Quilty's love of Lolita

 As one reads then end of Lolita and they discover that Clare Quilty has been following Humbert and Lolita, it makes me wonder why he would follow them?  If Lolita in only a sex toy for Quilty than why would  he go to such extensive lengths to follow Humbert and Lolita in secret.  If he considers Lolita only as an object of entertainment, then why would he stalk her and Humbert across America and wait so long to steal her from Humbert.  As mentioned by Lolita he has numerous other means of entertainment with girls and boys that he could use to forget Lolita, so why does he not let her go? Is it possible he had a love for Lolita that had worn off as he pursued her and Humbert?  If not then why would he go to such extreme lengths to ensure that she remained his.  The other part of Quilty and Lolita’s relationship that puzzles me is that after the years he spent tracking her and Humbert down, he eventually kicks Lolita out of his ranch.  He essentially wasted all the time he spent trying to find Lolita, to evict her from his house.  Quilty as a character, I feel, does not act rationally, but instead acts with disregard to other people’s feeling, and only for his own temporary entertainment.  

A Love Story?

 Throughout our time reading Lolita I kept thinking to myself how is this novel a love story? For much of the novel I would say no, this is not a love story. For example, this is not a love story because if Humbert truly loved Lolita he would not have had sex with his daughter. Also, he would not have been obsessed with Lolita to the point where he memorized how many weeks they spent together. Humbert’s disgusting and perverted actions are not the actions of someone who loves another person. I believe in order to love someone you need to care about their well-being and you have to want to help them grow as a person. I believe Humbert failed to do so.

 But, as we approached the end of the novel I realized how Lolita can be considered a love story. It can possibly be a love story between Lolita and her husband Dick Schiller. Can that be the love story in this novel? Also I concluded that the way Humbert acts when he receives the letter from Lolita shows that Humbert truly loves her. Humbert says to the audience that if Dick Schiller ever hurt Lolita then Humbert would virtually kill him. This shows that if Humbert did not love Lolita than he would not have said this; therefore, the novel can be considered a love story.   

Never Loved Her

While reading “Lolita” my biggest question throughout the entire novel is whether or not Humbert Humbert actually loves Lolita. I question if Humbert loves Lolita for her personality or if he is only obsessed with her as a nymphet. Obsession is an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind. Many times it seems he actually loves her, but often it seems as if he only loves a false image he has created of Lolita. In this book it can be seen that Humbert’s love and lust for Lolita is motivated by his adolescent relationship with Annabel; consequently, this love forms and obsessive characteristic about Humbert. One fatal flaw in Humbert Humbert is that he dwells on the past. In the beginning of the story Humbert tells the reader about his childhood love Annabel. Humbert uses Lolita to get over Annabel which I feel never makes their relationship true love. Despite the fact that Lolita never really loves Humbert, Humbert never loves Lolita. He may think he does but he actually just has an obsessive nature about himself. He does not like to be left and obsesses over everything. At the end of the story it may seem like Humbert actually loves Lolita but I do not believe him. I think Humbert is just stuck on the past and does not like the idea of anyone leaving him.

Murder of Quilty

The murdering of Quilty is an interesting scene in the novel Lolita. When Humbet is killing Quilty, Nabokov creates a scenario that the reader would not necessarily expect. Humbert states, "I fired three or four times in quick succession, wounding him at every blaze…his face would twitch in an absurd clownish manner, as if he were exaggerating the pain; and he shivered every time a bullet hit him as if I were tickling him, and every time I got him with those slow, clumsy, blind bullets of mine, he would say under his breath, with a phony British accent – all the while dreadfully twitching, shivering, smirking…ah, that hurts, sir, enough!" (Nabokov 303). Nabokov creates a long, drawn out murder scene where Quilty has been shot multiple times and continues to cry out in pain. I found the murder of Quilty to be an unexpected end to the novel.

I think the reason that Nabokov makes the death of Quilty unexpected is because the whole idea behind story is unexpected. We would never expect Humbert and Lolita to be in a relationship or to be in love because of their age gap. I think the unexpectedness of the murder of Quilty relates to the unexpectedness of the novel in general. 

