In Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita delusional love encourages violent actions. The protagonist Humbert Humbert is infatuated with prepubescent Dolores Haze. This vulgar love is based in possession and control, yet Humbert does not feel that he is in any way hurting young Lolita, also known as Dolores, and he feels that because he loves her there is no wrongdoing. By believing that she loves him back in the same way that he loves her, he is setting himself up for tragedy. When she is taken from him by an unknown predator Humbert embarks on a multi-year long journey in search of his lost nymphet. When he finally finds Dolores, barefoot and pregnant, she tells him of her stay with a relative named Clare Quilty whom she fell in love with. At Dolly’s home Humbert begs for her to return to him. Only when she denies him this he realizes the traumatic effects he has had on the girl because of his delusional love for her. By realizing that he, all along, was the villain of the story, he feels that he needs to murder Quilty in order to do right by Dolly, as a type of twisted …show more content…
This statement, regardless of its ephemeral nature, is glazed with morality. Humbert is feeling the heavy anvil of loneliness on his chest, but he only cares how he feels, not even tracing the thought of Lolita’s wellbeing. When Humbert falls ill and is not able to pick up Lo on time she is taken from the hospital by a man masquerading as her Grandfather. After this Humbert proceeds to tirelessly look for his beloved Lo for several years until he receives a letter from her discussing her pregnancy and monetary issues with her new husband. This pushes Humbert to track down Lolita by utilizing the clues from the letter to find
Solipsism, which is the theory that one’s mind is the only entity certain to exist, has various moral implications that allow people with solipsistic views of their world to justify their mistreatment of others. In Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Humbert Humbert, a self-proclaimed murderer and lover of “nymphets”, demonstrates a solipsistic worldview which causes him to see everything in relationship to himself, creating new personas for various characters and only narrating the series of events from his perspective. Humbert’s solipsism makes him view everything that happens to him solely from his point of view, as he believes his mind is all that exists, therefore making the events that transpire solely acts of fate and the people he encounters figments of his imagination. Humbert’s solipsism compromises the reliability of his narration, as he describes characters exclusively from his point of view by stripping them of their individuality and describing them solely in relation to himself; Humbert’s tendency to write exclusively from his own point of view forces the reader to accept the series of events he presents as the truth, without any external input, allowing him to completely control the reader’s perception of him and the events of the novel.
Lolita, by Vladamir Nabokov is a controversial book that elaborately represents and forces the reader to deal with a pedophiles obsession with his 12-year-old stepdaughter. As the reader finishes reading Lolita, he must establish a meaning for the novel which hinges heavily upon whether or not he should forgive Humbert for his rape of Lolita and for stealing her childhood away from her. This rape is legally referred to as a statutory rape because Humbert is having sex with Lolita who is under the age of consent. Humbert also figuratively rapes Lolita of her childhood and a normal teenage life. This decision to forgive Humbert will rely upon Humbert's words as he realizes what he has done to Lolita. In order for the reader to be able to forgive Humbert he must determine if Humbert is truly sorry for his actions.
After looking past its controversial sexual nature, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita can be read as a criticism of the capitalist system. Nabokov uses the relationship between the novel's narrator, Humbert Humbert, and the novel's namesake, Lolita, as an extended metaphor to showcase the system's inherent exploitive nature in a way that shocks the reader out of their false consciousness, by making the former a man in the position of power - a repulsive, manipulative pedophile — and the latter a young female victim — as well as a spoiled, vapid, unruly child. Each is to the other nothing more than a commodity — Lolita being the perfect consumer and Humbert Humbert being a man of privilege who views others only as objects to be used, or consumed.
The story of Lolita is one of the most controversial tales ever written in the 1950’s. Classified as an erotic novel, Lolita portrays the relationship between a middle aged professor, Humbert Humbert and a young adolescent, Dolores Haze. This story has a strong sense of allusions in reference to what is considered right and wrong in sexuality and psychiatry. As summarized through Spark Notes, it is said that, “Humbert’s passion for Lolita defies easy psychological analysis, and throughout Lolita, Humbert mocks psychiatry’s tendency toward simplistic, logical explanations,” (Spark Notes, 2015). Humbert is a character who is very intelligent but has a psychological vulnerability to Lolita. His desire for her is described as love but is also portrayed
Once a loving, understanding, and supporting relationship, the friendship between Mistress and Lina begins to deteriorate after the death of Jacob. Mistress assumes a role of power over Lina, when she states, “outside sleeping is for savages,” (Morrison 186) like Lina. As a result, Lina begins to lose some of her control over her will to fight against how the world views her. Lina feels “a peculiar sensation…of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (W.E.B. DuBois 2). By forcing Lina recognize her status as a “savage,” Lina recognizes the idea coined by W.E.B. DuBois- “double consciousness.” She “continue[s] to do her work carefully, calmly but Scully disagreed, said she was simmering…the skin near breaking, needing quick removal, cooling” (Morrison 170). Lina attempts to remain level-headed, by trying to mix together the “savage” and her Native American roots. However, the overwhelming pressure of double consciousness causes her to “simmer.” As Scully states the “skin near breaking” Lina’s identity threatens to break free from her grasp. Lina spirals towards her final breaking point and eventual denouement—no longer able to find her true
In his "On a Book Entitled Lolita", Vladimir Nabokov recalls that he felt the "first little throb of Lolita" run through him as he read a newspaper article about an ape who, "after months of coaxing by a scientist, produced the first drawing ever charcoaled by an animal: this sketch showed the bars of the poor creature's cage." The image of a confinement so complete that it dominates and shapes artistic expression (however limited that expression may be) is a moving and powerful one, and it does, indeed, reflect in the text of Lolita. Humbert Humbert, the novel's eloquent poet-narrator, observes the world through the bars of his obsession, his "nympholepsy", and this confinement deeply affects the quality of his narration. In particular, his powerful sexual desires prevent him from understanding Lolita in any significant way, so that throughout the text what he describes is not the real Lolita, but an abstract creature, without depth or substance beyond the complex set of symbols and allusions that he associates with her. When in his rare moments of exhaustion Humbert seems to lift this literary veil, he reveals for a moment the violent contrast between his intricately manipulated narration and the stark ugliness of a very different truth.
