Lolita Response

"Why do you think I have ceased caring for you, Lo?" "Well, you haven't kissed me yet, have you?" Inly dying, inly moaning, I glimpsed a reasonably wide shoulder of road ahead, and bumped and wobbled into the weeds. Remember she is only a child, remember she is only —

This takes place shortly after Humbert picks up Dolores from the camp.

I collected roughly a bakers dozen of quotes while finishing Lolita. I say, “finishing”, but that refers to almost two thirds of the novel. Some I picked simply because I found them humorous, and while I would like to include them at the end of my response I could not use them because they held far too little relevance to the message of the story.

            Reading Lolita (granted that this is H.H.’s perspective and we are not to trust him) I see Dolores Haze as the dominant individual in the relationship. That power, she seized from Humbert through one of the three traditional means, sex. Assuming we can trust Hum, she initiates many of the cases of sensual and sexual interaction. As the story progresses and Hum becomes more and more paranoid and anxious Lo gains more and more power. While that passage doesn’t reflect it, Lo does also know the consequences of Humberts actions, and she knows the reality of the monster he is. However, it seems she uses that to joke and taunt Humbert; I think that would serve to back up my claims that she has a fair amount of control in the relationship.

            Humbert, in this passage and in the story as a whole knows full well the reality of what he is, Lo is, and the repercussions of his actions. Humbert is a weak man controlled almost completely by his sexual urges. Dolores is his idol, and she holds his leash is somewhat of an equal and opposite way to which he holds hers. Humbert does know full well what he is, and having to live that lie to its fullest with Lo strains him. This drives him further down a path of madness, anxiety and paranoia. At least further down that path than where he was when he met Lo.

            Perhaps reading Lolita’s topic was too easy for me, in that the subject matter was not as bothersome as the constructed social expectations would have them. It could be because I know this to be a work of fiction, and that I know the reality of some of these types of situations can be much worse. It could just be that I find it easy to look past things. If you ignore Humbert’s friendly reminders that he is a monster, then it’s almost easy to forget that he is a monster. I may be wrong to feel this way, but the thing that bothered me the most about Humber was his willingness to drug Lo and her mother. Shame on you Humbert, that’s just uncouth.

            Unfortunately it’s time to list off my collection of humorous quotes. There were many, but the shortest ones will fit nicely. Let’s begin shall we:

“Slowly her head turned away and dropped onto her unfair amount of pillow.”

I may have laughed out loud on this one.

“I was unbathed, unshaven, and had had no bowel movement.”

Humbert was still human, afterall.

“Oh, look, all the nines are changing into the next thousand.”

I remember the simple joy of when our family van hit the two hundred thousandth mile. Memories.