Change of Opinion

     After finishing Lolita by Nabokov, I realized that my opinion of the characters Lolita and Humbert completely changed from when I began reading the novel. In the beginning of the novel I saw Humbert as a pedophile and I felt bad for Lolita because I saw Lolita as a victim of Humbert's pedophilia. I did not understand why an adult man would be pursuing a young girl. The whole situation did not make much sense to me. I started to develop a dislike of Humbert. As the novel went on, I started to see Lolita's "true colors." She turned out to be pursuing Humbert just as aggressively as he was pursuing her. After seeing the way Lolita acted with Humbert my dislike of Humbert was a little less than it was initially. Even later in the novel, my opinion of the two characters was completely different from when I started the novel. I started to see Lolita as a shallow person because she was only having sex with Humbert in exchange for clothes and other gifts. I started to feel bad for Humbert because he really did love Lolita, and Lolita started not to care. 

From Love to Insanity

After finishing the novel Lolita, I cannot help but think about how Humbert’s love for Lolita basically made him insane. Throughout the novel, Humbert is constantly plotting to get Lolita alone, and shortly after he does she gets away from him. I feel that Lolita leaving Humbert was so traumatic to him that it actually made him crazy. If we think about the whole story, the novel Lolita is based off of Humbert’s love, lust, and obsession with one person and that person is Lolita. His love for Lolita was so intense that he killed Clare Quilty for taking it away with him. Although the story of Humbert and Lolita’s relationship is morally wrong I can’t help but feel distraught about the ending of the story. There was one point when I felt so bad about Humbert’s broken heart that I wanted Lolita to come back to him. With these feelings, I wondered how it was possible for Humbert to ever make a relationship like his and Lolita’s seem okay. I do however, find it tragic how the amount of love Humbert had for and gave to Lolita, without looking at the immoral aspects of the relationship; can bring such a tragic ending. And this is all because someone fell in love?

A Broken Heart

After completing Lolita I could not help but wonder if Lolita ever did love Humbert. When we first began to read the novel I did not think Lolita felt any love toward Humbert, but throughout the novel my opinion changed. She began to show interest in Humbert. However, at the end of the novel Lolita writes to Humbert saying, “I’m married. I’m going to have a baby” (Nabokov 266). Throughout the letter, Lolita seems happy and does not seem to miss Humbert at all. This makes me question Lolita’s feeling throughout most of the novel. Did Lolita ever love Humbert? Was she hoping for someone to steal her away all along? Personally after reading the outcome of the novel I do not believe Lolita loved Humbert. If she did she would not have went off to marry another man and write Humbert about it. It is as if she is gloating. However, I do believe that Humbert loved Lolita. Humbert became distraught once Lolita left and it led him to murder and, ultimately, his arrest. If Humbert did not love Lolita would he have murdered the man who took her? Would he have emotionally spiraled out of control? Although Humbert started off as a disturbing man, he has become a man that any one of us can relate to. Someone who got their heart broken. 

Humbert: A Victim of Love

After finishing Lolita, it appears to me that Humbert Humbert has been constantly denied the feelings of love.  While he is described as an attractive man there is a difference between physical attraction and love.  From his early childhood Humberts’s mother is struck by lightning, leaving him  with his aunt, who dies after his sixteenth birthday.  When Humbert was young he had already experienced the death of  his two maternal figures due to unusual circumstances that were directed by fate, leaving Humbert to lack any consistent maternal figure in his life to love and care for him.  His father, also, while spending time with him earlier in his life, shipped him to a high school roughly four hours away, and during the sumer his father was “ touring Italy with Mme de R. and her daughter, and I had nobody to complain to, nobody to consult”( pg. 11).  Even when he has extended periods of time to be with his loved ones, he is deprived of that opportunity as his father tours Italy without him leaving him virtually alone. Due to obstacles in his life Humbert is never able to receive love from someone for extended periods of time.

       This continues to manifest itself throughout the novel as all the women in the novel die.  His first love Annabel dies of typhus, Valeria cheats on him, and then dies during childbirth, Charlotte gets hit by a car, Rita  is paranoid about everything and Lolita is robbed of  her childhood, cheats on him, and gets pregnant.  Not matter who Humbert Humbert has relations with, they all end up revealing a dislike for him, and then dying.  Every relationship Humbert Humbert has had, he has been robbed of a stable loving relationship.  While Humbert rationalizes most of the relationships as for another purpose, is it possible he is just doing this to comfort himself? Could he be hurt due to a lack of love in his early life and try to “ fill the void” with nymphets?  The constant destruction of Hubert’s relationships also make me wonder was fate really on his side or did he just interpret it that way to make himself feel better?

