets”, as he describes the young girls he is attracted to, stems from a childhood encounter with a 14-year-old lover named Annabel Leigh. Right before their love could have been consummated on “a desolate stretch of sand” (13) he was interrupted by “two bearded bathers… with exclamations of ribald encouragement”. Humbert believes that this generated in him a fixation for girls that age, though, he confesses, his love for Lolita will soon “eclipse completely her prototype” (40). He describes nymphets as girls “who, to certain bewitched travelers… reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demonaic)… “ (16) In order to determine which little girl is a nymphet, he says, “You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of ininite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine…” (17) Humbert soon engages in most behaviors typically associated with pedophilia, such as lurking around school-grounds, playgrounds, public pools, and other places where children are commonly found. He marries his first wife, the childlike Valeria, in an attempt to concentrate and “cure” his disease, to no avail.

Humbert Humbert is a British professor of literature whose penchant for “nymphets”, as he describes the young girls he is attracted to, stems from a childhood encounter with a 14-year-old lover named Annabel Leigh. Right before their love could have been consummated on “a desolate stretch of sand” (13) he was interrupted by “two bearded bathers… with exclamations of ribald encouragement”. Humbert believes that this generated in him a fixation for girls that age, though, he confesses, his love for Lolita will soon “eclipse completely her prototype” (40). However, at the same time as he is psychoanalyzing himself, he is rejecting the advice and guidance of actual psychoanalysts. He suffers a "bout with insanity" and is sent to a sanatorium, where "...[he] discovered... there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists..." (34) His previous experience with mental illness suggests that his narrative may not be as coherent or lucid as can be hoped for in the stereotypical "reliable narrator". More telling, however, is his relationship towards psychiatrists. Not only do his behaviors and attitudes towards them serve as the ultimate impediment to his getting "better", but they also foreshadow one of the vital elements of this multi-layered novel: his manipulation of the reader.
AND/OR
He describes nymphets as girls “who, to certain bewitched travelers… reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demonaic)… “ (16) In order to determine which little girl is a nymphet, he says, “You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of ininite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine…” (17) Humbert soon engages in most behaviors typically associated with pedophilia, such as lurking around school-grounds, playgrounds, public pools, and other places where children are commonly found. He marries his first wife, the childlike Valeria, in an attempt to concentrate and “cure” his disease, to no avail.

THIS WAS NEW PARAGRAPH
He describes nymphets as girls “who, to certain bewitched travelers… reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demonaic)… “ (16) In suggesting that they are demonaic, ethereal, he is also implying that as a mere mortal he has no control over his love, his actions. In order to determine which little girl is a nymphet, he says, “You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of ininite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine…” (17) By describing these pedophiliac elements with physical, somatic terms, he is suggesting that they are biological in origin. This helps support the idea that his pedophilia is a disease, and thus uncontrollable nor his fault - not a mindset, which can be adjusted.

Past evidence into the life of Humbert Humbert reveals that he has had frequent trips to mental hospitals and has visited several psychologists for his “disease”. However, despite actually trying to draw help from these psychologists, he tends to scorn them and reject their psychoanalytic advice, defeating the whole purpose of his attending therapy in the first place. “I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on… inventing for them elaborate dreams… and never allowing them the slightest glimpse into one’s real sexual predicament.” (34) From this, the reader can evince that Humbert Humbert enjoys scorning others, ridiculing them from his European, literature-professor pedestal. He enjoys making fun of and belittling other people; very few people who could “find him out” are safe from his biting interpretation. The very first time he meets Lolita’s mother, Charlotte, he describes her as “obviously, one of those women whose polished words may reflect a book club… or any other deadly conventionality, but never her soul; women who are completely devoid of humor…” (37) The only thing that keeps him in the house (he is at first a prospective renter) and eventually convinces him to marry the woman he despises is the young Lolita, who he is introduced to in Charlotte Haze’s garden just as he is affirming to himself how shallow and horrendous the place is. His desire is mad, convulsive, as soon as he sees her “The twenty-five years I [Humbert] had lived since then, tapered to a palpitating point, and vanished”. (39)

