Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita Essay Example

on their first trip across America the two stay in a cabin at Chestnut Court and Humbert says the road to the cabin runs “as straight as a hair parting between two rows of chestnut trees" (Nabokov). The chestnut tree and its death represent Humbert and Lolita’s imminent doom, and their inevitable death and separation.

The use of fairy tale language in Nabokov’s Lolita allows the viewer to understand Humbert’s disconnection from reality when it comes to his desire for young girls. Humbert explains that “between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older than they, reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as "nymphets" (Nabokov).

He uses words like “maidens” and “bewitched travelers” to describe the girls and the men they attract in hopes of disconnecting his socially unacceptable thoughts from reality. By referring to himself as bewitched, or under a spell, Humbert takes no responsibility for his actions against Lolita or any other young girl, because he was not in a stable mind frame. He describes certain young girls as “creatures” whose behavior is “not human” as a way to justify what he knows is wrong. The Enchanted Hunter” also comes up many times and in different context through out the novel. It is first mentioned by Charlotte as a get-away trip for herself and Humbert after their marriage, it is the first place Humbert and Lolita actually have sex; it is where Quilty makes his first appearance to Humbert and the name of Quilty’s play, which Lolita performs

in. Being enchanted means you are “influenced as by charms or incantations” (Dictionary. com) which once again blames the young nymphets for the spell they’ve cast on innocent men.

The phrase “the enchanted hunter” could easily be used to describe Humbert and his quest for the perfect nymphet, and its use of the word “enchanted” ties into the fairy tale language scattered through the novel. The utilization of fairy tale language in Lolita symbolizes Humbert’s knowledge, be it conscious or subconscious, of how wrong his yearnings are and his use of fairy tale language depicts how removed from reality he truly is. Nabokov also employs animals to remove Humbert Humbert from the glare of a less-than-pleased society.

Through out the novel Humbert has a fixation with comparing himself and others to animals or strange combinations of human and creature. Something that is described as monstrous “is that which is not only startling or dangerous, but harmful in an unnatural way” (Ekberg). The incest that occurs in Lolita would be considered monstrous in modern society, but Humbert uses animals to “dis-burden some of the blame from him for his dastardly deeds and assign blame to his animal self” (Ekberg). By describing himself as a physical monster Humbert can disguise the fact that he is indeed a monster of the psychological sense.

While Lolita and Humbert are not blood relatives it is clear to the reader of the inappropriateness of the relationship, especially after Humbert becomes Lolita’s stepfather and she begins calling him “dad”. Since animals have no concept of incest or age difference they are the perfect symbol to reflect back to when Humbert starts becoming too real or

too human. Humbert explains to the reader his belief in “a kind of secondary fate (McFate's inept secretary, so to speak) pettily interfering with the boss's magnificent plan” (Nabokov).

He describes McFate as a series of fated check points through which he must pass in order to move on with his life. One of Humbert’s biggest encounters with “McFate” is the reacurrance of the number 342 through out the novel. 342 first comes into play as the Haze’s house number when Humbert moves in with them after the original place he was supposed to stay burned to the ground. 342 is alse the number of the room they stay in at “The Enchanted Hunter”, the place where Humbert and Lolita first had sex, and by the end of their cross country tour Lolita and Humbert had stayed in a total of 342 different hotels.

It is unknown what significance the number 342 holds to either Humbert or Lolita but it is more than a coincidence that the same number should show up in three different places through out the novel. It is very common for Lolita to be compared to the likes of a butterfly, and with Nabokov being a highly respected lepidopterist, it is extremely likely she was modeled after a danty butterfly. It is even said that Humbert is projected as a lepidopterist, hunting for the perfect specimen of butterfly to complete his collection.

She is elusive and beautiful and just as fragile as any butterfly could be and she even goes through a sort of metamorphosis though out the novel. Although her transformation could be considered digression by some people as she transforms from a

beautiful danty butterfly of a girl into a vulgar and crude woman. Lolita eventually loses her nymphness and therefore loses her rarity in Humbert’s eye. Humbert’s life long journey is often compared to a grail quest, a crusade for his ideal nymphet.

Quest and pilgrimage narratives fall into a conveniently Aristotelian tripartite sequence” (Jenkins) and often focus on a woman. Lolita contains some of the main elements of a traditional Quest novel; “it is framed by an editor’s preface, is loosely episodic, addresses the reader directly, has love as it’s subject, and has something worth finding at the end” (Jenkins). Annabel’s death sets Humbert up for his life long search for the perfect nymphet and he is involved in many trips or quests across Europe, across the Atlantic, across Canada, into the Arctic and finally across America.