Lolita and Humbert: Their Final Encounter

            After finishing the book Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, I feel that an important question is left unanswered. That question is: Did Lolita ever love Humbert Humbert? We know from Lolita and Humbert’s final encounter that Humbert really loves Lolita; the encounter brings him to tears. Although it is revealed Lolita was in love with Clare Quilty from the beginning of their trip, the question remains: Why didn’t Lolita leave with Clare in the beginning? Why did Lolita travel with Humbert Humbert and have frequent sex with him if she did not feel some sort of affection or have some romantic feelings for Humbert? The fact that Lolita stays with Humbert for so long and tolerates him for such a long time makes me believe that at one point she did love Humbert or have an intense affection towards him. Humbert notes that after their first encounter they had sex three times in one morning. If she did not feel anything for Humbert, would she consent to such frequent sexual activity? Lolita's initiation of their first sexual encounter with each other also suggests that she had feelings for Humbert. However, I don’t know if this is sufficient evidence to prove she ever loved him. Based on their final encounter in Lolita and Dick’s home, it is clear that if there ever was any affection or romance for Humbert on Lolita’s part, it is all gone. She doesn’t even consider going back to Humbert despite his pleas, and seems only interested in his money. She would rather go back to Quilty, who abandoned her, rather than Humbert.Their final encounter does not make it clear if she had feelings for Humbert, it just shows her current disdain for him. Since this story is told from Humbert’s view (and presumably read after Lolita’s death as Humbert requests in the final pages), it is almost impossible to determine the extent of Lolita’s feelings for Humbert Humbert, and it remains an important unanswered question. 

Humbert lost without Lolita

I have realized in the latest chapters of Lolita Humbert Humbert is becoming worse. Humbert is paying Lolita large amounts of money and begging her to interact sexually with him when she wants no part of it. It is sad to see how desperate he is and when Lolita escapes his sadness increases. He is left with nothing but her old clothes and hats he eventually donates. Humbert is left to gallivant the world by himself because Lolita is no longer his pet and part of his life. He then finds a woman, surprisingly not a nymphet named Rita. Humbert describes her as a desperate woman as well, and that she would be with anyone if given the chance. “I daresay she would have given herself to any pathetic creature or fallacy, an old broken tree or a bereaved porcupine, out of sheer chumminess and compassion”. (pg 258) Although, she is desperate and wild considering she wants to engage in Russian roulette with Humbert, could this be better for Humbert? Is he actually moving on from his Nymphet phase? Will he truly ever get over Lolita? Or could this relationship be just a re-bound to help him move on from Lolita? 

What's your favorite?

As we come to a close this semester - I wonder - what was the most impactful text to you and why?

Lists of texts include:
Pygmalion
Oedipus
Antigone
King Lear
Endgame
Persepolis
The Skin of Our Teeth
Lolita

For me - my obvious love for Shakespeare makes King Lear the play with the most depth and tenacity, and I admire Lolita (but part two is nowhere near as strong as part one); ultimately, I find The Skin of Our Teeth to be the most important play that we read this year. To me, this play speaks of the human experience. The play, although written almost 100 years ago, has not lost one ounce of its impact. It's smart, funny, and bizarre. From Sabina to Mrs. Antrobus, I tend to find something immediately relatable to the characters - even though the story seems rather intangible. I  also think the morals of the story stands strong and relevant. As a didactic text, it shows the importance of progress, but also the imporance of family. It stands as a tower of complexity and uniqueness. A play unparallel to anything before or since. I simply adore this play.

Lolita is Growing Up

            Humbert is begging for the affection of Lolita.  Lolita is tired of sleeping with Humbert.  Lolita is growing up and is realizing that she should not be sleeping with Humbert, but she continues to do so.  As we continue to read we find out that the only way Lolita will have sexual relations with Humbert is if he pays her.  Lolita wants more money, and demands it before performing sexual acts with Humbert.   We know that Humbert has experimented with prostitutes before, is Lolita becoming just another prostitute?   Humbert begs for affection from Lolita.  She refuses unless she is paid.  Humbert pays Lolita sixty- five cents to give him a hand job.  Is Lolita loosing her nymphet appeal, and Humbert is just treating her as a prostitute?  Is Humbert still in love with Lolita?