This newly-introduced character, a typical American girl, exhibits healthy pre-adolescent traits and mannerisms. Her mother, who has strained relationships with Lo, describes her as “a regular pest… All she wanted from life was to be one day a strutting and prancing baton twirler or a jitterbig… Of course, moodiness is a common concomitant of growing up, but Lo exaggerates. Sullen and evasive. Rude and defiant.” (46) It is precisely this sassy, fiery attitude which attracts Humbert to Lolita, however, which identifies her as a “nymphet” and not a normal girl. Her speech exemplifies the prepubescent argot of that time period: “I think you stink” and “This is a free country” are colloquialisms spat out by the sarcastic young girl, who is striving to find her identity in America in the 1940’s. Making this journey more difficult is living in a household with an angry, loud mother with issues of her own. Though never deeply touched upon in the novel, the absence of a father-figure in her life surely plays a role in her behavior, perhaps giving her a skewed view of males and love since for most of her life she did not have the paternal, nurturing presence of a father, who might have counteracted Charlotte’s shrill eccentricities.

Throughout the novel Humbert himself refers to Lolita as “corrupt”, “shallow”, a “disgustingly conventional little girl” (148). This reflects the way
(Cite) (Fix) Critics of Lolita’s behavior, those who believe that she seduced Humbert Humbert, dragged him to the nadir of his existence, drove him mad, describe her as “corrupt”, as “shallow”, and as a “brat”, all of these being descriptive terms Humbert uses for her at some point of another. They believe that she is aware of the control she has over him and uses it to her advantage in order to procure money, treats and privileges from his ever-willing pocket. Because of the tense relationship with her mother, they believe that she hated her and saw her going off with Humbert as an assault against her, and that future repercussions of that decision were deserved and karmic.

Power relationships which make it difficult to assert independence and personal desires, since they are constantly subject to that of the other. As a daughter, she has to be led by what her “father” feels is “right” for her, it is considered his filial responsibility to make life choices regarding her welfare. As the elder person, he is stronger and wiser than her and thus any opinion she has may be belittled by her youth & lack of experience. As a male he feels he has to be protective & possessive of her and keep her safe from the claws of like-minded males. ALL OF THESE POWER SPECTRUMS, HOWEVER, are skewed by the fact that he is in love, in lust with Lolita and thus it can’t be determined whether he is doing things for “her own good” or for his. He is using these power spectrums to his advantage, to confine her and keep her with him to satisfy his nymphet desires under the guise of doing it for her own well-being. (father-daughter, elder-adolescent, male-female)

The death of Lolita’s mother is a major cause of the power spectrum. “You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go.” She is essentially helpless without him, without shelter, food, family, etc;. She is basically relying on him for all her needs, relying on him as she would the real Harold Haze (her original father, though Humbert tells others he is the real father) except that in return he demands sexual favors in a transaction no less dirty and loveless than prostitution. Except that Lolita has no choice other than to engage in these transactions except to turn him into the police. Why doesn’t she turn him into the police? Examine reasons why close relatives of pedophiles are not reported, trust factors, hassle, fear of police, etc;

How does Humbert abuse the power spectrum? He promises her things and then takes them away last-minute in order to keep her rapt attention and garnish some promise out of her, usually in the form of sexual favors, the reward of which is quickly repealed when it no longer seems convenient for him. For example, Lolita requests money and privileges for sexual favors she knows he can’t resist, he is essentially helpless to her but still achieves his ends through hypocritical and manipulative means. After he initially gives her the money he tries taking it back from her, denouncing her “decline in morals” even though she rightfully earned that money in the first place.

Most prominent example of the victimization of Lolita is her sobbing each and every night when she thinks Humbert is asleep, something he doesn’t admit until about 100 nights of crying: shows how he is a MANIPULATIVE, unreliable narrator: “…and her sobs in the night-every night, every night- the moment I feigned sleep” (176).