...s of Lolita and Humbert to show the isolation and loneliness they feel, and to show just how different and immoral the situation is. By stressing the dissonance between one persona to the next, he portrays a view of his characters that is sad and shocking, for the public seen is also the reader; the unaware, innocent, “moral” group. By letting us into the different faces of Lolita and Humbert, Nabokov reveals the tragedy in the novel, and allows the reader to vividly feel what is morally right and wrong with Humbert, Lolita, and ourselves.
With his 1955 novel Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov invents a narrator by the name of Humbert Humbert who is both an exquisite wordsmith and an obsessive pedophile. The novel serves as the canvas upon which Humbert Humbert will paint a story of love, lust, and death for the reader. His confession is beautiful and worthy of artistic appreciation, so the fact that it centers on the subject of pedophilia leaves the reader conflicted by the close of the novel. Humbert Humbert frequently identifies himself as an artist and with his confession he hopes “to fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets” (Nabokov, Lolita 134). Immortalizing the fleeting beauty and enchanting qualities of these preteen girls is Humbert Humbert’s artistic mission
“Each day he made her sit out on the balcony, so that passersby would be sure to see that he has married into high society” (Ferré 485). This exemplifies how men not only use women for their wealth, but for their beauty as well. The doctor's son put his wife on the balcony to show off, to boast about, to bring light to his extravagant way of living. “As the years passed, the doctor became a millionaire” (Ferré 486). His love was artificial and was only existent because of the money coming from his new patient, his wife’s aunt, and the porcelain physique of his new bride. Ferré believed that men only attached themselves to women with the intention of using them for what they had, whether that be money, beauty, or sex. Men can’t be trusted, and Ferré uses the women in the story to not only bring light to men's manipulation, but to also bring light to how oblivious women can be. In no point in “The Youngest Doll” did either of the women realize the ways in which they were being used. It can be seen as a lesson, coming from Ferré, to the women of the world, to not let the emotions, the “love goggles” effect the process of understanding the toxicity of a relationship. “The youngest went on sitting in her rocking chair on the balcony, motionless in her muslin and lace, and always with lowered eyelids” (Ferre 486). The niece became nothing more than a doll put on display. She was not an individual, she was an
Throughout 'Lolita', there are many clues that the narrator is being unreliable. This is touched upon through a variety of facets about Humbert's character, which the audience picks up on as the story progresses.
Many critics question how far an author can detach themselves from the morality of their main characters--especially when exhibited in such a convincing portrayal of first person narration. However, the narratorial unreliability that is observable in Humbert Humbert is not product of Nabokov’s literary carelessness or likeness, but rather of his sharp, biting sense of irony. The antisocial behavior of Humbert Humbert masterfully reflects many of the antisocial behaviors occurring on a societal level during the respective time period (Maddox). The medley of irony present in Lolita extends from dramatic to situational and circumvents back again. Nabokov’s personal involvement vanishes from a perceived immoral perspective to a deep well of literary, witty involvement that relies on abstract thinking and considerate
Since 1955, after the book had been published, the beginning of a controversial topic arose. Critics began to disassemble the extensive, ambrosial descriptions of young girls in the novel leaving them to debate whether Nabokov’s emotions toward the matter paralleled Humbert’s. In his afterword, “On a Book Entitled Lolita”, Nabokov reveals that he simply does
the narrator tells Humbert had always a hard time in relationships because of the fact of his
He calls it Mcfate. In fact, that Mcfate is the name of Lolita’s classmate and he imagines that control his destiny. He says “I had actually seen the agent of fate. I had palpated the very flesh of fate and its padded shoulder” (Nabokov 103). Humbert decides to take Lolita from camp Q and tell her that her mother sick and she stays in the hospital. He takes Lolita to the Enchanted Hunters hotel where he for the first-time rapes Lolita by giving her sleeping pills. Also, number 342 repeats more than once and its weird. It is the street number of the Haza home and the room number of the Enchanted Hunters hotel. There something also strange for me when Lolita says to Humbert “You Chump” she said, sweetly smiling at me “you revolting creature. I was a daisy-fresh girl, and look what you’ve done to me, I ought to call the police and tell them you raped me. Oh, you dirty, dirty old man.” (Nabokov 141). If that is ok for her! Does she really know that Humbert raped her or she just jokes? Humbert tells her that her mother died when she asks to see her. She cries a lot, he buys toys and clothes for her to make her happy. They stay in another hotel. Humbert says “At the hotel we had separate room, but in the middle of the night she came sobbing into mine, and we made it up very gently. You see she had absolutely nowhere else to go.” (Nabokov 142). Humbert takes Lolita away from everyone she knows and makes power over her thus she always need
The first reference to lesbian love in Indian Literature was in the Rig Veda. According to Gita Thalani there were legislations against lesbian love, validating only procreative sex. The code of Manu contains the punishments meted out to women engaging in homosexual acts, a virgin girl who engages in love-making with another deserves the punishment of being fined and beaten. Thus we see that lesbianism and homosexuality were not only present in ancient India, but were also suppressed and punished.