            Lolita is growing up and Humbert is worried that Lolita will leave him for another boy.  Lolita is now at the age where boys will be attracted to her.  Humbert refuses to let Lolita spend time with boys alone.   Lolita gives no indication that she is interested in other boys, but Humbert’s paranoia increases.  Humbert keeps an eye on Lolita so she does not disappear, but Lolita finds a way to escape.  Humbert does not have the control he once had on Lolita.  Lolita is growing up and wants to experience other people.  Humbert becomes so paranoid that he carries a gun around.  He warns Lolita not to talk to strangers, but she does not listen.  Humbert is losing his little nymphet.  She is no longer a twelve year old that depended solely on Humbert.  Humbert feels that he can only gain control by carrying a gun.  Is this the murder weapon?  Who does Humbert kill?  Will Humbert kill Lolita to finally gain the control he craves? 

Humbert the Father

Humbert Humbert is a man who never fails to confuse me. It seems as if he changes his opinion about how he should act quite often. For example when Charlotte first died Humbert did not seem too thrilled with the fact that he was the only parental figure in Lolita’s life. However, in chapter one of part two we see his opinion change. 

In chapter one of part two Humbert has decided to embrace his “fatherly” role. Humbert uses his title of father as a method of justifying what he is doing with Lolita. Humbert says, “Among Sicilians sexual relations between a father and his daughter are accepted as a matter of course, and the girl who participates in such relationship is not looked upon with disapproval by the society of which she is part” (Nabokov 150). Humbert is trying to convince Lolita that she can be romantically involved with him and no one will care. This make me question why Humbert feels the need to justify his actions to her all of a sudden since Lolita was so controlling in the relationship in the past. Is Lolita losing interest in Humbert? Is Humbert hurting or helping his relationship by emphasizing his role as her father? 

Another instance in which Humbert attempts to justify his actions is when he brings what he read in a book to Lolita’s attention. Humbert says to Lolita, “Look, darling, what it says. I quote: the normal girl-normal, mark you-the normal girl is usually extremely anxious to please her father”  (Nabokov 150).  He puts such a strong emphasis on how “normal” their relationship is, but is it normal at all? The fact that Humbert feels the need to justify what he is doing all of a sudden leads me to believe that he is well aware what he is doing is wrong. Is Humbert afraid that Lolita is realizing how wrong the relationship is? It seems as if Humbert’s confidence is diminishing, and his constant attempt of persuasion is a result of that.

Are we Humbert's Jury?

Humbert Humbert addresses the ladies and gentlemen of the jury and the reader several times in the novel, which makes me question whether the reader is the jury. Are we, the readers, the jury determining H.H.’s guilty, or are we reading evidence from Humbert’s trial? Could this be something completely different? Humbert Humbert admits to murder (Humbert says, “Guilty of killing Quilty”) and to raping a 12 year-old girl; therefore, he is guilty and belongs in prison, right? At the same time, I sympathizes with Humbert (he wants to be with the love of his life), and if I am the jury, I do not know if I would vote guilty.

            It is clearly evident that Humbert Humbert is trying to seduce the reader into accepting his relationship with Lolita. He says, “O, Reader, My Reader, guess!” (Nabokov 154), which shows he is not only claiming us but enticing us to read on. If the reader is the jury, Humbert’s pleas make sense; comparatively, what if we are not the jury? Why would Humbert want us on his side? I think Humbert’s European nature makes him charming all the time meaning he cannot control himself. He is constantly suave, sophisticated, and attractive on intellectual and emotional levels, which forces us to read on. No one knows what will happen next, because despite all of Humbert’s foreshadowing, H.H. never reveals any information. Humbert might not try to seduce the reader; he might just seduce.

            Personally, I think the intended audience is a jury, but I also do not believe H. H. is purposely manipulating the jurors or the readers. Even with Charlotte, Humbert did not try to make Charlotte fall in love with him; he just did, which is his nature.