(Only gives her the news of her mother’s demise after he has gone to bed with her)

Also her facial expressions, which throughout the novel express extreme sadness, despair, though not intentionally: “I saw Lolita’s smile lose all its light and become a frozen little shadow of itself”(286) in observing normal, happy filial interactions, indicating how emotionally starved she is since she has no normal home life
-Humbert doesn’t want the manuscript published until after Lolita’s death under guise of “not parading her around in real life”: keeps Lolita from disputing any lies, casts shadow over veracity of the story as a whole

Humbert’s standard manipulative nature: in his constant mendacity, such as in feigning love for Charlotte, keeping important things from Lolita, not seeing her as a person but an object (little focus on her mind, just her body, actions, etc; [Expand upon]: “It struck me, as my automaton knees went up and down, that I simply did not know a thing about my darling’s mind…”(284)), his prior stay in mental asylums, disregards standard society in order to protect his little Lolita seraglio, etc;

CONCLUSION


Bibliography

Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Olympia Press, 1955.
Proffer, Carl R. Keys to Lolita. Indiana Unviersity Press, 1968.

Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran. Random House, 2003.

Appel, Alfred. Introduction. The Annotated Lolita. Ed. A. Appel. New York: Vintage, 1991.

Trilling, Lionel. "The Last Lover: Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita." Encounter 11 (Oct. 1958): 9-19.
Richard Rorty. Ch. 7, "The Barber of Kasbeam: Nabokov on Cruelty." In Contingency, irony, and solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989. Pp. 141-168.


-Thesis
-Background into Humbert & his pedophilia
-Support: What makes Humbert a “bad” person?
-Who is Lolita? What makes her a nymphet?
-Is Lolita a brat? How does Humbert’s narrative influence the reader’s POV?
-How power relationships affect the relationship between Lolita and Humbert
-Evidence of Lolita’s victimization
-Conclusion


Intro: Unreliable narrator is covering up Lolita’s victimization

Exp: P1: Who is Humbert?

-Psychiatric stays support mental instability which supports unreliable narration
-relationship towards psychiatrists are biggest evidence he is messing around with the reader
-The reader is the jury
-narration will be skewed in his favor
-repentant, guiltless diction
-doesn’t want manuscript published until Lo’s death

Exp: P2: Meets Loli, journal, marries Charlotte, Mom dies, sex, cross-country; who is Lolita?
-Romantic imagery supports objectification (also... "nymphets are demonaic", language suggests that he is unable to control himself against otherworldly forces)
-Biased diction tries to support his victimization; “brat”, “decline in morals”. Tries placing blame on her to make himself look better.
-His abuse of power spectrum and how he abuses/justifies it.
-Placement/time of release of information. Ex. Mom is dead; she cries every night
Exp: P3: Being followed, Lo runs away, finds her, kills Quilty
-Farcifying Quilty’s death, “real”, “latent” crime made romantic, dulled
-Parody of confession, repentance (284), help (final line)
-opposed to capital punishment
-Conclusion


“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.” (1): thus we enter the dark, amorous world of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Extolled as art in some circles and vilified as pornography in others, Lolita is the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive love for the adolescent Dolores Haze. At the surface it is a confession written from a prison cell, a work of art taking the reader from the heights of his love to the very nadir of his existence. Humbert’s beautiful but selective use of language, however, only serves to further his purpose: it blinds the reader to the evil writhing at the heart of the novel – the stripping of innocence of a twelve-year-old girl. [DAVID SUGGESTS: MAKE PARAGRAPH LONGER]


