Humberts Description of Lolita in Vladimir Nabokovs...

Humberts Description of Lolita In Chapter 31 of Part 1 of Lolita, Humbert and Lolita are in the lobby of the Enchanted Hunters only hours after consummating their sexual relationship. As Humbert arrives in the lobby to check out of the hotel, he observes Lolita as she sits reading a movie magazine in a large armchair, and his description of her progresses from a focus on her loss of innocence to a focus on her inner, demonic nature. As elsewhere in the novel, the reader here sees Humbert attempting to mitigate his own sense of guilt and self-loathing. His description of Lolita is typical Humbert, with an almost obsessive attention to detail as his eyes glide over her body from her shoes to her eyes and face:†¦show more content†¦As the passage goes on, Humberts portrait of Lolita gets more detailed, moving from descriptions of her childish clothing (saddle oxfords and pink frock) to evidence of their recent lovemaking: Nothing could have been more childish than her snubbed nose, freckled face or the purplish spot on her naked neck where a fairytale vampire had feasted, or the unconscious movement of her tongue exploring a touch of rosy rash around her swollen lips. (138-39) The hickey and the rash around Lolitas mouth produced by Humberts unshaven face signify her loss of innocence, but they also depict her as Humberts prey and his victim. He is the fairytale vampire feasting on Lolita and leaving visible signs of his depredation on her childlike body. Indeed, these details come surrounded by a series of parallel phrases that emphasize the girls innocence: Nothing could have been more childish . . . nothing could be more harmless . . . nothing could be more innocent . . . nothing could be more naive. So far, so good. Having had intercourse with Lolita earlier that morning Humbert, not surprisingly, sees her as his victim, sees both her childlike innocence and the signs of his own brutal assault on that innocence. But at the end of the passage, Humberts understanding of Lolita and her lost innocence changes radically as he proclaims her toShow MoreRelatedLove in Lolita1323 Words   |  6 PagesSome critics read Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita as a story of Humberts unrequited love for the title character; others consider it a record of the rant-ings of a mad pedophile, with, as Humbert himself admits, a fancy prose style. Nabokovs innovative construction, in fact, highlights both of these aspects as it reinforces and helps develop the novels main theme: the relationship between art and experience. By allowing Humbert to narrate the details of his life with Lolita, Nabokov illustrates theRead MoreIs Lolita a Love Story or Pornography?3043 Words   |  13 PagesIs Lolita a Love story or pornography? Is it Moral or Immoral? Lolita, the dramatic story of the main character, Humbert Humbert and the twelve and a half year old Lolita is the most controversial and greatest masterpiece created by the Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita is a full-blown psychological novel, a detective novel, a confessional novel, a Doppelgà ¤nger Tale, an extended allegory for artistic process a sexual myth, more complicated and mysterious than comparable to Freudian stereotypesRead More The Effect of Language in Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita Essay2045 Words   |  9 PagesThe Effect of Language in Lolita      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What really is reality? How can we define reality? The very nature of such a subjective subject means that there are as many answers as there are questioning minds on the planet. Therefore, reality can only be defined as what it means to each of us. We learn particular ways of looking at life from our experiences, which we gain from our interactions with others. This is the basis of an elaborate theory called the social construction of realityRead Moreï » ¿Does Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ have any canonical value?1325 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Does Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’ have any canonical value? The literary canon is the group of texts considered to be of the most value. These are books which are generally taught in schools, colleges and universities. Authors that belong to the canon seem to follow certain characteristics; middle or upper class, white male authors who are dead. Writers such as Shakespeare, Milton and Chaucer are synonymous with the canon and also follow these characteristics. Vladimir Nabokov follows most of theseRead More The Unreliable Narrator in Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita Essay examples2020 Words   |  9 Pageswit, his intelligence, and - yes - his murderers fancy prose style, we may momentarily forget that he is indeed the monster he says he is (Rivers and Nicol 153).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   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 creaturesRead More Should the Reader Forgive Humbert? Essay2494 Words   |  10 PagesHumbert? 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 underRead MoreEssay on Defining Lolita: the Novel and the Name2268 Words   |  10 PagesDefining Lolita: the Novel and the Name In his essay, On a Novel Entitled Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov tries to answer the age-old question, What is the objective of the novel? He quickly replies, ...I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no other purpose than to get rid of that book... (311). There is more to his response than this, however. He goes on to say that his book was not written to celebrate pornography or pedophilia, nor was it written to promoteRead More Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Essay2752 Words   |  12 Pages Vladimir Nabokov, one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, is a highly aesthetic writer. Most of his work shows an amazing interest in and talent for language. He deceptively uses language in Lolita to mask and make the forbidden divine. Contextually, Lolita may be viewed as a novel about explicit sexual desire. However, it is the illicit desire of a stepfather for his 12-year old stepdaughter. The novel’s subject inevitably conjures up expectations of pornography, but there in not aRead MoreRelationships Between Humbert And Lolita2417 Words   |  10 PagesAshley and Jake Barnes. Tom and Daisy Buchanan. These are the relationships that ruin themselves but become ubiquitous for their violence and conflict. And sometimes that is just more interesting. Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita explores this idea about relationships, especially between Humbert Humbert and Lolita. It challenges interpersonal connections that we’ve come to know so well. Altho ugh Humbert continually proves himself as an unreliable narrator who can’t repent because he constantly manipulatesRead MoreFeatures of Metafiction and Well Known Writers of the Genre Essay3025 Words   |  13 Pageswriting a novel. (Nabokov’s Lolita). †¢ A novel about a person reading a novel. †¢ A novel which itself is within the novel. †¢ A story that addresses the specific conventions of story, such as title, paragraphing or plots. (John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman). †¢ A non-linear novel, which can be read in some order other than beginning to end. †¢ Narrative footnotes, which continue the story while commenting on it. †¢ A novel in which the author is a character. (Nabokov’s Lolita and John Fowles’s