The Charm of Lolita

It is indisputable that this novel is at times repulsive, and it is difficult to get past the fact that we are reading about the relationship between a middle-aged man and a 12-year-old girl.  So, why can’t I put it down?  I am admittedly captivated by Humbert Humbert’s prose, and perhaps he even possesses some charm. Also, the chapters are so rich in detail, references, and allusions; unlike other novels, I feel as though Lolita requires my full focus and attention, and that is a characteristic I love about the novel.  It is as if we are piecing together a puzzle, and Nabokov so masterfully crafted Lolita that we discover clues in every chapter.  I am eager to discover the solution to this puzzle

Is it possible to look beyond the pedophiliac nature of Lolita and H.H’s relationship and appreciate it as true, romantic love?  I am conflicted on this question.  On one hand, Lolita is much more mature than an average 12-year-old; she has experience with sex, and she has lost all members of her immediate family.  I don’t think H.H. took away her innocence or deprived her of her childhood, for external factors and other individuals did that.  In addition, it in inarguable that fate has indeed brought Humbert and Lolita together, and it can be seen as romantic that they only have each other.  They are now sole companions, traveling through the United States together—romantic, right?  However, on the other hand, I ask myself whether or not a 12-year-old knows what love is.  So, can we see this as a true story?  Is it possible to look beyond the age difference?  As I read the novel, I find myself viewing it more and more as a love story.  H.H.’s doting, caring passion and Lolita’s attachment and affection give this story charm and appeal.  I admit Humbert Humbert has captured my attention and earned a great deal of sympathy.

In addition, I wonder if the relationship between Europe and America is meant to parallel with the relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita.  Humbert Humbert, who represents Europe, is older, more mature, and perhaps more sophisticated and civilized than Lolita.  Meanwhile, Lolita, or America, is younger, less mature, and more barbaric.  

Up until the recent chapters that we have read in class of Lolita, I have had an inconsistent opinion about who is in the wrong in Humbert and Lolita’s affair. Towards the beginning of the book, I was a sole believer that Humbert was a repulsive man. Every time I completed another chapter, his detailed descriptions of Lolita’s features and the fact that he memorized every measurement of her body caused me to become more disgusted with his character. However, in recent chapters my opinion has unexpectedly and drastically changed.

            After reading chapter 27, I was able to form more fair opinion of Lolita’s character and having done that, she is definitely not the average innocent 12 year old girl. Reading further into the chapters, I honestly forget that Lolita is only 12 years old. Lolita has a lustful nature towards Humbert and she does not hold back when it comes to him at all. I feel that she plays mind games and basically preys on Humbert rather than it being the other way around. Lolita’s actions make it extremely hard for me to feel bad for her. Her actions force me to question my views on whether Humbert and Lolita’s relationship is even wrong anymore. I mean yes, we do know Humbert is committing acts of pedophilia and by pursing Lolita he is committing incest as well but, is what Humbert doing really that bad if Lolita is pursuing him back?

            In many cases, I often find myself trying to distinguish who the victim is in this book. Is it Lolita because she is a 12 year old girl, does not know right from wrong, and is being pursued by a significantly older man. Or is the victim Humbert? A man who is hopelessly in love with a child and is put on trial for the terrible actions that have apparently resulted from this love affair. In class today, it was pointed out that in chapter 29, Lolita is described in a scene in which the shadows of the blinds reflecting on her skin can be connected to jail bars with Lolita being behind them. However, I question if Lolita could be behind the jail bars because they are protecting her and keeping everything bad away away or that she is completely in the wrong and she should be behind jail bars because of her lustful actions. In the case of Humbert and Lolita right now, I feel that there is no victim. I feel that Humbert and Lolita are simply two people who enjoy the immoral acts in which they partake.  

The Relationship of Humbert and Fate

As we continue reading Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita, we continuously are made aware of how kind fate is to Humbert.  In every aspect of the novel we see fate.  From the beginning, fate brings Humbert and Lolita together.  When Humbert sees the sunglasses on the beach, he right away knows this is fate.  When Charlotte forces Humbert to marry him or leave, it is fate telling Humbert to stay for the fact of getting to be with Lolita more.

            Fate is evident in Humbert’s relationship with Charlotte.  In chapter 20, Humbert decides to not kill Charlotte and he later finds out Jean Farlow would have witnessed the entire scene.  This is fate saving Humbert from being caught as a murder.  Also, when Charlotte discovers Humbert’s obsession with Lolita, Charlotte is hit by a car and killed before she can mail out her three letters.  This action by fate allows Humbert to have Lolita all to himself.  Vladimir Nabokov constantly shows how kind fate is to Humbert, but we may sometimes read over the cruel actions fate has on Humbert.

