Dreaming with Lolita

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Recommended: Research on the importance of fairytales for young children

Dreaming with Lolita

What world are you living in? Over the past hundreds of years psychologists have been studying the functions of the human mind. It is a task that seems to prolong as information and new methods arrive. What makes us dream or imagine things? The fact that we have dreams and ambitions in life strives us to believe through imagining and dreaming that we will eventually get a break in life. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, is a novel that characterizes these types of situations. It implies similarity in plot and theme between Lolita and certain fairy tales. Furthermore, Nabokov implies the folk characterization in Lolita to show the paradoxical relationship of art and reality thus showing how real life people live out the lives of fictional fairy tales. It is also evident that because of the folkloristic material portrayed in Lolita, it is seen that man lives between two worlds, the imagined one and the true one. The image of Lolita had such effect on society in the way that pre pubescent children wanted to be like her, they wanted to be as pretty as her and wear those heart shaped sunglasses like her thus living in a world of fantasy. Even today's society still has, more then ever that Lolita syndrome thus causing a lot of pre pubescent kids to live in a fantasy world instead of the real one.

Nabokov shows all throughout the novel the strong parallel between real life characters and folk characters. The four main characters in the novel all play an have their own folkloristic roles in the novel. For example, Charlotte Haze, which is Lolita's mother, is portrayed in the novel as the, "jealous mother who is so frequently the villain in folk tales such as "Cinderella" and "Snow White" (Jones 69). All through out...

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...gative things can occur. For example, you can tarnish a kids self esteem (Marks 71).

The Lolita syndrome also deals with the fact that any new or material good that comes out on the market; the Lolita syndrome will "change everything it touches into a new and infinitely flexible form" (Marks 71). This transcends anything because people want to be like Loita. If she wears heart shaped sunglasses then so do pre pubescent and adolescent kids who fantasize being her and the only way their fantasy can become remotely a reality is by buying these items.

Man lives in two different worlds. It is evident that through Lolita it is shown how real life characters can live out the lives of folk characters. Are we living in a fantasized world then? The truth of the matter is that we live in an imperfect world. We need to get that through our heads. What world do you live in?

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