As ornamental and elaborate as Humbert's diction proves to be throughout the novel, several elements should keep the reader from assuming that it is, if not an inaccurate, at least a thoroughly unreliable account. The reader should not take anything Humbert Humbert says for granted. After all, in this novel the assumed “reader” is not a generic audience but the “ladies and gentlemen of the jury”. Humbert is writing this piece in a prison cell and, he claims, will use it “in toto at my trial…” (308) This, then, is not intended as a cathartic piece but as a work of exculpatory evidence. Everything he writes will be slightly skewed in his favor since he is well aware that the “readers” holds his life in their hands: this supports the idea that his is an unreliable narration. Numerous times throughout the novel he will interject a comment or two in his favor, pleading with the reader to believe something that will make him look better. One example of him quickly trying to stifle the impact of his “immoral” thoughts is on an excursion with Charlotte Haze on Hourglass Lake. He contemplates and mentally plans out the murder of his wife, only to realize that he could never “ make… [himself] put her to death” (87). The horror the audience might feel at this point – at the fact that he would kill his wife to get to her daughter – becomes transformed into near-pity as Humbert discusses what a miserable life pedophiles have. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the majority of sex offenders… are innocuous, inadequate, passive, timid strangers who merely ask the community to allow them to pursue their practically harmless, so-called aberrant behavior… without the police and society cracking down upon them. We are not sex fiends! We do not rape as good soldiers do. We are unhappy, mild, dog-eyed gentlemen… ready to give years and years of life for once chance to touch a nymphet. Emphatically, no killers are we. Poets never kill.” (87-88) This is a dramatic tone shift from the cold and calculating language of "make myself put her to death". Use of the words put her to death, instead of kill her, suggests she is not even worthy of the human rage and emotion inherent in actively killing. Rather, she is a nuisance who should be passively, robotically removed: something only a cold-blooded man could so calmly suggest. It is extremely ironic that after using this frigid diction he takes the time to elaborate upon his "unhappy, mild, dog-eyed" nature. This convenient interjection in the midst of his homicidal thoughts helps support the idea that the object of this narrative is not that of a “confession” – rather, a carefully calculated attempt to avoid permanent confinement in the prison cell he is writing from.

After a journey to Arctic Canada, Humbert experiences a bout of insanity, “(if to melancholia and a sense of insufferable oppression that cruel term must be applied)” (34). Humbert’s attitude toward the psychiatrists trying to cure him is sarcastic, biting. He says that his cure came from the discovery that “there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists… leading them on; never letting them see that you know all the tricks of the trade; inventing for them elaborate dreams… teasing them with fake “primal scenes”; and never allowing them the slightest glimpse of one’s real sexual predicament.”(34) This is a prime example of Humbert being manipulative and mendacious. This deceit is almost a palliative for him, a “sport”. This attitude towards his psychiatrists parallels the attitude between himself and the reader. The psychiatrists, like the readers (“the jury”), are in positions of power. They both see him as a man with a “problem”, be it mental or legal. Both of their jobs are to “figure him out”. It is this close scrutiny that Humbert detests, something the reader can observe time and time again throughout the novel. [NOT DONE YET]

Lolita: Victim or Vixen?
Thesis Statement: In the novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, the prepubescent character Lolita (Dolores Haze) is victimized by the main character Humbert Humbert.

The novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, is the story of Humbert Humbert and his relationship with the “nymphet” Dolores Haze, who the pedophilic main character coined “Lolita”. Throughout the novel, Humbert constantly tries to seduce the reader into sympathizing and belittling the severity of the crimes he commits against the 12-year-old Lolita through the use of beautiful, amorous language, that makes the reader forget what is happening at the heart of the novel: the complete stripping of innocence of a prepubescent girl.

Humbert Humbert is a British professor of literature whose penchant for “nymphets”, as he describes the young girls he is attracted to, stems from a childhood encounter with a 14-year-old lover named Annabel Leigh. Right before their love could have been consummated on “a desolate stretch of sand” (13) he was interrupted by “two bearded bathers… with exclamations of ribald encouragement”. Humbert believes that this generated in him a fixation for girls that age, though, he confesses, his love for Lolita will soon “eclipse completely her prototype” (40). Humbert soon engages in most behaviors typically associated with pedophilia, such as lurking around school-grounds, playgrounds, public pools, and other places where children are commonly found. He marries his first wife, the childlike Valeria, in an attempt to concentrate and “cure” his disease, to no avail.

