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.
I completely agree with you Jess. Humbert is embracing his role as a father to convince Lolita that their romantic actions together are okay. The relationship between Humbert and Lolita is not normal at all. How can a father without hesitation have sexual intercourse with his daughter? I continue to grow more disgusted as I read Humbert’s awful ways of making Lolita sleep with him. Humbert has to beg Lolita to sleep with him now. Is she losing interest, or is she realizing how wrong the relationship is? Humbert must know that his actions with Lolita are wrong, or he would not have to justify their relationship. Humbert wants to continue to tell Lolita that their relationship is normal so she does not question it. Lolita will, or already is, realizing that this relationship is disgusting and wrong. Humbert cannot keep this sickening relationship a secret much longer.
ReplyDeleteI think you may be on to something about Humbert here Jess. He is a flawed character. Constantly changing and evolving. With this said, I have to wonder - is that what makes HH so relatable or, at the very least, real? I think so. I think he always thought the relationship was wrong, but now I think he fears for his life and (with the revelations in these final chapters) he fears for Lolita's life as well. Confusing and perplexing - I cannot add much other than that I sympathize with your confusion.
ReplyDeleteNow that you say this I do believe that Humbert’s constant changing and evolving makes him real. It may even make him relatable, beneath his surface level of pedophilia of course. I believe that in life people are constantly changing and evolving. In the real world, although one may know they are doing something wrong, they do it anyway, similar to Humbert Humbert. If a bad decision is made, consequences follow and almost everyone, if not everyone, faces this at one point in their lives. Humbert has made bad decisions and he knows it, and now he is facing the consequence of Lolita getting married and having another man’s child. I cannot help feeling some sympathy for Humbert at this point because it is beginning to seem as if he did love Lolita all along.
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