The setting for Humbert’s encounters with Annabel also take place on “a princedom by the sea” (Nabokov), a reflection of not just Poe’s setting for Annabel Lee, but the Venice of Thomas Mann and Henry James and the fairy tale venues of Hans Christian Andersen; all of these pieces of literature are referenced in Lolita. A Doppelganger is “a ghostly double of a living person that haunts its living counterpart” (Dictionary. com) or a double of oneself or one’s family. Lolita is a novel full of doubles, the simplest of which being Humbert Humbert’s name, an exact double.

Quilty is also said to be a reflection of Humbert because although they oppose each other they share similar qualities and even switch positions at one point in the novel. They are both well educated men, and Quilty is the only person whose

intelligence Humbert respects; Humbert even begrudgingly admires the playwrights verbal skills. Your Doppelganger, when seen by family members predicts bad luck for oneself but when seen by yourself is an omen for death. With this in mind, Humbert encountering Quilty before anyone else does is a direct foreshadow of his figurative death through the murder of Quilty.

Quilty following closely behind as Lolita and Humbert travel across country exemplifies how he ‘shadows’ Humbert. Quilty’s involvement in Humbert and Lolita’s life is foreshadowed well before Quilty is introduced as an actual character. In the very beginning of the novel, while in prison, Humbert is reading “Who’s Who in Hollywood” and specifically picks a biography on Quilty who wrote The Little Nymph and Fatherly Love and whose “many plays for children are notable" (Nabokov).

It is laid out right in front of the reader for them to decipher that at some point Quilty will interrupt Humbert’s fantasy. While Quilty is cast as ‘the bad guy’, he and Humbert share a similar character flaw: they are both bound by their desire for Lolita. In a sense, when Humbert kills Quilty he is essentially ending his life too because he knows he will be taken to jail. Quilty’s death “symbolizes Humbert's triumph over his past, allowing the good artist and lover to shine through” (Wallace).

In the final battle between the two men Humbert describes them as literally blending together saying that "we rolled over me, they rolled over him, we rolled over us" (Nabokov) as a way to bring to reality their likeness. There is also doubling seen in Annabel and her counterpart, Lolita. Without Annabel’s death Humbert would not be

on a search for the perfect nymphet because she was the nymphet he ever loved. Not only are both the young girls Humbert’s ideal image of a nymphet, he believes Lolita is the reincarnation of Annabel and the cure to his life long journey searching for the perfect nymphet.

Both Lolita and Annabel also die at young ages. It is also said that Lolita’s reflection of Valeria is the “most obvious comic doubling of the central situation” (Wallace) paralleling Humbert’s future situation with Lolita. Humbert marries Valeria because of her childlike characteristics and because he assumes her a virgin but much like Lolita, Valeria ages quickly in Humbert’s eyes. When Humbert finds out about Valeria’s infidelity he fantasizes about shooting both his wife and her lover, direct foreshadowing to Humbert’s hunt for Quilty.

At one point in the novel Humbert wishes to hit Valeria but does not receive the chance, when in a similar situation with Lolita Humbert does hit her. Both women also die young in childbirth. The representations of America and Europe through the characters in the novel are a more political symbol present through out the novel. With Nabokov being a famous writer in both countries it is easy to see his interpretations and the influence of both cultures. Humbert represented an older more sophisticated Europe in contrast to the youth and spontaneity of America through Lolita.

Charlotte also represents America, but reflects its trashier counterparts. She strives to become more like Humbert and embraces his cultured lifestyle, it would not be shocking if Charlotte married Humbert only for his European background. She tries to sophisticate herself by cluttering her home and her life with

cheap knick-knacks from around the world, and Humbert is just another knick-knack. Lolita on the other hand, represents the traditional youth and innocence of American. It is likely that Lolita gains age and corruption along with America and, after being violated, turns bitter and aggressive.

Each character exemplifies a certain aspect of their home country, a symbolic topic through out the entire novel. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is easily one of the most symbolic novels of it’s time, and although Nabokov outright dismisses symbolism and other literary devices, there is no debate that symbolism, allusion and foreshadowing play a huge roll in the novel. Nabokov uses his way with words to entice deeper thinking in anyone who takes the journey through his novels. Lolita represents everything that is wrong with society, not only through the written words, but through the feelings that are brought about.

By the end of the novel Nabokov has the reader feeling empathy and compassion for a man who practices incest and pedophilia with his stepdaughter, a girl less than half his age. Through the symbols in Lolita and the underlying meaning of many situations the reader is tricked into sympathizing with a man that no one would sympathize with in reality. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita defines itself as an amazing piece of literature as it takes its reader on a twisty road of symbols and hidden meanings to uncover the true meaning of not only Humbert Humbert, but of themselves.