Past evidence into the life of Humbert Humbert reveals that he has had frequent trips to mental hospitals and has visited several psychologists for his “disease”. However, despite actually trying to draw help from these psychologists, he tends to scorn them and reject their psychoanalytic advice, defeating the whole purpose of his attending therapy in the first place. “I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on… inventing for them elaborate dreams… and never allowing them the slightest glimpse into one’s real sexual predicament.” (34) From this, the reader can evince that Humbert Humbert enjoys scorning others, ridiculing them from his European, literature-professor pedestal. He enjoys making fun of and belittling other people; very few people who could “find him out” are safe from his biting interpretation. The very first time he meets Lolita’s mother he describes her as “obviously, one of those women whose polished words may reflect a book club… or any other deadly conventionality, but never her soul; women who are completely devoid of humor…” (37) The only thing that keeps him in the house (he is at first a prospective renter) and eventually convinces him to marry the woman he despises is the young Lolita, who he is introduced to in Charlotte Haze’s garden just as he is affirming to himself how shallow and horrendous the place is. His desire is mad, convulsive, as soon as he sees her “The twenty-five years I [Humbert] had lived since then, tapered to a palpitating point, and vanished”. (39)

This newly-introduced character, a typical American girl, exhibits healthy pre-adolescent traits and mannerisms. Her mother, who has strained relationships with Lo, describes her as “a regular pest… All she wanted from life was to be one day a strutting and prancing baton twirler or a jitterbig… Of course, moodiness is a common concomitant of growing up, but Lo exaggerates. Sullen and evasive. Rude and defiant.” These are the typical complaints of a mother when their child is stuck in the “nymphet” age range.

DUMB

(Cite) (Fix) Critics of Lolita’s behavior, those who believe that she seduced Humbert Humbert, dragged him to the nadir of his existence, drove him mad, describe her as “corrupt”, as “shallow”, and as a “brat”, all of these being descriptive terms Humbert uses for her at some point of another. They believe that she is aware of the control she has over him and uses it to her advantage in order to procure money, treats and privileges from his ever-willing pocket. Because of the tense relationship with her mother, they believe that she hated her and saw her going off with Humbert as an assault against her, and that future repercussions of that decision were deserved and karmic.

Power relationships which make it difficult to assert independence and personal desires, since they are constantly subject to that of the other. As a daughter, she has to be led by what her “father” feels is “right” for her, it is considered his filial responsibility to make life choices regarding her welfare. As the elder person, he is stronger and wiser than her and thus any opinion she has may be belittled by her youth & lack of experience. As a male he feels he has to be protective & possessive of her and keep her safe from the claws of like-minded males. ALL OF THESE POWER SPECTRUMS, HOWEVER, are skewed by the fact that he is in love, in lust with Lolita and thus it can’t be determined whether he is doing things for “her own good” or for his. He is using these power spectrums to his advantage, to confine her and keep her with him to satisfy his nymphet desires under the guise of doing it for her own well-being. (father-daughter, elder-adolescent, male-female)

The death of Lolita’s mother is a major cause of the power spectrum. “You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go.” She is essentially helpless without him, without shelter, food, family, etc;. She is basically relying on him for all her needs, relying on him as she would the real Harold Haze (her original father, though Humbert tells others he is the real father) except that in return he demands sexual favors in a transaction no less dirty and loveless than prostitution. Except that Lolita has no choice other than to engage in these transactions except to turn him into the police. Why doesn’t she turn him into the police? Examine reasons why close relatives of pedophiles are not reported, trust factors, hassle, fear of police, etc;

How does Humbert abuse the power spectrum? He promises her things and then takes them away last-minute in order to keep her rapt attention and garnish some promise out of her, usually in the form of sexual favors, the reward of which is quickly repealed when it no longer seems convenient for him. For example, Lolita requests money and privileges for sexual favors she knows he can’t resist, he is essentially helpless to her but still achieves his ends through hypocritical and manipulative means. After he initially gives her the money he tries taking it back from her, denouncing her “decline in morals” even though she rightfully earned that money in the first place.

Most prominent example of the victimization of Lolita is her sobbing each and every night when she thinks Humbert is asleep, something he doesn’t admit until about 100 nights of crying: shows how he is a MANIPULATIVE, unreliable narrator: “…and her sobs in the night-every night, every night- the moment I feigned sleep” (176).

