Getting to Know Humbert and Lolita

Hey everybody!

In this blog post, I'm going to be discussing the two main characters in Lolita: Humbert Humbert (yes, that is his name, it's not a typo) and Dolores "Lolita" Haze, the twelve year-old girl that he is infatuated with. I'm going to attempt to not only outline their characters, but delve a little deeper into their psyches as well.

Before I start talking about Humbert and Lolita, though, I'll do a quick plot update for the non-Lolita readers. Humbert has successfully married Lolita's mother, Charlotte, but just when everything has coming into place, Charlotte finds his secret diary in which he describes his lust for her twelve year-old daughter. AND, as if Charlotte's life hasn't already been flushed down the toilet, shortly after she discovers the diary, she gets hit by a car walking across the street to mail some letters. Although this is tragic, it's also concerning: Humbert has complete access to Lolita with absolutely no one in his way. He sums it up well when he says "You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go" (pg 142). 

Charlotte is no longer a roadblock for Humbert, and with her out of the picture, he can get to know Lolita better. Perhaps the most shocking part of this past reading is the fact that Lolita willingly has sex with Humbert. From an outside standpoint, the plethora of shocking events that take place only deepen my understanding of these characters.

Humbert Humbert is an intelligent, charming, amazingly detail-oriented man in his late thirties who is in love with a little girl. If you haven't connected the dots yet, this is a recipe for disaster. He can be extremely manipulative; examples include his blatant admittance for his "love to fool doctors" (slightly concerning) or his ability to act like he was in love with Charlotte Haze and go through with a marriage simply to get close to her daughter. He's attractive, but narcissistic, saying he doesn't know "if in these tragic notes [he] has sufficiently stressed the peculiar "sending" effect that [his] good looks [...] have on women" (pg. 104). He's been abusive to his past wife, describing with no shame "twisting fat Valechka's brittle wrist" (pg 83). However, along with all these other traits, the scariest part about Humbert is his pedophilia. He dreams about Lolita "Naked, except for one sock and her charm bracelet..." (page 125). He notes every single thing about her, like her arms and legs being "a deep golden brown with scratches like tiny dotted lines of coagulated rubies" (page 111). He is the perfect example of a creep. 

Perhaps the most disturbing part about him to me, though, is the fact that I tend to forget he's a creep sometimes. He weaves humor into his stories (example: saying one of Lolita's crushes has "as much sex appeal as a raw carrot"), he captivates the reader with his storytelling, and most of all, he expresses the shame he feels when it comes to his perverted desires. He constantly refers to his "wretchedness", the "strange and monstrous" moments with Lolita, and his "darkness of passion." Because of this, it's hard to remember how horrible of a person this man is sometimes. 

However, I can't help but hesitate when it comes to trusting him. He is smart, cunning, and clever, and reading about what he is able to do to people in his life does not bring about an overwhelming sense of reliability for me. I constantly wonder how much of this story is true, considering it is written strictly from his perspective. Is this what actually happened, what he believes happened, or what he wishes happened? The character development of Lolita, for example, is completely controlled by Humbert's perceptions of her.

Lolita is a clever, bratty, somewhat-spoiled girl. To be honest, I don't really like her very much. She can be extremely brash, controlling, and disrespectful. Of course, this doesn't bother Humbert. He simply chalks all this up to her "nymphean evil." Lolita is dangerously smitten with Humbert and very flirtatious, kissing him and eventually having sex with him (it still blows my mind that this even happens.) Adopting Humbert's psychoanalytic perspective for a second, I can't help but wonder if Lolita's tarnished relationship with her mother has resulted in her seeking connection with others in any form, even if it takes a sexual act to do so. It is here that one can see a similarity between Humbert and Lolita, which brings me to my last point. 

Lolita and Humbert in the 1997 film adaptation.

I can't help but wonder if the descriptions Humbert has for Lolita are direct reflections of some of his own tendencies. He capitalizes on the bad relationships in her past so that he can take advantage of her, not unlike his own problems with his relationship in the past that led to his pedophilia. They are both selfish and cunning, which is evident throughout the story. They can be sarcastic and humorous, but share some darker desires (which unfortunately lead to their sexual relationship.) However, Humbert also continues to describe Lolita as a pure creature, referring to her as "pet" and describing her "dreamy childishness." He tries to "protect her innocence" by slipping her a sleeping pill before attempting to fondle her. In this sense, I think Humbert may be projecting his own fears and shame onto her, feeling scared that when she grows, she may become as twisted as he is. For now, he wants to protect her from the world and everything that could taint her purity (which is extremely ironic, considering he is doing to her exactly what he is so scared the world could do.) The juxtaposition between the ideas of innocence and evil is clear here, but it also blurs the lines between the two concepts. 

This book is becoming more and more fascinating as I keep reading. I'm excited to learn about Humbert's ex-wife, and I'm interested to see if Lolita has any family that will come try to take her away from this stranger. I also want to see if Lolita finally comes to her senses and realizes how much of a scary person Humbert really is. 

image from http://filmconnoisseur.blogspot.com/2010/05/lolita-1997.html