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.