(Only gives her the news of her mother’s demise after he has gone to bed with her)

Also her facial expressions, which throughout the novel express extreme sadness, despair, though not intentionally: “I saw Lolita’s smile lose all its light and become a frozen little shadow of itself”(286) in observing normal, happy filial interactions, indicating how emotionally starved she is since she has no normal home life
-Humbert doesn’t want the manuscript published until after Lolita’s death under guise of “not parading her around in real life”: keeps Lolita from disputing any lies, casts shadow over veracity of the story as a whole

Humbert’s standard manipulative nature: in his constant mendacity, such as in feigning love for Charlotte, keeping important things from Lolita, not seeing her as a person but an object (little focus on her mind, just her body, actions, etc; [Expand upon]: “It struck me, as my automaton knees went up and down, that I simply did not know a thing about my darling’s mind…”(284)), his prior stay in mental asylums, disregards standard society in order to protect his little Lolita seraglio, etc;

CONCLUSION














Bibliography
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Olympia Press, 1955.

Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran. Random House, 2003.

Appel, Alfred. Introduction. The Annotated Lolita. Ed. A. Appel. New York: Vintage, 1991.

Trilling, Lionel. "The Last Lover: Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita." Encounter 11 (Oct. 1958): 9-19.

Lolita: Victim or Vixen?
Thesis Statement: In the novel Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, the prepubescent character Lolita (Dolores Haze) is victimized by the main character Humbert Humbert.

Summary of the Novel:
Lolita is the story of the British professor of literature Humbert Humbert who, after a unconsummated seaside tryst as an adolescent with his sparkling friend Annabel Leigh, has a “fixation” on nymphets, his term for a specific species of females from the ages of 9 to 14, who possess a specific quality only “nymphet lovers” such as himself can identify. After several unsuccessful romances and one marriage in which his wife runs off with another man, he intends to room in a house in the New England countryside but the house fatefully burns down, leaving him to stay in the house of the woman Charlotte Haze, a superficial American woman with a beautiful nymphet 12-year-old daughter named Dolores Haze, who Humbert endearingly refers to as Lolita. There is prescient tension between the two, though it may have been imagined on the part of Humbert, whose beautiful narrative style may trick the reader into siding with him since, throughout the novel, he is speaking to “the judges” who will decide his fate (he is writing from jail). Interactions between Lolita and Charlotte Haze are strained. Prior to departing for summer camp Lolita kisses Humbert, who shortly thereafter receives a love letter from Charlotte. Humbert decides to marry her to be closer to Lolita. Throughout his brief marriage with Charlotte he keeps a journal depicting his love of Lolita and near-loathing of his wife, who he tries drugging with pills to keep from performing his husbandly duties. When his wife peruses through his book she threatens to separate him from Lolita and, in delivering a frantic letter to a relative, gets run over by a car. This leaves Humbert free to pick up Lolita from her summer camp and peruse an affair with her. Their “love” is consummated in a hotel where he learns she has already been debauched by one of the camp-people, Charlie Holmes. After they fornicate Lolita learns her mother was killed and becomes sullen and resentful of Humbert. He enrolls her in Beardsley School, all-girls, and is possessive of her and doesn’t let her engage in normal adolescent activity such as going on dates and with friends. She starts asking for monetary compensation for sexual acts that he provides, then takes away once he’s been satisfied. She asks to participate in a school play where she meets the famous playwright Clare Quilty. They develop a sexual relationship which Humbert is completely unaware of. After she almost runs away she decides to embark on a cross-country road trip with Humbert across the United States. Throughout this time Humbert has a feeling that they are being followed. After being admitted into a hospital because of a fever, Lolita’s “uncle”, actually the pedophilic Clare Quilty, picks her up and leaves Humbert dejected and despondent for 2 years before a pregnant Lolita Schiller asks him for money since she is pregnant and poor. Humbert offers his life to her but she refuses and he sets off to kill Clare Quilty. He kills him and is in jail writing the novel, which he requests is not published until Lolita’s death.





