Thursday, October 15, 2009
Lolita
In Lolita the character of Humbert is seen as a man who his infatuated with a young girl named Lolita. Humbert had an intense relationship with a young girl, and this infatuation was aborted by an early death. Humbert believes that there is nothing wrong with his obsessive behavior. Do you believe his infatuation with Lolita lead him to believe his obsessive behavior was correct or incorrect? Do you believe the author is portraying himself through Humbert because of how much he was able to get into his psyche?
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First i dont believe the Nabokov was portraying himself through the character of Humbert simply cause as we know from his bio he was married and had his own son ad wasn't chasing nymphets around. As to the character of Humbert believing that his infatuation with Lolita justified his behavior i think it was more of his infatuation with his first true love from all the way back in his childhood that lets him carry out all his disgusting behavior with Lolita. He never got to fully experience anything sexually with his first true love so he is obsessed with experiencing that love and the only way he can would be to have a relationship with a nymphet or in this case Lolita.
ReplyDeleteI also do not think Nabokov is portraying himself through Humbert. Humbert is a sadistic being because he wants to be with young girls, in particuliar Lolita. I think he is infatuated with young girls because his desires were never fulfilled by his first love. He suffered a great loss when she passed away and now I think he is infatuated with Lolita, who reminds him of her. Also, Humbert, like many people, love the things they cannot achieve easily. He is yearning for Lolita's full attention and love yet cannot achieve it so quickly, drawing him more towards her.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this story is about the author at all. I do think that the character Humbert really believes that his obsession with lolita is completely normal. He is clearly not stable mentally and he tries to convince us, as readers, that he is not just obessesed with lolita, but in love with her. This love is hard for us to see because it is a one sided relationship. Although lolita is the one who makes advances on Humbert, we must remember that the story is told in Humbert's point of view. Also we must keep in mind that Lolita is just a child and we cannot fully understand why she makes these advances on Humbert, it could be because she lacked a father growing up.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear throughout the story that Humbert never claims to think his infatuation with Lolita is a healthy one. In fact throughout the entire story Humbert claims that something is wrong with him and blames his experience with Annabelle Lee for his attraction to little girls and lack of interest in women. Although I truly believe that Humbert believed he really loved Lolita, it seems that he felt guilty about it and wished that he was not like that. I also agree with everyone that Humbert is not supposed to be a the author portrayed in the story.
ReplyDeleteLolita is a novel based purly on obsession. The protagonist Humbert Humbert is character that is obsessed with the past and present. Within the last class meeting it was discussed that Nabokov was an avid butterfly collector. In order to exam the topic of Nabokov life, one must look within the huge scheme of his life. First, the language of ''Lolita'' is remarkable. Nabokov has taken grace in writing this novel. Second, in order to collect butterflies, one must be obsessed; as this is an extremely time consuming hobby. While, remember Nabokov traveled from state to state tracking is prize; as does Humbert, in the latter part of the novel. I feel these are a few facts one cannot overlook.
ReplyDeleteIt is very easy to believe that Nabokov had the same frame of mind as Humbert because of how sick the character may seem. However, I highly doubt Humbert is a direct reflection of himself. There are non-fiction writers that write novels about murderers and rapists and other twisted people but that doesn't have anything to do with their own personal frame of mind. I may be the only person to feel this way but I feel that Humbert deep down doesn't feel his actions are all right because when he first met Lolita, he tried to restrain himself a little. Unfortunately, his past experiences had a major impact on his future encounters with young girls and he ended up trapped in a world of perversion. Early in Book 2, Humbert is discussing with Lolita that he could end up in jail if she tells anyone and uses reverse psychology into tricking her to believe it would benefit her not to say anything because then she would be stuck in a foster home or something similar to one. He tries to justify his control over her by referring to himself as her guardian, which I found to be extremely strange.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Humbert actually thought there was anything wrong with him being infatuated with a young girl. He might have said that there is something wrong with him, but his attraction to Lolita didn't stop him. He continued to be infatuated with Lolita. The reason he does this is because he lost his first love, and through Lolita, he can lose that hurt. I don't think Nobokov is trying to portray himself through Humbert, because Nobokov has a family.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree that Nabokov is portraying himself through Humbert. As Mike L. said his bio states that he is married and shows no sign of obsession with nymphets. I do not think that Humbert believes his obsession to Lolita is justified because of his prior relations with Annabelle Lee and other young girls. I think that he knows that his addiction is inappropriate because of the way he carries himself. Instead of announcing his attraction to Lolita he rather hide his emotions and be with her mother in order to remain near Lolita. He knows that if his attraction to Lolita were revealed he would not be able to be near her.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Nabokov shows us in full detail the depths of Humbert's psyche, I do not believe that Nabokov based his main character on himself. I just feel that he is a great writer that can get inside the heads of his characters and show the character's thoughts to his audience. I believe Humbert is a very mentally disturbed individual. Because his first love died early in life, Dolly becomes his obsession because she reminds him of this first love. In many parts in the novel, Humbert states that he knows his pedophilic tendencies are morally wrong. Even though he knows they are wrong and he shouldn't be doing them, he will because he is constantly seeking to fill the void in his life that the loss of his first love made.
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice discussion thread! Some debate and disagreements... let's take this up a bit in class tonight. Especially the issue of HH's sense or lack thereof of his own guilt.
ReplyDeleteKelli's response:
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments and did not feel that the author Nabokov was putting or portraying himself as the character of Humbert. I also didnt feel that his obssession with Lolita was incorrect because it wasnt taken to a level where it would be a problem. Like Ciara stated I feel that because of situations in the past he fufills the missing or hurtful pieces of his past with his infactuation with Lolita.
Humbert's obsession necessitates him to find justification for what he does so that he and his readers can believe that he isn't totally wrong by moral standards. For example, he tells Lolita that by keeping her to himself, he is saving her from being taken advantage of by other boys that don't care for her as much as he does. Obviously he is wrong and he knows this as he forces Lolita to secrecy. I think the story is interesting with its play on the connection of morals and laws. It could be that Humbert is actively achieving a freedom from the laws he feels enslave him. But, if he knows the law to be wrong, then why doesn't he make his actions public? This could prove that he is aware that what he is doing is morally wrong, in which case he cannot be redeemed. I think Nabokov created a man so self-involved and clouded by his obsession, that the lines of legality and morality are blurred, or even intentionally blurred so they can be ignored. I think Humbert represents the dangers of looking only to satisfy yourself and the inability to discover the effects your actions may have on other people.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Nabokov is portraying himself as Humbert, though I do see how one could believe that. Before learning about him, I was curious as to what his life was like, and if he was possibly just as "sick" as his character. After learning that he isn't, I appreciate his writing a lot more because he does a great job of getting into the mind of an individual like that, so I definitely see where Mary Frances is coming from. As far as Humbert's infatuation with Lolita goes, I believe that Humbert feels his actions are justified. Not only does he want readers to believe that he is in love with Lolita, but he truly believes he is in love with her as well. I do not think it's just simply a cover story he's using to get readers to sympathize with him, I think it's something he truly feels. Therefore, of course he believes his obsessive behavior is okay. When people are in love, especially in novels and movies, they tend to do crazy things and then simply justify it as an act of love. Humbert is so infatuated with Lolita, on top of probably being psychologically impaired, that he cannot fathom that what he's doing is actually wrong, because in his eyes, it's true love.
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