            Fate is not always kind to Humbert.  We see every woman in Humbert’s life die.  From the age of 9, Annabel, his first true love dies.  Next comes his mother, who died in a lighting storm.  Finally Charlotte is killed when she is hit by a car.  This moves me to wonder what is going to happen to Lolita to continue this cruelty by fate.

No Sympathy for a Villain

From the beginning of Lolita I have felt no sympathy for Humbert Humbert. I see him as a villain who purely thinks of himself. In many scenes he has tried to make himself seem like a good guy but I feel as if I read into everything he says and see his actual motives.No matter the language Humbert Humbert uses to sound intelligent we must not forget his intention. H.H's intentions is to sleep with a 12 year old girl, and he is on trial for murder. H.H is a man of impulse and this obviously does not work well in his favor. He decides to marry Lolita's mother to become closer to Lolita not even thinking out the obstacles that his new marriage will put in his way.
H.H's only concern is Lolita and he does not care about anyone else. He has a sick and twisted mine and in my head he can only be viewed as a villain. Even though H.H talks about saving Lolita's innocence he only has himself in mind. If H.H is a hero he is only saving his attraction to Lolita. He acts as if he is in love with Lolita but I believe he is only obsessed with her appearance. In reality he only plans on taking away her innocence to get what he wants. The fantasies he has of Lolita are sick and can never make me feel any type of sympathy for H.H because in my opinion his thoughts are evil. The temptation he faces is wrong and because he has no intentions of denying his lust for Lolita it makes him a villain.
Besides, his lustful thoughts towards a young girl H.H fantasizes about murder. He has violent thoughts and is deceitful and rude. He calls people rude names and says the most hateful things. He tells us all the ways he would hurt Valeria, and even plots a way to kill Charlotte. It is hard to see a good side to Humbert Humbert because of all the secrets he reveals about his inner thoughts. Not only does he want sleep with Lolita, he wants to kill her mother so he can be alone with her.

How Does Lolita Really Feel About Humbert?

            As we give presentations and read each chapter, one question that is consistent in each discussion is whether or not Lolita is attracted to Humbert. While we are well aware of Humbert’s feelings, we are have not been given a clear answer about Lolita’s feelings towards Humbert. Vanity Fair calls the book “The only convincing love story of our century.” Lolita gives Humbert a kiss before she leaves for Camp Q. While in the car, Lolita and Humbert hold hands. All this does suggest that Lolita has a serious attraction for Humbert Humbert. However, I am still not convinced that Lolita has a serious attraction to Humbert.

           In chapter 11, it is mentioned Humbert resembles an actor Lolita has a crush on. This could mean that Lolita’s flirtatious behavior and affinity for Humbert Humbert is more of a girl-crush (similar to one between a prepubescent fan girl and a member of a boy band) rather than serious attraction. Lolita could also show kindness and flirtatiousness towards Humbert Humbert because of her mother’s (obvious) attraction to Humbert.  Lolita may flirt with Humbert either to annoy her mom or to tease her. While we know Charlotte Haze seems to despise Lolita, I am not convinced Lolita hates her mother. The kiss Lolita gives to Humbert could be because Lolita is aware of Charlotte’s desire to marry Humbert.  She may see Humbert as a father figure now and a companion to her mother. A kiss on the cheek may be a sign that she welcomes Humbert to their family.

         Vanity Fair’s statement does not necessarily mean the love story goes both directions, it could mean a love story that focuses only on the love Humbert has for Lolita. Lolita’s lack of concern for Humbert when he calls her at Camp Q also indicates she may like Humbert only because he is a companion for her mother. Lolita may want her mother to be happy, or maybe she believes her mother finding a husband will improve their relationship. While it does seem unlikely Lolita did not notice Humbert rubbing against her in chapter 13, in the next chapter Humbert seems very sure of her not noticing the act. If she acts as though it did not happen if she noticed, she might be okay with Humbert’s sexual advances. However, Humber’s certainty indicates that Lolita did not notice what Humbert did; there is nothing guaranteeing she has a strong attraction to Humbert. Is her affection simply the result of a girl-crush or a family bond?  Or is Lolita's behavior the result of her love for Humbert?