Arguments against Lolita’s victimization:

· Critics have described Lolita as a “moppet”, “little monster”, “corrupt”, “shallow”, and a “brat”
· Believe that she is aware of the great control she has over Humbert and uses it to her advantage, in order to gain money, treats, and privileges from him
· Believe that because of the sullen relationship she had with her mother, that she “hated” her and loved the idea of betraying her by going with her husband
· Believe that she had the opportunity to escape if she so chose
· Believe that her behavior from the start was designed in order to attract Humbert’s attention and not the blasé unaware stance of most teenagers, that she had an adolescent attraction to him and was unaware of how to manifest it until taught by Charlie Holmes
· Ignores his eternal undying love for him for a poverty-stricken simple life
· Postulated role of misogyny in these assumptions


Arguments for Lolita’s victimization
· Power relationships which make it difficult to assert independence and personal desires, since they are constantly subject to that of the other. As a daughter, she has to be led by what her “father” feels is “right” for her, it is considered his filial responsibility to make life choices regarding her welfare. As the elder person, he is stronger and wiser than her and thus any opinion she has may be belittled by her youth & lack of experience. As a male he feels he has to be protective & possessive of her and keep her safe from the claws of like-minded males. ALL OF THESE POWER SPECTRUMS, HOWEVER, are skewed by the fact that he is in love, in lust with Lolita and thus it can’t be determined whether he is doing things for “her own good” or for his. He is using these power spectrums to his advantage, to confine her and keep her with him to satisfy his nymphet desires under the guise of doing it for her own well-being.
o “Father”-“daughter”
o Elder-adolescent
o Male-female
· The death of Lolita’s mother is a major cause of the power spectrum. “You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go.” She is essentially helpless without him, without shelter, food, family, etc;. She is basically relying on him for all her needs, relying on him as she would the real Harold Haze (her original father, though Humbert tells others he is the real father) except that in return he demands sexual favors in a transaction no less dirty and loveless than prostitution. Except that Lolita has no choice other than to engage in these transactions except to turn him into the police. Why doesn’t she turn him into the police? Examine reasons why close relatives of pedophiles are not reported, trust factors, hassle, fear of police, etc;
· How does Humbert abuse the power spectrum? He promises her things and then takes them away last-minute in order to keep her rapt attention and garnish some promise out of her, usually in the form of sexual favors, the reward of which is quickly repealed when it no longer seems convenient for him. For example, Lolita requests money and privileges for sexual favors she knows he can’t resist, he is essentially helpless to her but still achieves his ends through hypocritical and manipulative means. After he initially gives her the money he tries taking it back from her, denouncing her “decline in morals” even though she rightfully earned that money in the first place.
· Most prominent example of the victimization of Lolita is her sobbing each and every night when she thinks Humbert is asleep, something he doesn’t admit until about 100 nights of crying: shows how he is a MANIPULATIVE, unreliable narrator
• Most prominent example of the victimization of Lolita is her sobbing each and every night when she thinks Humbert is asleep, something he doesn’t admit until about 100 nights of crying: shows how he is a MANIPULATIVE, unreliable narrator
-Only gives her the news of her mother’s demise after he has gone to bed with her
-Also her facial expressions, which throughout the novel express extreme sadness, despair, though not intentionally: “I saw Lolita’s smile lose all its light and become a frozen little shadow of itself”(286) in observing normal, happy filial interactions, indicating how emotionally starved she is since she has no normal home life
-Humbert doesn’t want the manuscript published until after Lolita’s death under guise of “not parading her around in real life”: keeps Lolita from disputing any lies, casts shadow over veracity of the story as a whole
Humbert’s standard manipulative nature: in his constant mendacity, such as in feigning love for Charlotte, keeping important things from Lolita, not seeing her as a person but an object (little focus on her mind, just her body, actions, etc; [Expand upon]: “It struck me, as my automaton knees went up and down, that I simply did not know a thing about my darling’s mind…”(284)), his prior stay in mental asylums, disregards standard society in order to protect his little Lolita seraglio, etc;



Bibliography
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. Olympia Press, 1955.

Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran. Random House, 2003.

Appel, Alfred. Introduction. The Annotated Lolita. Ed. A. Appel. New York: Vintage, 1991.

Trilling, Lionel. "The Last Lover: Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita." Encounter 11 (Oct. 1958): 9-19.

James Tweedie "Lolita's Loose Ends: Nabokov and the Boundless Novel - Vladimir Nabokov". Twentieth Century Literature. FindArticles.com. 25 Mar, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0403/is_2_46/ai_67315270